Tobacco Initiative

* Re “Picketers Call on Hospital to Fight Tobacco Initiative,” Aug. 3.

When the Coalition Against the Hospital Initiative was forming, a number of us were already pressuring Ventura County to make a resolute commitment to use the tobacco settlement funds to meet health care needs (and we continue to do so). Community Memorial Hospital could have joined our effort and thus taken the high road of honesty and integrity, but it chose otherwise.

The Community Memorial initiative to distribute all of the tobacco settlement millions among private hospitals, denying county health programs even one red cent, is a selfish and greedy theft of taxpayer money.

Michael Bakst, Community Memorial executive director and creator of the initiative known as Measure O, made sure that it spelled out in detail the public oversight of how the funds would be distributed to the hospitals (their relative “bad debts”). He very carefully avoided including any public audit or control over how the hospitals would spend the money, however.

Bakst reports to a board of trustees at Community Memorial, and they, even more than he, owe an obligation of trustworthy service to the people of their community. Measure O violates that trust so egregiously that words to describe it are not easily found.

Before my retirement, I was a chief executive officer and trustee for many years at San Gabriel Valley Medical Center. It is unimaginable that any of our trustees would have permitted me as chief executive to trample the trust of the citizens we served as Bakst is doing.

To the trustees at Community Memorial, I say shame, shame and double shame. If the promotion of Measure O by Michael Bakst continues, honorable members of his board have no option but to resign.

WILLIAM MERIT TRUE II

Port Hueneme

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Re “The Money Talks,” Ventura County editorial, Aug. 6.

You note that the Ventura County Board of Supervisors has committed to spend the tobacco windfall for public health programs. Do you think for one minute that they would have made that commitment without the Community Memorial initiative?

Too bad the money wasted on an illegal scheme for the Ventura County mental heath department wasn’t spent on health care. This whole mess was brought on by the Board of Supervisors.

DWIGHT CATES

Ventura

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I was shocked to read in the first paragraph of this editorial that all the money would go into the pockets of Community Memorial. As I am sure you know, this initiative was to make sure this money went to health care at all the county’s private hospitals.

Yes, the supervisors have belatedly committed to use the tobacco money for health care at Ventura County Medical Center. However, they originally stated this money would be used to repay the fines incurred by the county for its unwise (and illegal) fiscal practices.

How do we know whether they will change their minds next year when the threat of the initiative is no longer present? Isn’t past practice a good predictor of the future?

RONALD ROSE

Ventura