Schwarzenegger Addresses Proposition 71 With Orange County Register Editorial Board

In an interview Monday with the Orange County Register editorial board, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) addressed a variety of issues, including stem cell research.

Asked if the $6 billion in debt resulting from Proposition 71 will encourage groups to place similar ballot measures mandating state funding on future ballots, Schwarzenegger said that "stem cell research was a very unique situation. Because of what the potential is in the future on health."

Referring to his belief in fiscal conservatism, Schwarzenegger said stem cell research is a situation "where your own philosophy sometimes falls apart."

Schwarzenegger continued, "[O]n the federal level we are not really doing enough, and I think that we want to be on the forefront of the biotech business, which is such an important industry in California. Let us get all the attention, and let everyone come ... to California and really work and do the research and let us do the work to find cures for some of those things, hopefully within the next 10 years" (Orange County Register, 2/9).