Tom Kean Jr.'s position on stem cell research

[Wise Young]

http://www.dscc.org/news/roundup/20060519_kean/index.htm

Dems to Kean, Jr: Stop Playing Politics With Stem Cell Research

May 19, 2006
By: Phil Singer, DSCC
Yesterday, Kean Jr. Cast Third Vote Against Stem Cell Research Despite Claiming To Support It

Democrats today accused Tom Kean, Jr. of playing both sides of the stem cell issue after he voted yesterday for the third time in less than a year against efforts to pursue the potentially life saving research. With his support among Republicans dropping in recent months, the state senator’s wobbliness on the stem cell issue shows Kean, Jr. either doesn't believe in anything or isn't strong enough to stand up to the right wing of his own party.

“Tom Kean, Jr. changes his position on stem cells so often you’d think he’s a yoga instructor,” said DSCC spokesman Phil Singer. “He’s playing both sides of the issue because he’s gotten himself into a dicey political situation with his fellow Republicans. The fact that he lacks the spine to stand up to right wing Republicans makes it pretty clear that he’d be too weak to challenge the Bush White House in Washington.”

New Jersey Republicans have grown increasingly unhappy with Kean Jr. over the last year. His support among the GOP has dropped 16 points over the last six months, going from 37% to 21% between December 2005 and May 2006. In addition, while 87% of Republicans said they would vote for Kean Jr. in December, only 70% said they planned to vote for him last month. [Quinnipiac, 4/27/06; Quinnipiac, 12/15/06]

If Kean Jr. Supports Stem Cell Research “Without Restriction,” Why Doesn’t He Challenge The Repubs Who Don’t? Kean Jr. said, “I have had many discussions with individuals on this, and at the end of the dialogue determined I support stem-cell research.” Asked his position on stem cells earlier this month, Kean Jr. wrote, “Supports research using embryonic stem cells without restriction.” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/1/06; Star-Ledger, 5/7/06]

Kean Jr. Has Voted Three Times Against Funding Stem Cell Research Centers. Yesterday, Kean Jr. voted against a bill to spend $250 million to build three stem cell and biomedical research centers in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden. Senate President Richard Codey said New Jersey's stem cell efforts are threatened by growing out-of-state competition. “Every day we wait potentially puts us a day behind,” Codey argued. Kean Jr. voted against similar proposals twice in June 2005, one of which authorized $150 million for stem cell research centers while the other authorized up to $285 million for the new facilities. [Star-Ledger, 5/19/06; S2649, 6/27/05; S2649, Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee Hearing, 6/20/05; Knight Ridder, 6/28/05; Daily Record, Editorial, 6/28/05]

New Jersey Voters Overwhelmingly Support Stem Cell Research. According to an April poll, New Jersey voters support stem cell research 73 – 15 percent. In addition, a majority of voters said they supported the $250 million stem cell research legislation that Kean Jr. voted against yesterday. [Quinnipiac Poll, 4/26/06]

[Wise Young]

http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/050406/njKeanBacksStemCell.html

New Jersey Jewish News
New Jersey Feature

Kean backs stem-cell research on an ‘intimate’ trip to Israel

by Gil Hoffman
NJJN Israel Correspondent

JERUSALEM — State Sen. Tom Kean Jr., who is running for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate, expressed support for controversial embryonic stem-cell research on a visit to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem last week.

Kean, visiting Hadassah at the culmination of a weeklong trip to Israel, told hospital officials that he supports such research and reported about problems obtaining approval for state initiatives in New Jersey. He also spoke to Hadassah director-general Professor Shlomo Mor-Yosef about the hospital’s collaboration with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick in preparing for mega-terrorist attacks.

Mor-Yosef said the hospital’s stem-cell research had cured mice with Parkinson’s disease and that testing on monkeys and then humans would soon follow. He said Hadassah was an international pioneer in stem-cell research and had even secured funding for the research from the U.S. government.

Kean was visiting Israel for the first time on what he termed an educational visit. He was following in the footsteps of his father, former NJ Gov. Thomas H. Kean, who visited Israel three times. The younger Kean viewed a plaque at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum honoring his grandfather, Robert Winthrop Kean, one of the earliest members of Congress to warn the United States about the impending Holocaust.

The visit’s first day coincided with Holocaust Memorial Day, during which a two-minute siren sounded nationwide to memorialize the victims. As Kean approached the luggage carousel at Ben-Gurion International Airport, the siren went off, and Kean joined Israelis standing in painful reflection.

“The most moving experience on the trip for me was seeing everyone stop and pray during the siren,” Kean told NJJN in an interview at his Jerusalem hotel. “It was extraordinarily memorable for me to experience Holocaust Day so intimately, to be part of such a special moment in time and then go to Yad Vashem that afternoon.”

