Nurses union attacks Whitman, courts women voters

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The California Nurses Assn. is ramping up its campaign against Meg Whitman, hoping to undercut the Republican gubernatorial candidate’s appeal to female voters.

The union, which has endorsed Democrat Jerry Brown for governor, has sent a new mailer to California’s registered nurses, saying Whitman’s “Wall Street Agenda” would harm public safety and lead to an overturning of the state’s nurse-to-patient ratio law. It also aims to sting Whitman for her poor voting record, at a women’s-suffrage celebration on the steps of the Capitol next month.

A Field poll this month showed Brown holding a slight edge over Whitman among female voters, 45% to 41%, with 14% undecided.

Whitman has said she supports the state’s nurse-to-patient ratio law. The union, however, points to the candidate’s call for a moratorium on new state regulations until a 90-day review of, as her campaign puts it, “the economic impact and relevance of existing laws.” (Whitman says public health and safety rules would be exempted.)

“Like a hospital CEO or Chief Nursing Officer, Whitman thinks she knows what is best for California nurses and patients,” the mailer says. “Many of her campaign promises follow squarely in the footsteps of current Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his attack on nurses and patients.”

The union also cites her opposition to federal health care legislation and her pledge to ease state workplace regulations, including those governing overtime. Whitman says she would allow employers to start counting overtime when employees have worked a total of 40 hours in a week, instead of eight hours a day. The goal, the candidate says, is to provide workers the flexibility to work four 10-hour days.

Whitman’s campaign, meanwhile, has mounted an aggressive effort to bypass what it refers to as the union’s “radical leadership” and communicate directly with rank-and-file nurses through its own mailers and phone calls. It has set up a website, www.truthfornurses.com, and invited nurses to join an advisory panel.

-- Michael J. Mishak in Sacramento