Hospital Organization Opposes Town Forum on New County Clinic

A group opposing a new clinic at the county hospital is threatening to hold government officials personally liable if they do or say anything on county time that can be construed as campaigning for the project.

The group, sponsored by Community Memorial Hospital, sent a letter to Ventura County supervisors demanding that they cancel an informational forum scheduled today on Measure X, a countywide referendum on the new $51-million outpatient building.

“It is apparent . . . that the scheduled presentation on Tuesday is not going to be ‘informational’ but part of the county’s continuing campaign in support of Measure X,” wrote James Parrinello, an attorney for Taxpayers for Quality Health Care.

The letter was addressed to all five county supervisors advising them that “you and other county officers and employees may be personally liable for improper expenditures made in the absence of due care.”

In an interview, Parrinello said that any county-financed town meeting on Measure X that involves county employees on county time, using government equipment or materials constitutes an illegal expenditure of taxpayer money.

“They’re looking at this like, ‘We’ve got the angels on our side, we can do anything we want,’ ” Parrinello said. “But they’ve got to understand that they have to play by the rules. They can’t use taxpayer money to influence voters. It’s clearly illegal.”

County officials reacted angrily to Parrinello’s letter, saying that the meeting planned today was not intended as a campaign rally for Measure X, which appears on the March 26 ballot. They said the purpose of the meeting was only to provide the public with more information about the clinic project.

Supervisor John K. Flynn, who proposed the informational meeting, accused Community Memorial Hospital of trying to muzzle county officials from discussing the project at all in public. Today’s meeting was the first of many forums planned across the county.

“They’re trying to deny us the right to freedom of speech, the right of the public to know,” he said. “I think it’s a very Gestapo-type position that Community Memorial has taken.”

Supervisor Maggie Kildee said she was also disturbed by the objections to today’s meeting.

“All we were planning to say is what the project is,” Kildee said. “That is not the same as campaigning. What they’re saying is that we shouldn’t talk about it in any manner. They just want us to be quiet.”

When Kildee heard that Parrinello had said supervisors are free to talk about Measure X on their own time, she snapped: “We’re never off duty. We’re never on our own time.”

County officials said that today’s hearing was to be open to the public, and that Community Memorial was free to make its own presentation if it wished.

But Parrinello again said that any such hearing held by the county could be construed as illegal because of the expenses involved. Moreover, he said his client does not believe that county officials can provide a fair and impartial view of the project, noting that the county tried unsuccessfully to remove Measure X from the ballot.

“Quite frankly, I don’t think they’re capable of it,” he said.

In his letter to county supervisors, Parrinello made specific mention of Pierre Durand, the director of the county’s Health Care Agency, and his role in today’s forum.

“Mr. Durand is the prime architect and moving force behind the ambulatory care project,” Parrinello wrote. “It is unreasonable to believe that he can, under any circumstances, present a balanced presentation.”

Durand stressed that his role in today’s meeting was only to answer questions.

“I should be able to speak any time the board requires me to,” he said. “Any information I provide is strictly for clarification or information about what we do.”

Community Memorial Hospital put the referendum on the ballot in an attempt to stop the neighboring Ventura County Medical Center from building the new outpatient clinic. Community Memorial officials argue that the outpatient clinic is too costly and will be used to lure away some of its privately insured patients.

But county officials said that the project is not an expansion, as Community Memorial alleges, but a consolidation of five clinics that will save the county as much as $1 million a year on rent.

Meanwhile, county officials said that they will decide this morning whether to go ahead with the 1:30 p.m. hearing on Measure X.

Parrinello said that a final decision has not been made whether to pursue legal action against county officials if the hearing goes forward.

“We think what they’re doing is illegal, and we will be monitoring it closely,” he said.