Nurses Pledge Broad-based Response to Whitman's Attacks, Vow to Defend Key Patient Safety Regulations and the Ability of RNs to Advocate for Patients in Public

ATHERTON, Calif., July 14 /PRNewswire/ --More than 1,000 Registered Nurses will gather in Meg Whitman's home town of Atherton, Calif. this Thursday, July 15 to take part in a California Nurses Forum to which Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor, has also been invited.

This forum of nurses was called in response to an decision by candidate Whitman to mount an offensive attack directly against the California Nurses Association, in an effort to silence the group's criticism of Whitman's campaign proposals that nurses say would harm California families, her unprecedented effort to buy the governor's office with unlimited campaign spending, and her corporate track record which the RNs assert raises questions about what she would do as governor.

The nurses will deliver a special message to Whitman at her residence in Atherton, followed by a program at nearby Canada College. Whitman has yet to accept the invitation to meet directly with the RNs – choosing instead to barrage them with unsolicited phone calls and mailers, with online dirty tricks, false press attacks by national Republican flacks, and demands that CNA hand over the personal information of its members.

"Since Meg Whitman refuses to talk directly to nurses, without the filter of her handlers and high-priced consultants, our members are coming to deliver a message to her: RNs and CNA will not be pushed around or bullied like one of her subordinates or subjects," said Malinda Markowitz, RN, co-President of the CNA.  "California's nurses will not accept her high handed attacks on us, or her plans to reduce public safety protections for California patients, workers, and families."

"Nurses are used to threats from CEOs or managers who put our patients, our workplace standards, and our profession at risk," added Zenei Cortez, RN, also co-President of CNA. "We will turn to our patients--that is, the public--for support in this time when Meg Whitman has attacked our nurses and our organization. Our patients are hurt when nurses are targeted."

SOURCE California Nurses Association

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http://www.calnurses.org