Lobbying by Rudy’s firm draws fire

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, has lobbied Congress on stem cell research for Johns Hopkins Institutions, according to its public filing.

This has drawn fire from social conservatives because Johns Hopkins’s stance on stem cell research appears to conflict with Giuliani’s stated position.

{mosads}“We believe Giuliani’s firm may be lobbying in favor of H.R. 2560, a bill that would allow the creation and destruction of human embryos for research purposes,” said Joseph Cella, president of Fidelis America, a conservative Catholic organization, who yesterday raised concerns over the lobbying records.

“It is important for the public to know if Giuliani’s firm is lobbying for this, or any other policies, that would promote embryo-destructive research.

“Should this be the case, how can he justify profiting from this lobbying when it would contradict his public position on the issue?”

Mike Pate, head of Bracewell & Giuliani’s Washington office, said lobbying records paint a misleading picture.

“The firm does represent Johns Hopkins University, one of the top medical systems in the nation,” said Pate in a written statement. “We have worked with them on the sustainability of the Medicare system and AIDS research, among other topics.

“We have also monitored a broad range of medical issues, which included the stem cell topic. But the firm has never lobbied regarding legislation to advance stem cell research of any description. While lobbying registration forms mention stem cell research, they state that the firm’s primary task is to work on healthcare issues generally.

“Fidelis might have known this if they checked with us or with Johns Hopkins, for that matter,” said Pate.

Bracewell & Giuliani’s disclosure report lists healthcare as its general issue area. It lists stem cell research as its only specific lobbying issue. It does not mention Medicare or AIDS research.

“Of course, in any event, Mayor Giuliani does not and has never lobbied on behalf of firm clients,” said Pate.

 Giuliani is still associated with the firm.

Giuliani’s spokeswoman fired back at conservative critics.

“It’s clear this is just another partisan and political organization that hasn’t bothered to get their facts straight,” said Maria Comella of Fidelis’s charges.  

This week, stem cell research is at the forefront of conservatives’ attention; the House was expected to vote last night on H.R. 2560, the Human Cloning Prohibition Act, sponsored by Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).

The National Right to Life Committee dubbed the legislation the “clone-and-kill” bill because it would allow for somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

“SCNT is, of course, simply the standard cloning process, the same process that was used to produce Dolly the sheep and thousands of other mammalian clones,” wrote Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee,
in a letter to members of Congress.

Johnson calls the legislation “clone-and-kill” because it bans the cloned embryos from being allowed to develop in a uterus.

A public filing made by Bracewell & Giuliani in February shows that the firm lobbied the House and Senate, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services, on stem cell research on behalf of Johns Hopkins University Hospital.

A spokesman for Johns Hopkins, Dennis O’Shea, said the medical institution did not hire Bracewell& Giuliani to push specific legislation.  

“We have not engaged Bracewell & Giuliani to lobby on behalf of legislation to advance stem cell research,” he said. “We have worked with them in other areas.”

Johns Hopkins’s website indicates that it is prepared to conduct research on human cells cloned with somatic cell nuclear transfer technology, although it does so in accordance with an oversight board.

“It is the policy of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine that all research using human embryonic stem cells and/or somatic cell nuclear transfer involving human cells being conducted by [Johns Hopkins School of Medicine] faculty, staff or students or involving the use of [Johns Hopkins School of Medicine] facilities shall be subject to oversight by the JHU [Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight] committee,” Johns Hopkins states on its website.

But while Johns Hopkins has set up a review process to conduct research on cloned cells, Giuliani, the named partner of the firm that represents it on the Hill, has declared his opposition to such research.

In a recent GOP presidential debate hosted by the Reagan Library, Giuliani said he opposed research that created and destroyed embryonic cells.

When asked if he would expand federal funding of stem cell research, Giuliani replied: “As long as we’re not creating life in order to destroy it, as long as we’re not having human cloning, and we limit it to that, and there is plenty of opportunity to, then use federal funds in those situations where you have limitations.

“So I would support it with those limitations, like Sen. [Norm] Coleman’s (R-Minn.) bill in Congress.”

But the director of the stem cell program at Johns Hopkins, Dr. John Gearhart, has blasted Coleman’s bill as ineffective.

“We find this to be an absolutely bizarre bill because the presumption upon which it is based is flawed,” said Gearhart in an April article in The New York Times.