New RN TV Ad Hits Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Attack on Nurses as ‘Special Interest’

The California Nurses Association today announced the launch of a television advertising campaign this week challenging the policies of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on patient safety and his depiction of Registered Nurses as a “special interest.”

Ads will begin to run in every major California cable market on Wednesday, including on the rebroadcast of an A&E cable dramatization of Schwarzenegger’s life. Additionally, the ad will air on a number of other cable networks, including CNN, Fox News, Lifetime, the Food Channel, Oxygen, the Learning Channel and some national markets next week.

Robert Greenwald, one of the nation’s premier documentary and cable and network film directors, volunteered his time to direct the one-minute ad. He was joined by a production team of veteran professionals who also donated their time to help shine a light on the effects of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s policies and his attack on nurses.

(Note to media: for a copy of the ad, call 510-273-2246. It may also be viewed at http://www.calnurse.org or http://www.arnoldwatch.net.)

Gov. Schwarzenegger has ordered a rollback in the safety rules to assure minimum safe RN staffing in California hospitals and proposed elimination of the independent board created a century ago to provide uniform nursing care standards to protect patients. He has also vetoed numerous bills to expand healthcare coverage, reduce hospital closures, increase nursing education programs, and reduce RN workplace injuries.

In response to RN protests over his policies, Gov. Schwarzenegger dismissed RNs as “a special interest who don’t like me because I am always kicking their butt.” In contrast, the governor has yet to criticize corporate interests, such as the multi-billion healthcare industry. Corporate donors have given Schwarzenegger over $50 million in contributions, the Orange County Register reported last week.

The ad contrasts Schwarzenegger’s ridicule of RNs as “special interests” with portraits of three RNs who provide bedside care in Los Angeles. “One thing the public should know,” says Melita Dionosio-Temple, RN in the ad, “is one day you will be in that bed and realize that because of the number of patients one nurse has to take care of you may be calling and there is nobody there.”

“When he ran for governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger presented himself as a populist who would put the ‘people’ in charge of policy in California. But the reality has been far different,” says CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro. “He has promoted the interests of his corporate donors at the expense of patients and consumers while branding nurses, who care for our families when they are sick and vulnerable, and teachers, who educate our children, as special interests.”

“We hope this ad will help expose the contrast between his rhetoric and his record that more Californians are beginning to recognize every day,” DeMoro said.

DeMoro also expressed the gratitude of CNA and its 60,000 RN members to Greenwald and his acclaimed production team for volunteering many hours to produce the ad.

Greenwald has directed more than 50 television movies, miniseries and feature films, garnering dozens of Emmy, Golden Globe, and other prestigious awards. Among his notable credits are the recent documentary “Outfoxed: Robert Murdoch’s War on Journalism,” “The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron,” and “Uncovered: The War on Iraq.”

In a statement about the new ad, Greenwald today said, “Out of respect for true heroes and heroines in our world, I have happily donated my time and efforts to setting the record straight.”

The ad concludes by referring viewers for more information to web sites for CNA, http://www.calnurse.org, and Arnoldwatch.org, a website maintained by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. The ad is also posted on both websites.

"Protecting the public is the nurse's role and Governor Schwarzenegger owes the nurses of California an apology for his demeaning comments about them and he owes the public a restoration of patient safety rules," said FTCR President Jamie Court. "The governor needs to spend more time with nurses and less time with hospital executives and nursing home operators."
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article in SF Chronicle

Nurses group punches back at Schwarzenegger in TV ad campaign
02/02/2005 by Phillip Matier & Andrew Ross

The 60,000-strong California Nurses Association is firing back at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger with a national TV campaign depicting the self- proclaimed reformer as just another tool of the monied interests.

The 60-second spot -- which was produced gratis by documentary maker Robert Greenwald (as in "Outfoxed" and "Uncovered: The War on Iraq") -- opens with the governor's foot-in-mouth comments about nurses being "special interests" who are mad at him because "I kick their butt."

The ad then kicks some butt of its own, as veteran nurses respond both to Schwarzenegger's comments and to his plan to freeze nurse-patient staffing levels.

"The one thing the public should know,'' says 20-year-plus nurse Melita Dionosio-Temple, "is that one day you will be in that bed and realize that because of the number of patients one nurse has to take care of, you may be calling, and there's nobody there.''

Nurses union leader Rose Ann DeMoro said the ad "goes to the heart of the matter, which is that the governor is trying to turn the state Capitol into a fraternity for corporate interests."

"I like to think of it as 'Conan vs. the Nurses,' " DeMoro said.

The ad is also a slap at the hospital industry, which did its own "thank you" ad after Arnold put a hold on lowering of the patient-to-staff ratios that had been green-lighted by former Gov. Gray Davis.

DeMoro said the nurses had decided to go national with the ad (they're doing a $100,000 cable buy) because Arnold is going national with his efforts to raise more money for his "reform" initiatives.

As for the governor's react: "We expect special interests to spend money against us this year,'' said spokesman Rob Stutzman, adding that the Schwarzenegger-backed reforms have been "widely supported, even by liberal editorial pages in the state.''

"We have to keep the focus on making sure health care is available -- and that means hospitals need to be open,'' Stutzman said.

Run Arnold Run: Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn't officially said he's running for re-election, but he's sure acting like a candidate -- including a stop Tuesday in San Francisco to meet privately with a group of high-powered financial backers.

Among the invitees: Gap founder Donald Fisher, Safeway Chairman Steve Burd and Oakland A's owner Steve Schott.

"We are now beginning the process of getting the re-election committee funded, and that will be the focus for this year,'' Team Arnold fund-raiser Marty Wilson said.

"He didn't say he was definitely running, but we are getting him ready to run,'' Wilson said. "That's a time and place of his choosing when he makes that announcement.''

Not that Arnold should have much of a problem raising money -- either for his re-election or for a list of ballot measures he's threatening to push in a special election this year.

In his short 19 months of political life, Schwarzenegger has raised more than $40 million from contributors -- and tossed in $10 million of his own for the recall campaign.

That adds up to more than $50 million, or an average of $2.6 million a month.

What's next?

The campaign is expected to announce a series of fund-raising dinners soon around the state.

"We're just getting the re-election committee shaped up, and ready to rock 'n' roll,'' Wilson said.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/02/BAGL9B3NTD1.DTL