On Tuesday, Capitol Alert reported Art Torres, chairman of the Democratic Party, is in the running to be the next vice-chairman of the state's stem-cell board, after being nominated by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and state Controller John Chiang.
Well, Torres has officially got some competition for the job.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated Duane Roth, a current member of the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee, to be the next vice-chairman on Tuesday.
The fight over the vice-chairmanship of the stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, ultimately comes down to money.
As in Torres has said he will accept a salary and Roth has said he will not.
In a Dec. 4 letter to the stem-cell board, Schwarzenegger wrote that he has "deep concerns" about the chairman and vice-chairman collecting salaries.
The current chairman, Robert Klein, has served in that post since 2004 without pay, but the board is meeting this week to consider granting him a salary. Salary guidelines for the agency put him in line for a $275,000 to $508,000 salary.
The prior vice-chairman, Ed Penhoet, also did not collect a salary. The vice-chairman's pay range is $180,000 to $332,000.
"Mr. Roth has asked me to convey that, should he be elected Vice Chair...he will not accept any such compensation," Schwarzenegger wrote in his nomination letter.
In his earlier letter, Schwarzenegger said he wanted to "ensure that compensation for these positions is offered only if and to the extent absolutely necessary to implement its mission."
Proposition 71, the 2004 initiative that created the stem-cell agency, empowered the board to distribute grants worth up to $3 billion for embryonic stem-cell research.
Roth, interestingly enough, wasn't Schwarzenegger's first pick for the job. On Monday, he actually sent a nomination letter for Claire Pomeroy, another ICOC member and the dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine.
But Pomeroy's nomination was withdrawn within 24 hours "citing time constraints and a desire to avoid the potential for or appearance of any conflicts of interest," Schwarzenegger's letter.
Roth, who is the CEO and chairman of Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., has known Schwarzenegger since at least 2004, when the governor named him to the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth.
Schwarzenegger touts Roth's prior service on the stem-cell commission as a reason his selection would lead to "a seamless transition."
"Duane is a hard-working CIRM board member who has long been an advocate for stem cell research and active member of the life sciences community," Schwarzenegger wrote.
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