National Nurses United

12 J U N E 2 0 0 5 C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E Wally's Desert Turtle restaurant, also in Rancho Mirage. So far this year, CHA has reported lobbying on CNA's nursing expansion bill, lift team bill, and hospital closure bill—among others. Its lobbyists have attempted to influence nearly every healthcare-related agency that exists, from the Board of Registered Nurses to the Medi-Cal Operations Department to the Department of Managed Care. Some people in the political world who don't even call them- selves lobbyists also step in on behalf of CHA now and then. According to a May San Jose Mercury News article, Dauner had dinner with Bob White, a self-described Republican "strategist," and Pat Clarey, then Schwarzenegger's campaign manager and now his chief of staff, just four days after the governor won the recall election. The Mercury News reports that Dauner says they did not discuss ratios at the dinner. But Dauner clearly has access to the highest levels of Schwarzenegger staff, and the next year, the governor issued an emergency order rolling back major pro- visions of the ratio law. The official lobbying reports also do not account for the mil- lions that CHA spends on indirect activities, such as running "educational" media campaigns. After Schwarzenegger issued the emergency order, CHA paid to produce and air on prime time television a series of ads that praised Schwarzenegger for show- ing "common sense" in changing the nurse-to-patient ratios, include his earnings from CAHHS. If that had been included, he would have ranked fifth. In 2002, Dauner ranked 11th, again not counting his CAHHS compensation. CHA also spends hundreds of thousands—and sometimes over $1 million—every year maintaining an in-house team of eight lobbyists and contracting out lobbying functions to three firms—law firm Foley & Lardner, Thomas Advocacy, Inc., and a firm run by lobbyists Phillip Isenberg and Maureen O'Haren. In fact, CHA has spent the most on lobbying among health- related companies for five years running and for the first quarter of 2005, according to lobbying disclosure reports filed with the California Secretary of State's office. For the first three months of 2005, CHA has spent about $355,000. It spent $865,000 in 2004; $1.5 million in 2003; $1.2 million in 2002; $1.3 million in 2001; and about $1.3 million in 2000. For the past several legislative ses- sions, CHA has ranked in the top 20 and often the top 10 in spend- ing on lobbying among all companies that lobby in California. These dollars do not include the millions individual hospi- tal systems spend on lobbying. Many of the major corporations, such as Sutter Health, Tenet Healthcare, and the Kaiser Foun- dation Health Plan, retain their own lobbyists. Tenet spends about $70,500 per quarter on lobbying, totaling $282,000 per year; Sutter spends almost $30,000 per quarter, totaling $120,000 per year; and Kaiser spends almost $200,000 per quarter, totaling $800,000 per year. The hospitals lob- byists often coordinate with CHA lobbyists, teaming up on particular- ly big or controversial issues to pres- ent a unified front. Led by chief legislative advocate Martin Gallegos, CHA's lobbyists meet with a wide range of legislators, agency directors, and staff who regulate the healthcare and hospital industry. CHA holds functions and feeds them lunch, testifies on behalf of or against bills, and writes letters. On March 16, CHA lobbyists even treated now-Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman from Orange County and Tom Calderon, then a commissioner of a state agency that negotiates reim- bursement rates for Medi-Cal, to golf in Rancho Mirage—worth $165 for each person. Two days later, CHA wined and dined them, footing the $134 per person bill for a meal at $0 $500,000 $1,000,000 $1,500,000 $2,000,000 Expense account from CAHHS Employee benefit plan contribution from CAHHS Compensation from CAHHS Expense account from CHA Employee benefit plan contribution from CHA Compensation from CHA *2001 includes $1 million of deferred compensation from prior years. 2001 2002 2003 $1,708,875 $814,091 $908,498 $84,500 Average annual salary for Senior RN SOURCE: CHA and CAHHS Form 990 tax returns "CHA provides the cover for hospitals to engage in political campaigns that hospitals would have trouble engaging in by themselves... Individual hospitals don't have to sully their names by taking positions which are not in the best interests of patient care." —Deborah Burger, RN and CNA president C. DUANE DAUNER'S COMPENSATION Cover | Story

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