Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

On August 6, Catholic Healthcare West — of which Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital proudly states that is a group member — announced its staunch opposition to Prop. 23.

“California has the worst air pollution in the country, causing tens of thousands to suffer from asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses,” said Susan Vickers, RSM, Vice President Community Health for Catholic Healthcare West. “Californians need compassionate care not a careless campaign. We must continue to work toward sustainable efforts that will protect human health and the environment. The state literally cannot afford the health impacts of Prop 23.”

The press release is here. CHW and SNMH operate closely together. CHW’s consolidated financial statement lists SNMH as a “subordinate corporation” under a list of corporations and subsidiaries. It is officially known as an “obligated group member.” The statement is here (see page 44).

The No on Prop. 23 website also lists Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital as a member of its coalition. It lists many other CHW-member hospitals as well as CHW itself.

But according to a statement I received from the hospital: “You keep saying in your blog that Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital has come out against the initiative. The Hospital has not done that.”

Are our local hospital and partner CHW on the same page about Prop. 23? Why would the hospital go out of its way to try to “decouple” itself from the No. on 23 stand?

Other health organizations that have opposed Proposition 23 are Kaiser Permanente, the American Lung Association in California, Blue Shield of California, California Nurses Association, Coalition for Clean Air and St. Joseph’s Medical Center, among others.

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The BriarPatch sent this along:

Good food and good cheer filled St. Joseph’s Hall at BriarPatch Co-op’s recent “Oktoberfest” Owner Meeting. As a cooperatively-owned business, the natural foods grocery store holds an annual meeting of its owners, numbered at over 4,500. Along with a serving of BriarPatch’s own homemade bratwurst, owners received a report on the co-op’s finances and voted on bylaw revisions (see photo below).

General Manager Chris Maher reported to the estimated 200 attendees that BriarPatch has experienced double-digit growth in 2010, along with an increase in owners. Maher gave a few highlights of a recent shopper survey in which 91.8 percent of respondents indicated overall satisfaction with BriarPatch. Increased collaboration with the local farm community was another important development of 2010.

Ballots were cast, and revisions to the co-op’s bylaws and amendments to the articles of corporation were approved overwhelmingly by the owners at the meeting. The changes were primarily updates to the documents, originally created in the 1970s, to reflect current laws and conditions.

“Over the last year the BriarPatch Board of Directors put a lot of effort into examining the Co-op’s bylaws, and I’m pleased that the ownership has approved these updates to our governing documents,” said Jeff Gold, board president.

Revisions in the bylaws are here.

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We know what the tea party and hard right has done for GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Nothing. For Jerry Brown, it’s been an LOL!

Now people are wondering if they will extend the same “reverse” midas touch to Carly Fiorina and help ensure the re-election of Barbara Boxer — the bête noire of many Republicans. As Election Day nears, Boxer continues to hold her 8-point margin over Fiorina in the U.S. Senate race.

California is left of center, but Carly has been beholden to the tea party and extreme right. Koch Industries (the same outfit that is backing Prop. 23) are among the hosts of her fundraisers (see below).

•She supports Prop. 23, the initiative to effectively kill our state’s landmark environmental legislation.
•She is vocally anti-abortion. Polls continue to show that a vast majority of people would not support overturning Roe v. Wade.

In short many Californians who are “in the middle” politically don’t share the same values.

“According to the special Calbuzz crosstab, Boxer has the liberals 81 percent to 4 percent and Fiorina has the conservatives 69 percent to 13 percent,” as Calbuzz reports, citing a Public Policy Institute of California poll.

“But moderates are tilting 51 percent to 24 percent for Boxer — which explains why Boxer is emphasizing Fiorina’s very conservative views on abortion, offshore oil drilling, environment and other issues that cast her GOP opponent outside of the California mainstream.”

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“The anonymously financed conservative groups that have played such a crucial role this campaign year are starting a carefully coordinated final push to deliver control of Congress to Republicans, shifting money among some 80 House races they are monitoring day by day,” the New York Time is reporting.

It sounds like the board game “Risk.” But it is a sign of the times in American politics. If this were a board game, I’d name it “Gridlock.”

“Working from color-coded master spreadsheets — one of which was obtained by The New York Times — the conservative groups are now closely monitoring polling in 80 House races that they judge crucial to ensuring a Republican majority.