Kean came with a delegation of NJ Republican pro-Israel activists, including Short Hills publisher Steven Klinghoffer; Livingston resident and Corporation for Public Broadcasting chair Cheyl Halpern; Lakewood attorney Sean Gertner and his wife, Marla; and Johnson & Johnson company group chair Gerald Ostrov of East Brunswick.

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[Wise Young]

http://njrtl.org/content/newsletter_details.asp?ArticleID=1035
2006 U.S. Senate Race - Tom Kean, Jr. supports abortion, embryonic stem cell research and cloning

On December 12, 2005, Republican Senator Tom Kean, Jr. voted with 6 Democratic Senators to release S2913 from the Senate Budget Committee, a bill that would ask voters to approve borrowing $350 Million in bonds to fund embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and the trafficking in fetal tissue. Read the last three paragraphs of the first article below. NJRTL was physically present at this hearing and testified against this bill.

Newark Star Ledger
December 13, 2005

Stem Cell Research Gets Boost:
Senate panel wants voters to decide on $350M in aid for research

BY DEBORAH HOWLETT
Star-Ledger Staff

At the end of an emotional 90-minute hearing, the Senate Budget
Committee yesterday took the first step toward asking New Jersey voters
to approve $350 million in state funding for stem cell research.

"This is clearly an important issue to people," Sen. Wayne Bryant
(D-Camden), the committee chairman, said. "The public wants us to deal
with it."

The measure, a priority for acting Gov. Richard Codey in the last days
of his tenure, would ask voters next November to permit the state to
award up to $50 million a year over the next seven years for public and
private stem cell research.

The money would put New Jersey at the forefront of stem cell research
in the United States. California voters last year approved a $3 billion
stem cell research program, but it is mired in a court battle after
opponents filed a lawsuit. Maryland lawmakers are considering a similar
plan.

"With our pharmaceutical, bio-tech and research institutes, we are a
natural leader," Codey said yesterday. "We are going to make sure New
Jersey stays at the forefront of this pursuit."

The committee moved the bill (S2913) for consideration by the full
Senate. A companion bill, which
provides $150 million to build a Stem Cell Institute, has already
passed the Senate and awaits action by the Assembly.

The research grants would be underwritten by the sale of bonds, which
would be repaid from profits generated by the research, if there are
any, but otherwise would have to be paid off with taxpayer funds.

Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) said the state has already accumulated
$30 billion in debt, and lawmakers would be ill-advised to add to that
total.

But financial considerations were not at the heart of most of the
testimony yesterday in Trenton, where opponents questioned the morality
of the research and supporters touted the potential for saving lives.

Tricia Riccio, whose son, Carl, severed his spinal cord during a high
school wrestling match two years ago, told the committee that her
quadriplegic son, who made a TV commercial endorsing Democrat Jon
Corzine for governor, had no other hope.

"I want my son to walk again and run," Riccio said, her voice breaking.
"I want him to swim in the ocean. I want him to feel the warmth of
someone holding his hand."

Opponents argued that the research is "immoral" because in order to
obtain stem cells from an embryo, researchers must destroy it after
fertilization occurs.

"Research on embryonic stem cells represents the killing of a human
being," said Elmer Matthews, counsel to the New Jersey Catholic
Conference.

After voting to approve the measure, Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex)
said the promise of the research is clear.

"It would be immoral not to go forward and explore that," she said.

The committee's vote also had political implications for Sen. Tom Kean
Jr. (R-Union), the only Republican to join with seven Democrats in
favor of the measure.

Kean, the Republican candidate in the 2006 U.S. Senate race, has not
taken a stance publicly on the issue of embryonic stem cell research.
As recently as last week, Kean said he was still formulating an opinion.

As he headed out the back door of the committee room after yesterday's
meeting, Kean explained his vote by saying, "It's important that this
is going to be sent to the people of this state for their determination."
Asked if he now favors embryonic stem cell research, Kean added simply:
"Yes."


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[Wise Young]

http://njrtl.org/content/newsletter_details.asp?ArticleID=1151

Kean, Jr. Reaffirms support for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research during April trip to Israel

Please note: Senator Tom Kean Jr's father, pro-abortion advocate and former NJ Governor, Thomas H. Kean, is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Robert Wood Johnson Hospital is a partner with UMDNJ, an institution which will be the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars in public money for embryonic stem cell research and human cloning under legislation pending in the NJ Legislature. In December of 2005, NJ Senator Tom Kean, Jr. voted in favor of a $350 Million proposal to use public bonds to fund this research.