National Nurses United

Commentary_FNL CX 5/8/10 3:16 PM Page 15 Jerry Brown Governor The Nurses' Choice for California T he california nurses association/ National Nurses Organizing Committee executive board unanimously endorsed Democrat Jerry Brown for governor of California at its March 20 meeting. "Jerry Brown is the only candidate for governor who will fight for ordinary people, and who understands the nursing profession," said Zenei Cortez, RN, Co-president of CNA/NNOC. If the past is prologue, nurses and patients would fare very well if Brown, a former governor and current attorney general of the state, is elected governor in November. In his first tenure as California governor from 1975 to 1983, Brown substantially improved patient care standards as well as the workplace rights for millions of Californians. He implemented the nation's first nurse-to-patient ratios, in intensive care units, and enacted collective bargaining rights for employees of the University of California, including thousands of nurses. A consistent ally of the labor movement, Brown signed the first agricultural labor relations law in the country, and created an innovative job training program for low-income Californians, the California Worksite Education and Training Act. He also made California a national model in environmental and energy regulations and created the California Conservation Corps to provide the state's young people with employment in environmental stewardship and disaster response. Consumer protections enacted under Brown's leadership include the right to purchase generic drugs, and the nation's first affordable "lifeline" utility rates for seniors. In his current role as California's Attorney General, Brown oversees corporations and charities, including hospitals, and has APRIL 2010 blocked the sale of community hospitals to for-profit chains. His office is conducting an investigation into the denial of claims by insurance companies, sparked by a CNA/ NNOC study showing denial rates as high as 39 percent. "As Attorney General, Jerry Brown is working to crack down on the unconscionable practices of insurance industries denying healthcare and access to care," Cortez said at the organization's board meeting, before offering the motion to endorse Brown. At the meeting, Brown decried corporate healthcare's emphasis on cost-cutting and skill-degrading technology at the expense of patients. "We're in the midst of an effort to replace people with formulas, with protocols, with computer software," he said. "That really is inhuman. I see it in healthcare. We have to put the patient, the caregiver right in the forefront. A sense of morality, social justice, and a true spirit of democracy has to be the spirit going forward." Brown's effective enforcement of workplace protections includes suing unscrupulous employers for denying workers wages and benefits required by state law, shutting down companies that have jeopardized worker safety, and prosecuting businesses that have bilked California's workers' compensation system or otherwise circumvented state tax and employment laws. It's an unmatched record on behalf of working families. And it's a critical time for California. Having failed to solve the budget crisis for over two years—a crisis largely created 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 by current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's givebacks to the richest Californians and excessive borrowing prior to the financial collapse—the state faces another $20 billion deficit this year. Unemployment is at a modern record of 12.5 percent. We're just now seeing an increase in consumer spending but no significant uptick in hiring. Brown's public service experience will bring Californians together to solve these problems. A Brown victory in the nation's most populated state would also pave the way to enact nurse- and patient-friendly legislation that could serve as a model for the rest of the country. As California heads towards a June 8 primary election, the two multi-millionaires vying to become Brown's Republican challenger boast that they will run the state 'like a business.' Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has shown what corporate-style rule by a rich autocrat does for California nurses, patients and workers. Continuing with this approach is contraindicated. Fortunately, California has an effective alternative: experienced leadership with a proven record on behalf of the state's working families. N AT I O N A L N U R S E 15

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