“Based on those results, the groups have started to place their final advertising bets in ways carefully coordinated to fill openings left by the more financially limited official party and candidate committees.”

Here’s a typical political ad:

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Here’s a Texas World Series joke I found. I’ll roll out some Texas jokes during the course of the series. My parents (native Californians) lived in Houston for a spell. The money was good, but they couldn’t wait to retire back to Northern California — and did just that.

“A Texan dies and goes to hell. While down there the devil notices that the Texan is not suffering like the rest He checks the gauges and sees that it’s 100 degrees and about 80% humidity. So he goes over to the Texan and asks why he’s so happy. The Texan says, “I really like it here. The temperature is just like Dallas in June.”

The devil isn’t happy with the Texan’s answer and decides to fix him, so he goes over and turns up the thermostat to 120 degrees and the humidity to 90%. After turning everything up he goes looking for the Texan. He finds him standing around unbuttoning his shirt, just as happy as can be. The devil quizzes the Texan again as to why he’s so happy. The Texan says, “This is even better. It’s like Houston in July.”

The devil, now really upset, decides to make the Texan really understand that hell is no paradise. He walks over to the controls and turns the heat up to 140 degrees and the humidity to 100%. “Now let’s see what the Texan is up to,” he thinks. So he goes looking for the Texan. The devil finds the Texan taking his shirt off basking in the heat, even happier than before. The devil can’t figure it out. He asks the Texan why he’s happy now. The Texan replies, “This is great, it’s just like Brownsville in August.”

The devil says, “That’s it, I’ll get this guy.” He walks over and turns the temperature down to a freezing 25 degrees below zero. “Now let’s see what the Texan has to say about this,” the devil thinks to himself. He looks around and finds the Texan jumping up and down for joy. “What are you so happy about now,” asks the devil. Still excited, the Texan replies, “The Rangers have finally won the World Series!”

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“Long ago, Calbuzz suggested that Meg Whitman made a strategic blunder during the Republican primary when, in an effort to look conservative enough to beat Steve Poizner, she came out swinging against AB 32, California’s pioneering greenhouse-gas reduction law.

“Our point was simple: she had alienated independent and moderate voters who tilt the balance of power in California because, for them, protecting the environment is an important cause.”

Whitman tried to soften her stand, but was it too little too late?

This is a point we’ve raised here as well. We’re in the heart of “Prop. 23 Country” — our freshman “electeds” Tom McClintock and Dan Logue are carrying the baton for it.

But a new poll shows there is a significant correlation between a vote against the measure and a vote for Jerry Brown, as Calbuzz explains.

“Among those opposed to Prop. 23 – the much larger group that would retain the law — 69 percent are for Brown and 25 percent are for Whitman. An opponent of Prop. 23 is nearly three times more likely to vote for Brown than for Whitman.”

Our county certainly will have to share the blame among GOP’ers if Brown prevails. The hard right GOP Central Committee, dominated by McClintock fans, is a big Prop. 23 supporter. CABPRO also supports Prop. 23. Our hard right blogging contingent (also global warming denialists) have been Prop. 23 cheerleaders.

Sometimes you pay a price for failing to compromise. After all, most of us are in the “middle” politically. And as Calbuzz points out, protecting the environment is an important cause. It’s why we choose to live here instead of Texas, Kentucky or Indiana.

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All of the hullabaloo about an electoral tsunami is not very visible in our state: California Democrats are not expected to lose more than a seat or two, if that, from their current 34-to-19 majority in the House delegation.

In fact, Democrats might be able to snatch a seat from the Republican incumbent — longtimer Dan Lungren — in our neighboring 3rd Congressional district.

“As one of the few races going against the Republican trend this year, the contest between Lungren (R) and physician Ami Bera (D) is one of the Democrats’ few pickup opportunities of this cycle,” as Calbuzz puts it. The article is here.

“Lungren has been around politics his whole life,” Bera told Calbuzz. “He’s certainly not from this district. It’s a clear contrast. Lungren is representing corporate America… And our narrative has always been on rebuilding the middle class.”

It will be a closely watched outcome.

“We’re a Dem-leaning state and President Obama’s approval ratings are a bit higher here than they are elsewhere, and in some ways that insulates us from that backlash,” said UC San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser. “And secondly, the post-2000 redistricting means there are a lot less competitive seats.”

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