Nominee for Stem Cell Panel Chief Is Troubling

Re “Stem Cell Post Likely to Go to Klein,” Dec. 14: Proposition 71 was sold to California taxpayers as a way to finance important stem cell research for everyone’s benefit at no cost to them whatsoever. We’ve unfortunately agreed to underwrite a huge bond that gives private industry billions of our tax dollars while providing extremely limited control over the research and no financial return for the huge profits to be make as a result.

And now guess who’s comin’ to dinner? Robert Klein, the rich Palo Alto developer who hustled this proposition to the people of California and who has no medical or scientific background whatsoever, is being nominated to lead the commission passing out these ill-gotten riches. Isn’t that a bit like hiring the fox to oversee the management of the local henhouse?

Such an appointment would never pass a university’s financial ethics review because of blatant conflict of interest. We can do lots better.

Daniel Levy MD

Santa Barbara