The CNA has been in the headlines for other reasons lately, but I don’t think anyone can discount the incredible activism they have engaged in on behalf of patients being denied life-saving medical treatment. Word now comes of another victory against the “murder by spreadsheet” insurance industry who felt like saving a kid’s life wasn’t good for business.
In the face of a national campaign on behalf of Nick Colombo, insurance giant PacifiCare has reversed its decisions and agreed to critically needed cancer treatments for the 17-year-old from Placentia, Calif. The decision came after the company was overwhelmed by calls organized by Nick’s friends and family, along with RNs from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, and netroots activists.
Over 100 of Nick’s classmates, friends of the family with their young children, and nurses protested in front of the insurance company headquarters this morning to demand that the approval be put in writing, which a PacifiCare representative, surrounded by T.V. cameras, and promised to do.
“I am extremely happy about PacifiCare’s reversal, said Ricky Colombo, Nick’s 19-year old brother. “The goal was to get treatment for Nick, and CNA/NNOC and other allies helped us with that. We decided to go through with the rally in order to get their decision on the record and make sure they back up their words-and also because there are thousands of others in similar situations who can’t get the care they need. We feel blessed to have this community supporting our family.”
In the fight for universal health care, all sides of the debate on the left are going to be instrumental. The CNA’s tenacity and effectiveness in organizing “patient revolts” like this is very valuable, particularly to show the inequities in the current broken health care system. Activists shut down PacifiCare’s phone system on multiple occasions before they capitulated.
To beat the powerful interests that want to maintain the status quo you’re going to need every activist and every strategy you can find. And we’re going to win this fight, one patient at a time.
Last week, I read in the New York Times how the “unusually militant” California Nurses Association (CNA) swarmed into Ohio hospitals and broke up a scheduled union vote for some 8,300 Ohio hospital workers to join with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
It didn’t make much sense to me: a union fighting another union and then robbing innocent workers of their chance to vote? Then I read further. According to the article, CNA believes that “skilled workers like nurses should belong to nurses' unions and not to unions of diverse workers like the service employees.” In other words, CNA believes that the very organizations responsible for fairness in the workforce should actually divide workers and keep them from presenting a unified voice at the bargaining table.
To quote Senator Barack Obama, “that’s just wrong-headed.”
When I worked as a maintenance worker at a paper mill in my home state of Wisconsin, uniting all classes and all trades of workers was the only way we could succeed with our employer. We didn’t just get together with other instrumentation workers; that would have been fruitless. I worked with the skilled electricians, millwrights, carpenters, plumbers, machine operators, line workers, and forklift operators. We even struggled arm-in-arm with the mill's cleaners—workers who CNA would have labeled “unskilled” and excluded.
Even for people who haven’t gone down the challenging and forever rewarding path of organizing a union, the CNA’s strategy doesn’t make any sense. Everyone knows that we can get a bigger piece of the pie if we work together. Divisions are exactly what keep us fighting over the crumbs down at the bottom.
In my opinion, the CNA practices an elitist craft unionism and doesn't understand the power of industrial unionism. Fine—everyone’s entitled to his or her opinion. But it's really not okay—especially in an era when less than 8 percent of the private-sector is unionized—to attack the efforts of SEIU, a union seeking to build a united voice for all workers in the workplace.
I'm 36 years old. Since 1998, I've fought my own personal battle for health care as a person living with multiple sclerosis (MS). No health insurance company will sell me health insurance or life insurance or long term care insurance.
That’s why the strength and success of SEIU’s campaign to get healthcare for all is so important to me. And it’s why I won’t stay silent when groups like CNA attempt to undermine SEIU's well-intentioned efforts for their own petty political gains. So, to the California Nurse’s Association, I say “knock it off.” Go ahead and build your elitist union, but keep your hands off workers who want to stand united and get a bigger piece of the pie.
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Scott Hanson is a researcher with SEIU Healthcare District 1199WI where he lives in Middleton, Wisconsin. Prior to returning home to Wisconsin to be near family, he worked for 6 years with the HEREIU (now UNITE HERE) as an organizer. When not working he spends time on walks with his wife and is active with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Especially this year, his grandpa’s words, “When you vote, vote Democrat” and “when you can, vote for the union” have never rang so true. Especially, if you want to make a pledge for this year’s MS Walk, Scott can be reached at [email protected].
