Executive Plans Campaign on Tobacco Funds

His group doesn’t have a name yet or any money for that matter, but David Maron is determined to challenge Community Memorial Hospital’s campaign to turn over Ventura County’s $260-million tobacco settlement revenue to private health care providers.

“I think residents should protect their interests against a private company trying to dictate how public money should be spent,” said Maron, president of Camarillo-based Maron Computer Services, a consulting group that serves the health insurance industry.

Maron, 41, a former board member of the Camarillo Health Care District, said he is just beginning to organize a counter-campaign and hopes to launch it within the next month. About a dozen people have signed up to help, he said, declining to disclose their names.

“We’re a growing group of private citizens from across the county,” Maron said. “I’ve talked with lawyers, doctors, community people, Republicans, Democrats and housewives.”

Prohibited by law from campaigning against a measure being put before voters, Ventura County supervisors said they welcome the efforts of Maron’s group to protect the interests of the county and its public hospital.

“The citizens own the hospital and its clinics, so they’re right to organize and protect what they own,” Supervisor John Flynn said. “CMH has all kinds of money. A citizens’ group won’t be able to compete with their money. But they can run a smarter campaign, using less money.”

Indeed, Maron’s group faces a tough battle against Community Memorial, which is seeking to place a measure on the November ballot that would divert the county’s tobacco settlement money to private hospitals.

The nonprofit private hospital has already sent one political mailer to 100,000 households and has hired professional signature-gatherers to collect by June the 21,000 voter signatures needed to qualify its ballot measure.

Community Memorial officials also have experience in running successful political campaigns.

In 1996, the hospital spent about $1.6 million on a campaign to block the neighboring Ventura County Medical Center, long considered a rival, from building a $56-million outpatient wing. It remains the costliest campaign in county history.

Community Memorial officials said they have strong public support for their newly proposed measure and are not worried about a counter-campaign, saying about 20,000 signatures have already been gathered for the hospital’s ballot petition. They argue county officials cannot be trusted to spend the tobacco money on health care programs as the public intended.

“The great thing about democracy is that everyone gets to articulate their view publicly,” Community Memorial spokesman Mark Barnhill said. “But we are confident that voters across Ventura County overwhelmingly support the concepts behind the initiative and will approve it in November.”

Although they have no plans to join Maron’s group, several community leaders have spoken out against Community Memorial’s proposed initiative in recent weeks.

They include land-use lawyer Richard Francis, former Supervisor Maggie Kildee and Ventura County cultural tourism chief Ed Robings. A regional branch of the AFL-CIO also plans to oppose the initiative, a spokeswoman said.

“The [tobacco] money was awarded to counties to pay for health care already given” to people stricken with tobacco-related cancers, Kildee said.

But Community Memorial executive Michael Bakst has said the initiative is the only way to guarantee tobacco settlement revenue will be spent on health care, adding that supervisors have yet to dedicate the money to health care services. To date, the county has spent $3.1 million of the settlement money to pay a federal fine for years of improper Medicare billing practices.