National Nurses United

the ability of CNA's highest elected officers to meet the growing demands for participation in both CNA and public events and often multiple, daily presentations to the media. A Council of Presidents will help provide a more rapid, rep- resentative, and unified response to the changing scope and com- plexity of CNA's heightened responsibilities and visibility. Most importantly, it will allow CNA presidents to work more closely with the CNA membership. Additionally, this change will facili- tate the opportunity for working, direct-care RNs to participate as a CNA president through a collective Council. STRENGTHENED MEMBERSHIP ROLE IN CNA REGIONS A third important change expands the role of CNA regions to promote and facilitate greater membership involvement in CNA, and to foster communication and accountability between the elected CNA leadership and the members. The bylaw revises the structure of regional governing bod- ies, establishing a new governing body that includes a member leader from each facility in the region along with the member of the CNA board elected by the region. This structure has already been adopted by several region boards and has worked well. AFFIRMING CNA'S COMMITMENT TO FUNDAMENTAL HEALTHCARE REFORM Among proposed resolutions is a reaffirmation of CNA's com- mitment to overhaul our national healthcare system with a sin- gle, universal standard of care applied to all patients. The resolution addresses the latest healthcare restructuring schemes, 16 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E Warren Beatty has joked that Arnold Schwarzenegger might accuse him of defending nurses because he's clos- er to needing one, but he really knows access to good healthcare is no laughing matter. That's why Beatty, a distinguished Hollywood actor, producer, director, and longtime political activist, will be speaking at CNA's 2005 House of Delegates convention on Sept. 22 in support of its work for nurses and patients. Beatty is one of the few celebrities to have used his fame to publicly critique Schwarzenegger's approaches to the state's problems and link them to a larger national conservative agenda of dismantling the social programs and institutions upon which working people depend: Social Security, pensions, labor unions, good schools, and other public services. "It's not fooling anybody for him to run around raising money from Wall Street and K Street and rich Republicans all over the country who hope that if they can get this reactionary stuff started in California, they can get it done back in their own states and actually dismantle the New Deal," said Beatty in a May 21 commencement speech to graduates of UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. The 68-year-old Beatty has criticized Schwarzenegger's brazen fundraising of tens of millions of dollars from corpora- tions and the wealthy to push through pet initiatives in a spe- cial election, and his insistence on borrowing money and slashing social programs to meet the budget instead of consid- ering raising taxes—even temporarily—on the state's richest citizens and companies. "The most striking perk of fame and fortune is access," said Beatty in his Berkeley speech. "I've always thought it's a shame not to use it to learn from those in power and then, with humility and civility, irritate, agitate, inform, and even once in a while encourage them with unsolicited advice." A longtime supporter of and advisor to Democratic candi- dates and liberal causes who has at times considered running for office, Beatty believes that establishing a single-payer, uni- versal healthcare system is a cornerstone of policy for a healthy society. —Lucia Hwang DINNER WITH WARREN BEATTY Cover Story

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