By Mike Shields
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, July 17
Kansas City philanthropists and bioscience promoters Jim and Virginia Stowers spent about $25 million helping persuade Missouri voters last year to approve a state constitutional amendment protecting stem cell research.
That campaign, the only one like it in the country, was also linked to a hotly contested U.S. Senate race, and got plenty of national attention. Though there are still efforts underway to undo it, Missouri voters, 51 percent to 49 percent, approved the measure assuring that embryonic stem cell research would remain legal.
The Missouri campaign and the controversy surrounding it have overshadowed the fact that the Stowers pumped close to $500,000 into Kansas political campaigns through an organization called the Kansas Coalition for LifeSaving Cures, a group similar to but formed shortly after the Missouri Coalition for LifeSaving Cures.
Even now, months after the November 2006 elections, some of the top people in Kansas politics are relatively unaware of the Kansas group”s activities.
“I”ve never talked to them,” said Mike Gaughan, executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party. “I”m vaguely aware of who they are. I actually don”t know how much they”ve given. But I think that”s an issue a lot of our candidates are driven by.”
The group
gave thousands of dollars to Democratic and moderate Republican candidates in legislative and statewide races in 2006. Its political director is Joyce Allegrucci, former chief of staff for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. It employs two of the best known lobbyists in Topeka, John Peterson and Bill Brady.
It plans to be active again in next year”s elections. But somehow the group has gone without much public notice.
“I”m not exactly sure where they fit. I”m not seeing them out and about in a lot of campaigns. Their effectiveness is yet to be seen,” said Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party.
Bills stalled
Last session, the Kansas House considered two bills opposed by the coalition.
Neither reached the floor despite the support of the state”s four Catholic bishops and vocal support from socially conservative House members. In March, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Kansas City Archdiocese called a Statehouse press conference. Speaking for all the Catholic bishops he urged passage of House Bills
2098
and
2255
.
The archdiocese also prepared a video on the stem cell issue, outlining the church”s stance on embryonic stem cell research. Some Kansas parishes screened the video during services. The bills died all the same.
“I hope it was because we had a pretty active grassroots action,” said Brad Kemp, director of the Kansas Coalition for LifeSaving Cures. “We”re up to about 11,500 members across the state. We worked them last session to put pressure on their legislators and make them understand how important it was.”
Kemp said the bills deserved defeat because “they not only outlawed most kinds of important stem cell research, but would have made it a crime if someone in California came up with a cure and a Kansan went there for treatment.”
Sherriene Jones-Sontag, spokesperson for House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said the bills were never scheduled for floor debate, though each
were approved by committees,
because House leadership last session only ran bills they thought had enough support to pass.
“That was the approach that was taken (by leadership) with nearly every bill that made it out of committee,” she said, “in an effort to streamline work on the floor and use legislators” time wisely.”
The bills could be revived next session.
Morality debate
A recent Gallup Poll showed that 61 percent of Americans surveyed nationally considered research involving embryonic stem cells morally acceptable. But according to Gallup, it also was unclear if most Americans understand the differences in the various types of stem cell research. In a 2005 poll, only 22 percent of those surveyed said they were “very clear” about the differences.
The Catholic Church, President George Bush and social conservatives say they support stem cell research so long as it doesn”t involve destruction of embryonic stem cells. They say research based on stem cells derived from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, or fat cells is OK. But many scientists say embryonic stem cells offer the best promise for breakthroughs or therapies that could cure or treat a range of debilitating diseases including Alzheimer”s and Parkinson”s.
For some, including the Catholic Church and the Kansas Republican Party, the issue of embryonic stem cell research is little different than that of abortion.
The Kansas GOP party platform, under the heading “Culture of Life,” states official opposition to abortion and “destructive embryonic research, including the extraction of stem cells from embryos.”
In short, it is one more issue feeding the long running fissure between conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party, which party officials try to downplay.
“The Kansas Republican Party platform is certainly an important tool for the Republican Party and elected Republicans in the state. But the Republican Party is about the discussion of ideas, the discussion of issues,” said Christian Morgan, the party”s executive director, explaining that the party can accommodate those on either side of the embryonic stem cell issue.
Not all religious groups share the Catholic Church”s opposition. Kemp said many clergy are members of the coalition.
“One of the things I do is go around the state giving (informational) sessions. I”m invited to more churches than I am any other kind of place and I pretty much find inviting audiences,” Kemp said.
But he has not been to a Catholic Church.
Though the Catholic Church”s political clout is thought to be considerable, it is difficult to measure.
“If you”ve got a bunch of priests out there every Sunday (preaching against it), that”s a powerful force,” said University of Kansas political scientist Burdette Loomis, an expert on interest-group politics.
But Loomis also said that when the bishops come to the Statehouse and call a press conference, as they did last session, it sometimes comes across as “heavy handed.”
“I think they have cross cutting effect,” he said. “Honestly, I think some Catholic legislators get ticked off and really resent being put under that kind of pressure.”
Loomis said the stem cell issue also is a good one for moderate political candidates.
“If you look at the polling data on it, it”s pretty popular for moderates, progressives whatever you want to call them,” he said. “Everyone knows someone with Parkinson”s or Alzheimer”s. And then with the Stowers, though the amount of money they”ve put into Kansas is nothing compared to the millions they spent in Missouri, they”ve got an issue that”s clearly extraordinarily important to them and the money to back it up. But in terms of politics, the coalition (for LifeSaving Cures) is purely a front. It”s just a pass-through for the Stowers.”
Kemp acknowledged the Stowers are a driving force for the coalition, but said it also has members in every Kansas county. David Welte, general counsel for the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, is chairman of the coalition”s board and so far its only board member, Kemp said, though other board members are being recruited.
“It”s a chicken-or-the-egg sort of thing,” he said of the Stowers” role in the organization, “without them the coalition probably wouldn”t exist or would be a very different sort of organization. But apart from being our largest single donor, they are not involved in the day-to-day activities.”
-Mike Shields is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
mshields@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 123.