The StemExpress Controversy and Collateral Damage

Back in July, after the Planned Parenthood, anti-abortion controversy erupted and entangled a California firm, one Internet headline read,

“Fetus Miner’s Friends in High Places”

The site that posted the headline was the American Conservative. The item referred to Charlotte Ivanic, the older sister of Cate Dyer, CEO of StemExpress LLC of Placerville. It is the stem cell and human tissue firm that was named in the videos involving Planned Parenthood.

In July, Ivanic was the highly regarded top health policy aide to House Speaker John Boehner, who denounced Planned Parenthood and approved House committee investigations into Planned Parenthood and StemExpress.

Dyer once said that her sister is “one of her biggest inspirations.”

Now she is gone from public service. She left on Aug. 5 and has become a Capitol Hill lobbyist. In a press release, Boehner said, 

“Charlotte has spearheaded some of our most significant accomplishments on behalf of the American people. She is one of the best I’ve seen at bringing people together to find common ground, and she leaves Boehnerland with the deepest respect — and best wishes — of her peers as well as lawmakers from both parties.” 

The news about her resignation was slow to ripple out. It was only yesterday that one anti-abortion Web site caught up with the news. Fireandreamitchell.com had this to say, 

“It took three weeks for Charlotte Ivancic to resign from John Boehner’s staff after the videos went public. This yet again shows that John Boehner is just a progressive like liberal Democrats. Why else would he have a leftist like Charlotte Ivancic on his staff in the first place? John Boehner is not only mentally unstable but a progressive hack too. Boehner has to go, NOW!”