San Francisco mayor announced yesterday that SF will be suing the state over Medi-Cal reimbursements. Just so you know, under the new fee schedule primary care providers would get either $18 or $24 per visit. That’s hardly enough to make it worth hiring somebody to fill out the forms, let alone pay rent, buy equipment, etc. Of course, part of this is a failure at the state level for allowing these cuts, part of this is a federal problem, with federal rates too low. But, to be clear here, the federal government provides a 1:1 match for increased reimbursements, so we are leaving a lot on the table here.
Hanh Quach at Health Access says that she likes the start, but more can be done:
It’s nice that there is a high-profile ally who will shed light on budget cuts–he predicts that these cuts will have a big impact on San Francisco–a county that comparatively spends more on health care than others. If that’s the impact in SF, how much worse will it be in the rest of the state?
***
I’m a little disappointed, though, that Newsom didn’t come out more strongly in favor of a solution–one that includes revenues. He knows one of the problems is that we don’t have enough money. The state has chosen to shuffle money hither and yon and enact budgets that slid out of balance the minute they were signed into law.
Really, it’s all part of the Norquistian strategy to remove the social safety net that was built under FDR through LBJ. Brick by brick, the conservatives are demolishing it. We are finally beginning to wake up to that, but far too late.
Senator John McCain does not plan to make any public statements during today’s brief visit to The Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach.
But union families, organized through the Monterey Bay Labor Council, intend to make some of their own.
A union demonstration against the senator’s economic policies will take place at noon at the Highway 1 entrance to Pebble Beach during McCain’s $2,300-per-person fundraising luncheon. The demonstration is part of the AFL-CIO’s recently launched $53 million “McCain Revealed” campaign, which focuses on McCain’s support of President George W. Bush’s economic policies, which the AFL-CIO claims have hurt working Americans.
McCain’s spent three days here in California, giving speeches that show he’s as out of touch with America’s domestic and foreign policy challenges as he is unsuccessful with a teleprompter. Please come back, John, we’ll leave the light on for ya. Between this labor muscle and a general distaste for Republicans, the more McSame wastes his time arguing for a third Bush term in California, the better.
UPDATE by Robert The Monterey County Democrats also held a rally to mark McSame’s visit to Pebble Beach, this one on the steps of Colton Hall in Monterey, where California’s first constitution was written and signed in 1849. It was billed as a “unity rally” to bring Hillary and Obama supporters together to train their fire on McSame, instead of on each other.
Vinz Koller, chairman of the Monterey County Democrats, gave an excellent speech noting McSame’s visit to Orange County yesterday, where he said the best action on foreclosures was no action, as well as his visit to the ultra-wealthy, private Spanish Bay resort to raise money; as well as his ongoing support for the ruinous Iraq War.
More pictures over the flip.
Vinz Koller reframing the 2008 election as Democrats vs. more-of-the-same
The ABC affiliate in SF did a story about one of the mobile home parks in San Rafael tripling rates after San Rafael’s rent control ordinance was overturned. You can view the story here. Unsurprisingly, the landowner, Sam Zell’s Equity Lifestyle immediately almost tripled the rents at the Contempo mobile home park. The decision itself is probably bad law as other courts have found rent control to be a valid exercise of a city’s power, but that doesn’t change the consequences for many of Contempo’s residents.
If we Prop 98 passes, the advocates say, the old tenants will be grandfathered in. That’s true, but only so long as they stay in the house. In addition to permanent vacancy decontrol, Prop 98 eliminates much of the protections against evictions. So, landlords can just evict long-standing tenants and rent the unit at the higher market rents and poof there goes rent control for those renters. We can see how this traumatizes a community, just for the sake of a few landlords.
As I said Monday, June will be a low turnout election. We need to make sure the progressive voters turnout to save rent control and tenant protections.
UPDATE: I neglected to include information about the case. It is MHC Financing Limited Partnership v. City of San Rafael. Apparently MHC likes to challenge rent control in California, as they also challenged the City of Santee’s rent control ordinance. The Court of Appeal for the fourth district overturned a trial court decision striking down Santee’s rent control ordinance. But, MHC did not give up. Nope, they sued San Rafael too, and won in the trial court. Now let’s see if they can get the federal circurit court to agree with them too. If so, it would be a disaster for tenant rights.
