Open letter to California RN’s, Friends and Family
Let me begin by saying that every election is important, and for a person for whom this Country is her adopted homeland I can’t imagine how anyone can make the choice not to exercise this precious privilege and right. That being said, I want to take this opportunity to say a few things about the shenanigans occurring in our Governor’s race.
Meg Whitman has spent millions on her campaign for the California Governor’s office. True, but so what – it’s her money after all! The last time I checked this was a free country, n’est pas? However some groups seem to feel that this is unseeingly, again so what, it’s her money. These same groups are spending their members’ money to oppose her candidacy, in some cases throwing millions into the effort to get her opponent elected; no one seems to question if all the dues paying members of these groups are copasetic with that state of affairs. But just in case, let’s say you inherit a boat load of money and you decide that instead of buying that $15,000 car you decided you’re going to buy yourself a fully loaded one for $50,000; are you not going to buy it just because your neighbors think you shouldn’t spend so much on a car – right it’s your money and you can chose how to spend it. Also, let’s not forget that Meg’s money has done a lot to stimulate the radio and television markets and those who work in those fields should be very happy to earn some extra cash during this economic down time.
Now let me address a few of what I believe are mischaracterizations and lies that have been spread by the leadership of the California Nurses Association. The C.N.A.’s have been going around town pretending that they are the voice of the California nurse, which they are not. As an association or membership organization they can only speak for their members, which in California hover somewhere between 65,000 to 80,000 depending on the source; there are over 400,000 actively licensed RNs in California – so do the math. The C.N.A. does not speak for California Nurses. So when they wave their signs that state Nurses say no to Whitman they are being both unethical and lying, they can say that C.N.A. nurses say no to Whitman but they have no right to say nurses until they represent a majority of California RNs.
The C.N.A. likes to play the victim in their campaign against Whitman claiming that she declared war on nurses (again with the lies). The truth is the C.N.A. leadership probably took a good look at the political tea leaves and realized that Whitman could probably hold her own against Brown and could win so during the primary they put their resources into influencing the Republican primary hoping that Poizner would be victorious. If this were to happen then there would be a strong likelihood that Poizner would loose to Brown and put the candidate of their choice into the Governor’s mansion. However defending yourself against those who malign, harass, descend on your private residence, and so forth is not declaring war it’s defending yourself.
However the biggest piece of irony in all this to me is the C.N.A.’s defense of Jerry Brown, because he’s the same governor that tried to destroy the nursing profession when he was our governor the last time around. Perhaps, the C.N.A. leadership and many of its members have forgotten Project Iatrogensis and the bill it spawned SB 666? Perhaps they forgot how California nurses from the bedside, from management and from the halls of education across this country came together to fight and ultimately defeat this ill though out brainchild of our then Governor Brown. Project Iatrogensis was Brown’s brainchild to address our state’s nursing shortage and called for an additional/alternate pathway through the various levels of nursing. So in short a nurse’s assistant need only show enough bedside experience, pass a special test and receive her/his LVN license; a LVN need only show enough bedside experience, pass a special test and receive his/her RN license; and finally a RN need only show enough bedside experience, pass a special test and violà become a physician. Is our “intuitional nursing” memory so short? I would hope not. Defeating SB 666 was no easy task it took the concerted effort of nurses not just in California but across this Country and we finally defeated it in committee, thanks to Dr. Green who at that time chaired the committee that was SB 666’s final stop. Ironically, it was the “old” incarnation of the C.N.A. that fought and bedeviled Brown over SB 666, but I guess that time heals all wounds and so what if their preferred candidate came within moments of turning California’s nurses and physicians into the laughing stock of the nation.
Do I think Whitman is the perfect candidate not in the least because there’s no such thing as a perfect candidate? Do I think she’s the better choice, yes! I hope all my fellow nurses will consider the C.N.A.’s anti-Whitman propaganda, and that during this election it has been them that cast the first stone and it has been them that has spread the false message that all California nurses oppose Whitman and finally it was them that descended en mass on Whitman’s neighborhood and home to picket and protest even when they knew she wouldn’t be there; and in society there should be some boundaries of respect and decency and if the C.N.A. membership could violate her privacy who else’s privacy would they be willing to violate to serve their purposes when it is convenient or necessary to promote their agenda?
In closing, remember Meg Whitman never concocted Project Iatrogensis and SB 666, but Jerry Brown did, so with that in mind -- please do not forget to vote on Tuesday, November 2nd.
