Hatch and others ask Pawlenty to break with Bush on stem cell research

08/22/2006

The governor is in favor of the work, as long as there are safeguards, his campaign manager said in response.

Conrad Defiebre, Star Tribune
Last update: August 21, 2006 – 9:30 PM

Gubernatorial challenger Mike Hatch and his DFL and labor allies mounted a broad attack Monday on Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s stance on embryonic stem cell research, saying the Republican is dashing the hope of cures for debilitating diseases afflicting millions of Americans.

“Governor Pawlenty needs to separate himself from President Bush rather than stand united with the president who recently vetoed federal legislation” that would have expanded funding for the research, Hatch said.

Hatch, the DFL’s endorsed candidate for governor, was joined at a tearful State Capitol news conference by Cheri Gunvalson, a Gonvick, Minn., woman whose 14-year-old son Jacob suffers from a deadly form of muscular dystrophy.

“Stem cell research is our only hope to rebuild Jacob’s ravaged muscles,” she said. “We can’t throw roadblocks in the
way of a cure. We need to melt the hearts of people who are playing politics with stem cell research.”

Hatch, who three weeks ago proposed $100 million in state funding over 10 years for the research, added that it “should never be a partisan issue.”

Meanwhile, both the DFL Party and the labor-backed Alliance for a Better Minnesota chimed in Monday with news releases criticizing the governor on stem cell research, one of the few prominent social issues that Democrats believe they can win on.

The controversy has even divided some conservative Republicans, although Bush and many GOP officials have upheld the position of anti-abortion leaders that research that destroys embryos cells left over from fertility treatments constitutes an unacceptable taking of human life. Such embryos are usually discarded.

In a news release Monday, Pawlenty campaign manager Michael Krueger said the governor “supports stem cell research but believes safeguards should be in place so that it is not misused.” Krueger also touted Pawlenty’s support of broader bioscience research by the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic.

Earlier, Krueger said that Pawlenty believes “a limited number” of additional stem cell lines should be approved for federally funded research. The current lines authorized for federal funds are more than five years old and considered unsuitable for research, Hatch and Gunvalson said.

Gunvalson said her son has a strain of Duchenne muscular dystrophy that causes muscles to deteriorate and kills most of its victims by their early 20s.

“I’m personally pro-life,” she said. “I would never have an abortion. This research is as pro-life as you can get.”