(Disclosure – I’ve just signed on as Ron Shepston’s netroots coordinator. And I’m proud that he’s the first California challenger to endorse the Repsonsible Plan to End the War in Iraq. Ron is in a contested primary and needs your help to continue the leadership he’s shown in supporting this plan all the way to Congress. Please consider making a donation to his campaign today. – promoted by David Dayen)
I was working in Brisbane, Australia on 9/11. I’d long past gotten over jet lag but something woke me in the middle of the night. When I turned on the TV to CNN International and saw the graphic “America Under Attack” my first thought was that it was simply more media over-the-top hype. As I watched, I saw that was not the case and my anger grew at whoever it was who attacked us. I’d never felt so much anger in my life and I doubt that ever will again. I called friends and family to “be” with them, but I knew that I couldn’t, not only because of the distance, but because all air travel was suspended.
Because I travel the world in my job I have friends in many countries. I was receiving calls from many who offered support and love for me and America after such a vicious attack that killed so many innocent people. Literally, the world was with us, so I was hopeful that our President would use this as an opportunity to further unite the world.
As the days passed, I was behind Bush when he ordered Afghanistan attacked. When I came home for a few weeks, I watched and waited for the administration to begin to do something else right. Instead, I watched and listened as they went down the path of attacking Iraq. I couldn’t believe it. As I watched the international TV coverage after I returned to Australia, I could see that the administration simply wanted to attack Iraq as a show of strength and a projection of military might.
When the war ended and the occupation began, I watched the goodwill of the world evaporate like water on a hot skillet. One by one and country by country, the Bush administration squandered an historic opportunity to unite the world in the fight against terrorism and for global peace. It would be difficult to imagine how the situation could be any worse if they tried to fail. Their incompetence is staggering; the damage equally staggering, and long-term.
To try to salvage anything by staying this long, and having even a single additional soldier or a single additional Iraqi civilian die, would not be worth it. It’s too late to have any good that would offset the damage already done. It’s time to leave in a responsible way for both America and Iraq.
George Bush or the next President must give the order to prepare a plan to leave. Generals implement orders. From General Franks to General Petraeus, they have all attempted to plan to wage a war and occupation they didn’t want to wage. As a veteran, I know that generals have few choices – they could do their best to execute their orders, or leave the service.
Generals don’t get far by being negative so they will always look for a way to succeed. It’s no surprise that General Petraeus can sound positive in the face of such a daunting occupation. It’s part of his job.
It’s time to give him an order that he can carry out fully. That’s what The Responsible Plan to End the War does and that’s why I have signed on to it.
Our plan will
1. End U.S. Military Action in Iraq
2. Use U.S. diplomatic power
3. Address humanitarian concerns
4. Restore our Constitution
5. Restore our military
6. Restore independence to the media
7. Create a new, U.S.-centered energy policy
Implementing the plan will accomplish the goal of leaving quickly with responsibility to America and Iraqis.
For a very comprehensive discussion of the plan and the consequences my friend Adam has a great post with a great discussion.
Any discussion of Iraq leads to many different theories. Historians will paint a picture of the war of Iraq as having a profound and pervasively negative influence on America and American society. Indeed, this will have impact far beyond our borders and far outside my lifetime. Here’s a great comment talking about exactly this so much better than I could.
The nature of the final impact rests with us – the individual citizen. If we are to take what this administration and those who enable it to show Americans that there is a better way to govern then this generation will become the next great generation.
When Darcy Burner first asked if I wanted to be part of the effort to create the plan I immediately said “yes”. I was grateful for the opportunity to be involved in something this important to the future of America, Iraq and in fact, the world.
I support the Responsible Plan To End The War. And with your help, I and the dozens of others who have signed on to this plan can go to Washington with a mandate to end this terrible war and change the conversation around our national security. Please visit our Act Blue page today and make a contribution if you can to my campaign before the end of the quarter on Monday. Together we really can change the country for the better. Thanks.
(With the implementation of AB 32, the global warming emissions law, nuclear is sure to be the subject of much discussion. Here’s Asm. Levine’s take. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Here we go again. The issue of renewing the development of nuclear power is rearing its ugly head under the guise of making California the happiest, greenest place on Earth. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing this Disney-like scenario and it needs a reality check. Nuclear power simply has no future in California’s new energy era.
If Californians give nuclear power a new lease on life, we will be moving in the wrong direction and relying on false promises. Today, even during a housing and economic slump, homeowners and businesses are turning to affordable, safe, clean and dependable energy in record numbers.
The governor believes nuclear power is the answer to global warming, but nothing could be further from the truth. Nuclear power is dirty, dangerous, too expensive and cannot exist without massive taxpayer subsidies.
