Today's Marching Orders from the California Campaign for $5.5 Billion for Stem Cell Research

 

A clip from an email pitch by the campaign for Proposition 14

Backers of the $5.5 billion ballot measure to save the California stem cell agency from its financial demise
are working hard to keep their troops on track to build support for Proposition 14.

Today the campaign sent out a pitch (see above) as part of its social media drive to win approval of Proposition 14 in the Nov. 3 election. And it couldn't be more timely. Twenty-million voters are already beginning to receive their mail-in ballots.

The directions are explicit and amount to a daily list of tasks for patient advocates and others who have signed up for information from the campaign. The sign-up request is on the home page of the campaign website and impossible to miss. 

"Join now. Be part of the movement," declares the website. 

Social media is a bit of a loose term, but it includes such things as Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Research shows that about two-thirds of U.S. adults get news from social media sites. "One-in-five get news there often," says the Pew Research Center. 

"Facebook is still far and away the site Americans most commonly use for news, with little change since 2017. About four-in-ten Americans (43%) get news on Facebook. The next most commonly used site for news is YouTube, with 21% getting news there, followed by Twitter at 12%. Smaller portions of Americans (8% or fewer) get news from other social networks like Instagram, LinkedIn or Snapchat," says Pew.

News consumption is only part of the picture for a campaign. What may be more important is the personal connection that supporters can bring via social media. It is a question of trust and who do you listen to. Someone that you are connected to via social media and know even slightly may appear more trustworthy than the professional purveyors of information. 

So far the mainstream media is covering Proposition 14 lightly, a trend that is likely to continue. The presidential campaign consumes most of the traditional news space. State issues are receiving only minor attention, and Proposition 14 even less. That could be good for its chances of passage, but it is hard to tell in this very unusual political year. Under any circumstance, it remains imperative for the campaign to turn out its supporters in large numbers, which is a key goal for the social media effort. 

Los Angeles Times Opposes $5.5 Billion Stem Cell Ballot Measure, Says State Has Higher Priorities

California's largest circulation newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, this morning editorialized against Proposition 14, the $5.5 billion stem cell measure on this fall's ballot, declaring that the state has "other, more urgent spending priorities."

The Times said,

"Now is not the time for a huge new investment in specialized medical research. First, it makes sense to wait until after the election; if Democrats do well, there should be growing support for embryonic stem-cell research at the federal level, which is where such funding should take place. 

"The future of California’s pandemic-battered economy and budget remains to be seen. Waiting also would give voters a chance to find out how well the state’s stem-cell research projects continue without state dollars, and whether some of the promising advances lead to breakthrough therapies and a return on California’s investment."

The Times claims a daily readership of 1.3 million and a combined print and online local weekly audience of 4.6 million.

The Times is the fifth daily newspaper to oppose Proposition 14. The initiative would save the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is formally known, from financial extinction. It is running out of the $3 billion it was provided with in 2004 and will begin closing its doors this winter without a major infusion of cash.  

The Times editorial discussed Proposition 14 and the history of the agency in some detail and the role of its sponsor, Robert Klein, a Palo Alto real estate developer. 

Klein sponsored and was responsible for the drafting of Proposition 14 and the ballot initiative that created the stem cell agency in 2004, He ran the campaign then and is doing so again this year. He was the first chairman of the CIRM governing board and served for 6 1/2 years. He also contributed millions of dollars to both ballot measure campaigns. 

The Times wrote, 

"Klein’s role and the bloated structure of CIRM’s super-sized governing board have given rise to some serious ethical mishaps, including a board member who improperly intervened to try to get funding for his organization. (He is no longer on the board.) After this and several other examples of impropriety, rules were tightened. Board members must recuse themselves from votes when there is a conflict of interest, but with 29 members who all want certain projects to receive funding, there is too much potential for mutual back-scratching. Instead of repairing this problem, the new proposition would expand CIRM’s board to 35 members and retain its troubling independence from oversight by the governor and Legislature, leaving it open to further conflicts of interest.

"Proposition 71 hasn’t yet yielded a significant financial return on investment for the state — or the cures that were ballyhooed at the time. Though no one ever promised quick medical miracles, campaign ads strongly implied they were around the corner if only the funding came through. Proponents oversold the initiatives and voters can’t be blamed if they view this new proposal with skepticism."

