Nurse Tops Funding in Hospital Board Race

In one of the most obscure races on Tuesday’s voluminous ballot, registered nurse Anne Brouillette has raised more than $8,000 in an attempt to win a seat on the board that oversees the Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center in Lancaster.

The amount is far more than the total of the other three candidates for the Antelope Valley Hospital District board of directors and more than some candidates for legislative office.

Brouillette is intent on ousting one of two longtime incumbents seeking reelection to the five-member board. Despite her financial edge, she said she remains an underdog to the incumbents, one of whom has served on the board since 1962.

“The incumbents are feeling a little comfortable and complacent,” said Brouillette, who has raised the bulk of her funds from the medical community. “I’ve worked hard to get the support of physicians and nurses around the valley.”

Incumbents Clyde Kelly and Michael Schafer, and challenger Steven Fox have filed campaign statements indicating that they do not intend to spend more than $1,000, county officials said.

Kelly, an 80-year-old retired rancher from Lancaster, was first elected in 1962. Schafer, a 42-year-old Palmdale businessman, was elected in 1978. Fox, 37, is a junior high school teacher and community college instructor and lives in Palmdale.

The candidates run at-large for four-year terms in a voting area that encompasses the Antelope Valley and extends as far southwest as Saugus.

Candidates say the board of directors’ central mission is keeping up with intense population growth. Founded in 1955 as an 86-bed hospital, the medical center has grown from 184 beds in 1975 to 261 beds today. A $7.5-million expansion will bring the total to 341 beds by the end of 1991 and will include a new obstetrics center and surgical department.

As of Oct. 20, Brouillette had received $8,561 in contributions and spent $7,365, according to county election officials. Her contributors are mostly medical professionals.

Brouillette, who served on the nursing staff and bioethics board of High Desert Hospital and now works for a private physician, said she will be a voice for the nursing community.

“I will bring a challenging, fresh approach,” she said.

In past elections, Brouillette said, successful challengers raised as much money as she has and even hired political consultants.

Kelly said he finds the amount of money Brouillette has raised “a little unusual” but said it is understandable because she needs visibility.

Kelly said experience and longtime community involvement are his main qualifications.

“I enjoy working in this type of endeavor,” he said. “The main mission is continued growth to meet the needs of the people.”

Schafer owns a van and storage firm in Palmdale and is a founder and director of the Antelope Valley Bank. He said voters should re-elect him because the hospital benefits from his business experience.

“I think it’s real important that business people stay on the board,” he said. “With a budget of over $150 million, we have a little bit better handle on how to keep the place fiscally responsible.”

Fox describes himself as a watchdog for the public and said he feels the board needs to improve its procedure for hearing employee grievances. He criticized the state of “employee/employer relations,” which he said “cannot help but have a negative effect on the hospital and, in turn, may have had an effect on the hospital’s patients.”

In other Antelope Valley elections, two candidates are running unopposed for reelection to the seven-member Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency board. They are Frank Donato, who is running for his second term in Division 3, and Andy Rutledge, who is running for his first full term after being appointed to a vacancy in 1989.