A vicious pollution cycle also comes with the nuclear-power package. The production process of mining uranium to fuel nuclear plants requires massive, diesel-powered machinery that grossly pollutes the air. The mined uranium would then have to be shipped to the United States in large, diesel-powered ships and reprocessed into nuclear fuel in pollution-producing coke ovens.
In the meantime, uranium resources within the United States are growing scarce and driving up prices.
We already import most of the uranium needed to run existing plants. New plants would require even more imported uranium and, for much of that, we would need to become vulnerable to unstable African dictatorships.
If that weren’t enough reason to turn away from the nuclear option, there’s also the massive cost – $10 billion or more – to construct a single nuclear power plant. Construction is so expensive that no utility is willing to undertake the costs and the Bush administration recently pushed through a $50 billion subsidy to assist utilities in covering the costs.
Today it would take more than a decade to get a new nuclear plant in California, factoring in the approval process, construction and getting it online. That’s certainly no prescription for meeting our energy needs.
The California Legislature enacted nuclear power plant safety laws in 1976 – before the disastrous accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nuclear plants. Those laws have served us well. Before new nuclear plants could be built in California, we would need to repeal those laws and give up the protection they provide. One of those laws prohibits construction of new nuclear plants until there is a proven means for safe disposal of the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel the plants produce.
In the 28 years since those safety laws were enacted, we have come no nearer to a solution to the nuclear-waste disposal problem today than we were then. And remember, that spent fuel has a lethal half-life of 500,000 years.
Nuclear power plants are so risky that, for the last 50 years, the federal government has had to provide liability protection for plant operators to cover potential disasters. That’s not very comforting in a state like California that is laced with earthquake faults.
Nuclear power has many of the same negatives as the liquefied natural gas plant that was recently proposed off the coast of Ventura County. Both are expensive, dangerous and would divert funds from the development of safer, cleaner alternatives like geothermal, solar and wind power. I strongly opposed the LNG plant and I will strongly oppose the governor’s nuclear endorsement.
– Lloyd Levine, D-Woodland Hills, Los Angeles County, is chairman of the state Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.
Just over a month ago, on a $2 budget, David Dayen created A Message from the California Yachting Association and unveiled it here at Calitics, mocking the California Republican Party’s transformation into the Yacht Party. It was an instant smash.
That ad inspired the Courage Campaign to create another Yacht Party ad, this one taking it to the floor of the Legislature and defining the Republicans as the party that protects tax loopholes while watching schools and health care collapse:
Last week’s fundraising campaign was so successful – bringing in over $11,000 in just a few days – that we’ve been able to get this ad onto Sacramento cable TV Wednesday night, on CNN, MSNBC, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report.
Perhaps just as significantly, the successful campaign has brought in new allies on the Yacht Party project. If Courage Campaign can raise $5,000 in the next 48 hours, both Speaker Fabian Núñez and SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West have promised to each match that with $5,000 of their own. That would enable another ad buy not just in Sacramento, but in the home districts of some of the most obstinate Republicans.
This is a significant pledge. It represents the coming together of the netroots, of organized labor, and one of the most powerful Democratic politicians in our state in a shared effort to take the fight to the Republicans, and help stop their efforts to destroy our public services just so rich folks can get a tax break.
I’ve been in the netroots a long time, and have been an observer of California politics for even longer. And I’ve always hoped that such coalitions could be built – progressive coalitions to take back our state from the radicals who have governed it into the ground. These groups haven’t always seen eye to eye, but they also recognize the importance of the budget fight, and the need for common action.
Even if you don’t donate – though I hope you will – I think it’s worth reflecting on just how significant a moment this is.
Over the flip is the fundraising email we sent out to Courage Campaign members today. And pay attention to the “P.S.” at the end – if you like these Yacht Party ads, perhaps you can help us create the next one.
Wow. We’ve got some wonderful news for you.
On Thursday, we asked you to help us raise $10,000 by noon today to get our 30-second “Yacht Party” TV ad on the air in Sacramento, taking the budget fight to head-in-the-sand Republicans in Sacramento. With California facing a massive $16 billion deficit and teachers being laid off by the thousands, Republicans are supporting a shocking tax loophole for, get this: yacht purchases.
Californians have had enough. That’s why our TV ad compelled 335 donors to raise $11,023 combined on ActBlue and our web site, surpassing our first goal. Now, because of your generosity, we just bought time on Sacramento cable to air “Yacht Party” this Wednesday on CNN, MSNBC, the Daily Show and Colbert Report — an action that has attracted media attention across California.