The Times noted a number of lingering issues involving the agency, including the size of its 29-member board and the fact that members "generally have ties to the advocacy organizations and research institutions that have received most of the money." (For more on that subject, see here.)

The Times credited CIRM with giving "rise to a burst of scientific discovery." It said that CIRM has supported "promising advances in the treatment of diabetes,  'bubble boy' immune deficiency and vision-robbing retinitis pigmentosa, but other efforts have fallen short in clinical trials." The editorial also said CIRM made "the state the 'it' place for stem-cell research."

Unlike other newspaper editorials, the Times suggested that backers of the agency could come back in a couple of years with a revised, scaled-down proposal that would address issues with the agency.  The agency will still be operating during that period on a minimal level, administering multi-year grants with a skeleton staff.

The Times wrote, 

"There would be an opportunity to rethink and rewrite any future proposals, which should include a far more modest ask of taxpayers as well as fixes to the structure and inflated size of the CIRM board. The institute should also be placed under the same state oversight as other agencies reporting to the governor.

"If CIRM needs money for a basic operating budget over the next couple of years, that could be covered by the state’s general fund. The agency still needs to administer already-funded projects and could use that time to discuss a more affordable path forward. Right now, the state has other, more urgent spending priorities." 

For more on the life and times of the stem cell agency, Klein and issues involving the agency, see David Jensen's new book, "California's Great Stem Cell Experiment: Inside a $3 Billion Search for Stem Cell Cures."  Jensen has covered the agency since 2005 and written more than 5,000 items on the subject plus a number of freelance articles for Capitol Weekly, The Sacramento Bee, and other publications.

(Editor's note: Our count of newspaper editorials pro and con shows six with five against and one in support. They include the Times, Chronicle, Bakersfield Californian, San Jose Mercury, Santa Rosa Press Democrat and the Bay Area Reporter. If you know of others, pro and con, please email djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.) 

California Stem Cell Backers Fire Up Major Social Media Effort for $5.5 Billion Proposition 14

Backers of the $5.5 billion measure to save California's stem cell research program launched a major social media effort this week, declaring that they could not afford to compete with "the big money campaigns for significant airtime."

The campaign organization behind Proposition 14, the stem cell ballot initiative, sent out an email pitch recruiting sympathizers to help out via Facebook, Twitter, email, and other Internet avenues. The campaign email went to those on the mailing list of the campaign organization, which likely contains thousands of names.  The numbers could be much, much larger if the campaign is purchasing email lists. 

The campaign email (see below) said, 

"There are only 35 days left before election day, and mail-in ballots are already out in many California counties. We need your help to get the word out about Prop 14 and the fight to save stem cell research, treatments and cures in California! With a crowded election we will need to work hard break through the noise and urge Californians to vote “YES” on Prop 14.

"Leading up to the election, we’ll be sending you sample social media posts, newsletter articles and email blasts – and all we need you to do is share what we send with your channels! We are a patient advocate driven movement, so we don’t have the resources to compete with the big money campaigns for significant airtime, and our path to victory relies on the help of other passionate patient advocates like you. Your efforts will make all the difference, and with mail-in ballots already out it is absolutely critical that this work starts today."

The pitch included canned texts for use in emails to general audiences and non-profit organizations. Canned messages to be used on Facebook and Twitter were provided along with appropriate hashtags for Twitter. A "sample email blast" emphasized that "the federal government  WILL NOT save most of the promising research and therapies in development that would be abandoned if Prop. 14 fails."

Social media campaigns are increasingly important in political and ballot measure campaigns, regardless of whether a campaign can afford traditional TV advertising. Such advertising is less useful in generating support for a number of reasons, including segmentation of media consumption. 

So far, no significant, major opposition has surfaced against Proposition 14.

The campaign for the measure is led by Robert Klein, who sponsored Proposition 14 and is responsible for the writing of the 17,000-word measure. Klein also wrote the 10,000-word, 2004 ballot measure that created the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is officially known. Klein is a Palo Alto, Ca., real estate developer.

Klein hired FionaHutton &Associates of Studio City, Ca., to handle the bulk of the campaign work.  

2020-09-29 Proposition 14 California Social Media Email by California Stem Cell Report on Scribd

How Does $5.5 Billion Become Only Five Bucks? A Question Yet to be Answered

Call it California's five-buck, stem cell mystery. It could be a case of Proposition 14  campaign voodoo or just simply a boring calculation, but no one knows -- at least anyone who is willing to talk. 

