Keep CPRIT focused on research
Express-News Editorial Board
Updated 4:17 pm, Wednesday, January 30, 2013
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For a politician who once said that government should “trust
capital markets and (the) private sector to make the decisions, and let
the consumers pick winners and losers,” Gov. Rick Perry certainly has had a change of heart.
As a candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination, Perry was critical of the idea that government can create jobs and opposed government transfers of wealth. As governor of Texas, it's a different story.
Perry has been a staunch advocate of the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund as tools for economic development. Taxpayer dollars bankroll both funds which, as the governor's website describes the Texas Enterprise Fund, “help attract new jobs and investment to the state.”
Perry's job creation claims, however, haven't stood up to scrutiny. His manipulation of the Texas Enterprise Fund, including circumvention of the fund's advisory panel to award $50 million to a controversial project at Texas A&M University, his alma mater, and the distribution of grants to a large number of companies whose principals are significant donors to his campaigns earned Perry charges of “crony capitalism” from his GOP competitors.
That sketchy history is enough to oppose Perry's efforts to transform the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas into another public investment vehicle from which, he told the Houston Chronicle, “wealth can be created.” What's worse, changing CPRIT's mission to commercialization and wealth creation amounts to a bait and switch with taxpayers.
Voters approved up to $3 billion for CPRIT in 2007 with the understanding that it would fund “research in Texas to find the causes of and cures for cancer.” The ballot measure, Proposition 15, said nothing about commercialization.
CPRIT's grant-making process is already a source of controversy. The institute's leaders and lawmakers should resist pressure from Perry to shift CPRIT's mission away from basic research. When it comes to commercializing cures and treatments, let the market of medical professionals and cancer patients pick winners and losers.
As a candidate seeking the Republican presidential nomination, Perry was critical of the idea that government can create jobs and opposed government transfers of wealth. As governor of Texas, it's a different story.
Perry has been a staunch advocate of the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund as tools for economic development. Taxpayer dollars bankroll both funds which, as the governor's website describes the Texas Enterprise Fund, “help attract new jobs and investment to the state.”
Perry's job creation claims, however, haven't stood up to scrutiny. His manipulation of the Texas Enterprise Fund, including circumvention of the fund's advisory panel to award $50 million to a controversial project at Texas A&M University, his alma mater, and the distribution of grants to a large number of companies whose principals are significant donors to his campaigns earned Perry charges of “crony capitalism” from his GOP competitors.
That sketchy history is enough to oppose Perry's efforts to transform the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas into another public investment vehicle from which, he told the Houston Chronicle, “wealth can be created.” What's worse, changing CPRIT's mission to commercialization and wealth creation amounts to a bait and switch with taxpayers.
Voters approved up to $3 billion for CPRIT in 2007 with the understanding that it would fund “research in Texas to find the causes of and cures for cancer.” The ballot measure, Proposition 15, said nothing about commercialization.
CPRIT's grant-making process is already a source of controversy. The institute's leaders and lawmakers should resist pressure from Perry to shift CPRIT's mission away from basic research. When it comes to commercializing cures and treatments, let the market of medical professionals and cancer patients pick winners and losers.