The good news gets even better:
Your people-powered response to our re-framing of the Republicans has inspired our good friends — United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez — to get on board.
What will it mean for our community to meet this $5,000 match by SEIU-UHW and Speaker Núñez? It means extending our ad buy in Sacramento to Thursday AND expanding it to air the ad in specific districts where California Republican “Yacht Party” Assembly members are most vulnerable.
It also means moving one step closer to making 2008 a new era for progressive politics in California. It’s so exciting to see progressives working together in common cause, from the netroots and the Courage Campaign to our friends in organized labor and the Assembly.
If you can help us make this $5,000 match, we can make history. Together.
Will you take 30 seconds to watch “Yacht Party” and then contribute $25, $50, $75, $100, $150 or more on ActBlue to match Speaker Nunez and SEIU-UHW’s challenge before Thursday’s deadline?
We can’t afford to close this disastrous deficit with devastating cuts. Common sense dictates that California bring in new revenue by ending these unbelievable tax loopholes for the rich. The sooner you take action either by contributing or forwarding this message to your friends, the sooner we can pressure the Republicans to stop destroying our social safety net.
Together, we helped kill the GOP’s electoral college “dirty trick,” count the “double bubble” votes in Los Angeles County, and block Blackwater’s base on the California border. And now, SEIU-UHW and Speaker Núñez are joining you to re-frame the Republicans and end this appalling yacht tax loophole for the super-wealthy.
With 30 seconds of your time and a few dollars, we can change the conversation inside Sacramento, help fix our gaping $16 billion state budget deficit, and rebuild the California dream.
Please watch “Yacht Party” and help us make the $5,000 match before Thursday:
And yes, thank you again for making this amazing news possible.
Rick Jacobs
Chair
P.S. Do you own a yacht? Or do you know someone who does? This campaign has gone so well, we want to film another “Yacht Party” TV ad. But this time we need an actual yacht, not just an animated version. If you know someone, preferably in Southern California, who wouldn’t mind having the Courage Campaign film a commercial on their yacht, please email us at “[email protected]”. Thanks!
This is really kind of priceless. So the Assembly caucuses are having their legislative retreats this week. The Assembly Democrats are meeting at the UC Davis Medical Center. The Assembly Republicans have booked out this hotel. In addition to the many amenities at the Le Rivage Hotel, they offer:
Marina – Offers luxury yacht parking, long term and short term
Whether it’s welfare queen Tom McClintock grabbing $300,000 in tax-free per diem payments even though he lives a short commute from the capital, or Jeff Denham pretending to decline pay raises while accepting them a few months after everyone stops paying attention, or Assembly Republicans making sure their retreat has luxury yacht parking, the contrast between the party of the people and the party of self-enrichment is striking. The Yacht Party detests runaway spending unless it’s spent on them.
Hot on the heels of the record $350,000 fine levied against Sen. Migden, the Fair Political Practices Commission is now suing her for $9 million “for her consistent and deliberate failure to follow California’s campaign laws.”
The commission’s filings indicated that Migden’s actions hid the true nature of her campaign accounts from state regulators, potential opponents, the media and the public generally. She failed to report a number of large transactions entirely, while reporting other large transactions which simply never occurred.
“For years, Senator Migden has been deceiving the voters of California by filing inaccurate campaign statements, fabricating the elimination of committees and concealing campaign funds,” said FPPC Chairman Ross Johnson. “The sophisticated and pervasive pattern of deception by her various controlled committees has been ongoing for more than five years.”
Earlier this month, Migden was fined $350,000 by the commission and admitted to 89 violations of the Political Reform Act. During the months-long investigation that resulted in that record fine, the enforcement division also uncovered multiple illegal transfers of approximately $1 million of surplus campaign funds that occurred over several years and were funneled through multiple committee accounts controlled by the senator. Additionally, the investigation found the filing of untrue campaign statements and a pattern of concealment through consistent misreporting of campaign information.
The commission maintains that nearly $1 million in Migden’s 2000 Assembly re-election committee became surplus by operation of law when she left the lower house in December of 2002 and are not legally available for her to use in her current Senate re-election campaign. The surplus funds law has been on the books for nearly 30 years; however, Migden sued the FPPC arguing she should be allowed to use $647,000 of those funds that remain.
This is a countersuit to the Migden lawsuit noted in the last paragraph. Obviously this isn’t good news for her, coming on the heels of that already-substantial fine. And this is going to make what was an uphill campaign that much more difficult for her to win.
UPDATE by Robert The 
