Posted on 12/12/2004 9:18:01 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO - In the strange world of Schwarzenegger-era politics, it seems only fitting that the Republican governor, who rode to fame making tough-guy action films and who's been accused by dozens of women of being a serial groper, could get away with standing before a state women's conference and boast that he had angered a group of nurses because he was "always kicking their butts."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made the remarks in Long Beach last week as he opened the first day of the California Gov.'s Conference on Women and Families, an annual gathering hosted this year by his wife, Maria Shriver. While presenting himself as the "opening act" for Shriver, it didn't take long for Schwarzenegger to grab the spotlight for himself.
He took on a group of activists from the California Nurses Association who were protesting his decision to impose a three-year delay on impending changes to the state's nurse-patient ratio, which would have narrowed the ratio to five patients to one nurse from its current level of six to one. In this case, Schwarzenegger sided with hospitals, who have argued that the new rules would impose a costly burden by forcing them to hire more nurses.
When the small group of nurses stood and unfurled a banner that read "Hands Off Our Ratios"_ a not-so-veiled reference to past groping allegations against Schwarzenegger - the Terminator-turned-governor hit back.
"Pay no attention to those voices over there," Schwarzenegger said. "They are the special interests, and you know what I mean. The special interests don't like me in Sacramento because I am always kicking their butts."
With that, most of the 10,000 women in the audience wildly cheered.
The moment represented a breathtaking sleight of hand for Schwarzenegger, who in one moment bolstered his own image as the special interest dragon slayer by singling out a union representing nurses, a poorly paid profession that's almost 90 percent women. And he did so at conference paid for by large corporations with business before the state, like BP, Allstate, Citigroup and Bank of America.
Since taking office a year ago, Schwarzenegger has managed to thumb his nose at California's earnest political correctness while suffering little political blowback. Even deriding Democratic legislators as "girlie men" last summer produced only the most predictable level of high dudgeon from feminists and gay activists, while almost everyone else seemed to chuckle. Schwarzenegger even reprised that line at the Republican National Convention to raucous cheers.
And here again - no harm, no foul for this governor, who was even praised at the women's conference by the actress Jamie Lee Curtis as having the "heart of a woman" himself.
"He gets away with it because people don't view him as a politician," said Barbara O'Connor, a professor of communications at Sacramento State University. "It just doesn't register as much as we would think it would when he makes these aberrant comments. He shoots from the hip, and we keep waiting for the public to say, 'wait a minute.' And it doesn't happen."
Predictably, nurses say they are outraged and that Schwarzenegger's remarks have become a rallying cry for further activism.
"I represent a group of nurses who are mostly Republican, and they are disgusted with him," said Susan Weinstein, president of a competing nurses union, SEIU 121 RN, that counts about 7,000 nurses in southern California as members.
Roseanne DeMarco, president of the union at the center of the controversy - the 60,000-member California Nurses Association - said the matter has already percolated beyond the state's border.
"We are getting calls from nurses all over the country saying I would never support this governor for president," DeMarco said. "I'm not kidding, this is deep; this is extremely deep."
There's no question the national health care crisis has deeply affected California, home to one out of seven Americans. And amid the huge and complex puzzle of delivering affordable care to as many people as possible, the controversy over nurse-patient staffing ratios is only one small piece.
But since becoming governor, Schwarzenegger has firmly sided with corporate interests in the health care debate, such as hospitals, businesses and pharmaceutical companies. Among other things, he opposed legislation authored by former Senate leader John Burton to require companies to provide health care for workers, and vetoed bills that would have helped consumers buy cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.
To be sure, Schwarzenegger has made job creation and protection the centerpiece of his governorship, and rightly pointed out that health care costs are one reason businesses are fleeing the state.
But picking a fight with nurses is another matter, ranking up there with badmouthing mom and apple pie. A new national Gallup poll, released Friday, showed that Americans for the third year in a row rated nurses as "the most ethical and honest professionals" in the country.
In the end, most Californians, who have watched nurses care for elderly relatives or hold a woman's hand as she goes through labor, don't view them as a special interest. By denigrating them, the governor sounds like a bully and risks shining a brighter light on his own relationship with corporate special interests, who he famously vowed to sweep out of Sacramento.
Treasurer Phil Angelides, a Democrat who joined nurses at a large rally at the state Capitol earlier this month, called Schwarzenegger's comments "deeply offensive" and said the governor owes nurses an apology.
"He shows public contempt for women who work long hours for low pay," Angelides, a likely candidate for governor in 2006, said. "It's not the first time he's ridiculed people, and sadly, it won't be the last."
Shake!
Cool..nothing like keeping peace in the family!
If I don't run accross you again before the 25th..Merry Christmas to you and yours and may your joy be full during this Blessed season.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALSO EARTHDWELLER!
" who just flew 15 hours here to take the NCLEX exam."
She one of the lucky foreign nurses. Because of the Bush administration future foreign nurses will have to wait up to 3 years to have their visas processed.
Makes me wonder if the unions have out lived their usefulness?
I don't see it. She has good family here and friends and flown here for years to vacation. She only took the NCLEX exam as a great big English test. The equipment is the same as here and the scientific terms are the same. And she teaches too! I wish she was around for my boo boos:)
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