Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/197973
NewsBriefs_Sept 10/5/10 7:02 PM Page 4 NEWS BRIEFS Candidates RNs Can Be Proud to Support in 2010 s registered nurses, NNU members vote their values— caring, compassion, and community. But as the election cycle heats up and commercial images bombard and sometimes misinform, it can be challenging to know which candidates hold the same values as nurses and who, once elected, will effectively advocate for bills and positions that protect those values. You may feel as though voting doesn't matter as much in this non-presidential election cycle, but nothing could be further from the truth. If nurses are committed to advancing issues that help them be patient advocates and protecting their profession from illadvised weakening of worker protections and social safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare, voting for nurse-endorsed candidates means more in 2010 than in perhaps any other time in recent history. NNU's nurse leaders have been busy vetting the candidates from coast to coast, have studied their platforms and positions, and are pleased to report on the following endorsed candidates for seats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. In Massachusetts, MNA and NNU have endorsed incumbent Congressman James McGovern in the 3rd Congressional District. In Pennsylvania, Bryan Lentz gained the RN endorsement in the 6th District, and Joe Sestak is the U.S. Senate candidate that the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and A 4 N AT I O N A L N U R S E Allied Professionals and NNU believe should be elected. Nurses at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia know how critical having elected officials who support nurses' values can be as they worked their way through to winning their strike last spring. In Michigan, the Michigan Nurses Association and NNU have chosen several races for attention: Gary McDowell in the 1st District; Fred Johnson in the 2nd; Mark Schauer in the 7th; Gary Peters in the 9th; Henry Yanez in the 10th; Natalie Mosher in the 11th; and John Dingell in the 15th. The Minnesota Nurses Association and NNU have a special opportunity to not only elect their endorsed candidate Tarryl Clark in the 6th Congressional District but also to defeat her opponent Michele Bachmann, who hails herself as the head of the Tea Party movement and clearly does not support issues critical to working families and RNs. In California, the California Nurses Association has strongly opposed the campaign of gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO and billionaire who has promised to fire tens of thousands of public employees and who values her corporate friendships and alliances much more than she does the people of California. CNA is supporting Jerry Brown, who has See the back consistently champicover for NNU's oned the rights of endorsements working people and W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G FROM LEFT : Ami Bera, Natalie Mosher, Barbara Boxer, Tarryl Clark, Mark Schauer, Joe Sestak, Fred Johnson, James McGovern, Dina Titus, Harry Reid previously as governor implemented ratios in California's ICUs. Equally troubling as Whitman is the candidacy of Carly Fiorina, another corporate darling, for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by the RNs' endorsed candidate Sen. Barbara Boxer. Boxer is the chief sponsor of the national safe staffing and patient ratio bill, and she has been protecting nurses' interests throughout her career. Also in California, nurses have endorsed candidates for the U.S. House: Dr. Ami Bera in the 3rd District, Bill Hedrick in the 44th, and Steve Pougnet in the 45th. In Nevada, nurses also have a huge opportunity to support and reelect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over his opponent Sharron Angle. NNOC and NNU are also pulling for U.S. House candidate Dina Titus in the 3rd Congressional District of Nevada. One of the nurses' favorite candidates is in Ohio's 14th Congressional District. Pediatric ER nurse Bill O'Neill is making his second bid for a seat in the U.S. Congress. In the 2008 election cycle, nurses from all over the East Coast traveled to O'Neill's district to lend their support. O'Neill was named one of 2008's Healthcare Heroes by nurses because his stand on issues was so strongly aligned with RN values. SEPTEMBER 2010