As readers may recall, Proposition 14 is a $5.5 billion bond measure (plus a lot of other things) aiming at saving the state stem cell agency from financial extinction. The folks behind the ballot initiative, including Robert Klein, the sponsor of the proposal, are telling California voters to never mind that billion-dollar stuff. 

"Proposition 14 will cost the state an average of less than $5 per person, per year – about the cost of a bottle of aspirin," Klein said way back in July.

He may be right. 

However, Klein, who has already put up millions for the measure and heads the campaign, has not explained how he or his team devised the bottle-of-aspirin figure. The California Stem Cell Report has asked the campaign more than once to explain the figure, most recently just last Wednesday. But so far no explanation has been forthcoming. 

Arriving at such a per capita cost involves a number of assumptions, including population projections over the next 20 to 30 years and interest rates over the same period. Of course, it also should be noted that the five-buck figure is per capita not per taxpayer. That means that taxpayers -- because they now number only about 18 million compared to the total population of about 33 million -- will be paying perhaps twice what the campaign claims. 

Some might say this is no big deal, and they may be right. But a substantial number of persons could believe that this black-box, five-buck number is real because it has been repeated so often, even though it is unsubstantiated. Certainly, the campaign hopes that it will be effective and move a fair amount of voters into the "yes" column.

At this point, the five bucks is no more than campaign voodoo. But, as the California Stem Cell Report wrote in July, such is to be expected in any ballot campaign. The object is to win. Campaigns can be expected to embellish, push the envelope and release information that may not stand up to real scrutiny. 

As mentioned earlier, the California Stem Cell Report has not received a breakdown from the campaign about how it devised its five-buck figure.  If an explanation comes in, we will carry it verbatim. Meantime, the five-buck countdown stands at 27 days since the first inquiry was made. Readers should stay tuned. 

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​Read all about California's stem cell agency, including Proposition 14,  in David Jensen's new book. Buy it on Amazon:  California's Great Stem Cell Experiment: Inside a $3 Billion Search for Stem Cell Cures. Click here for more information on the author.

San Francisco Chronicle Says No to $5.5 Billion Stem Cell Measure, Proposition 14.

The San Francisco Chronicle today urged its readers to reject the state ballot measure, Proposition 14, that would stave off the demise of California's stem cell agency with a $5.5 billion infusion of cash. 

The Chronicle's headline on its editorial said, 

"No on Prop. 14; no need to replicate California’s disappointing stem cell experiment"

The editorial cited the Chronicle series in 2018 assessing the work of the agency. Written by Erin Allday,  the news story said,

 “Promised breakthroughs used to sell Proposition 71 in 2004 aren’t panning out, a Chronicle investigation found."

The Chronicle is the largest circulation newspaper to editorialize on the Proposition 14. The Chronicle says it has 173,514 daily circulation, mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, and 306,525 digital circulation. Readership figures for its editorials are not available. 

The impact of newspaper editorials in state ballot measure campaigns is debatable. In the heyday of the newspaper business, editorial page readership was in the neighborhood of 25 percent or less of total readers.  

Here are some excerpts from this week's editorial. (The editorial department operates separately from the news department, which produced the 2018 investigation.)

"Especially in a field as nascent as stem cells, science is slow, incremental and unpredictable, largely incompatible with the leaps forward touted in 2004. While the unique state of the science and politics drew broad support for Prop. 71 — including The Chronicle’s — we shouldn’t make a habit of setting science policy and budgets by state plebiscite."

"While state funds helped support the research that led to two approved cancer drugs and a host of prospective therapies in various stages of development, far-reaching breakthroughs attributed to the stem cell agency have been scarce so far, as a Chronicle investigation found. More than half the original funding went to buildings and other infrastructure, education and training, and the sort of basic research that, while scientifically valuable, is a long way from medical application. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it is at odds with the vision of dramatic advancements put to voters."

"While both initiatives provide for recovering income from approved therapies, the fiscal benefits are a matter of speculation. And with the pandemic, wildfires and more stretching the state’s resources, stem cell research looks like an even more unlikely gamble for a government with more pressing priorities."

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​Read all about California's stem cell agency, including Proposition 14,  in David Jensen's new book. Buy it on Amazon:  California's Great Stem Cell Experiment: Inside a $3 Billion Search for Stem Cell Cures. Click here for more information on the author.