Hospital Launches Radio Ads for Tobacco Funds Measure

The battle for the hearts and minds of Ventura County voters began Monday when radio advertisements sponsored by Community Memorial Hospital began airing on stations throughout the region.

The radio spots were meant to convince voters that Community Memorial and seven private hospitals would make better use of $260 million in tobacco settlement money than the county would.

And they pointedly remind listeners that the county is under FBI investigation for overbilling Medicare through much of the 1990s--implying that it cannot be trusted with the tobacco dollars.

The first installment of the radio media blitz--which will expand to include newspaper ads, direct mailings and billboards--begins with a woman saying there was a real chance to improve health care with the tobacco money.

A man’s voice says the settlement means $10 million a year for Ventura County.

“Too bad the county Board of Supervisors hasn’t spent the money on health care,” says the woman.

“What?” responds the man.

“Yeah. In the two years since the tobacco settlement they haven’t spent a single penny of it on health care,” replied the woman.

The ad goes on to attack the supervisors for having “squandered” the first $3 million of the money on a legal settlement for overbilling Medicare.

“No wonder I read that the FBI is investigating the county for fiscal mismanagement,” says the woman.

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The county Board of Supervisors and Community Memorial have struggled over who will get the money, which amounts to about $10 million a year for the next 25 years. The money is destined for the county to make up for the government’s cost of treating smoking-related illnesses, but the settlement does not require the county to spend it on health care. Backers of Measure O, however, say the supervisors would waste the funds on non-health-care programs.

Community Memorial wrote Measure O, which would give it and other private hospitals in Ventura County the money. Supervisors refused to put the measure on the ballot, saying it was an illegal grab of public money. Both sides sued each other, and a judge ruled that the measure should go to a vote.

The radio advertisement says that Measure O would ensure that the working poor, elderly and children would benefit from the tobacco funds.

“I like that!” says the man in the commercial.

David Maron didn’t.

The chairman of the Coalition Against the Hospital Initiative said his group of unions, health agencies and citizens who oppose the measure can’t compete with Community Memorial’s money. Community Memorial has already spent $520,000 to get the measure on the ballot.

Still, he said, plans are underway for protests outside the private hospitals that support the measure. The group will also put out mailers of their own.

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“The issue is that a private hospital is using out-of-town lawyers and lobbyists to try and take our county’s money,” Maron said. “They will spend everything they can on this.”

He said he hopes people will see through the ads and realize that if Community Memorial gets the money they will simply use it to pay off the costs of caring for the uninsured and indigent.

Mark Barnhill, a spokesman for Community Memorial, said the 60-second spots were produced by the Sacramento-based consulting firm Goddard, Claussen, Porter, Novelli. They will air throughout the day on local radio stations KBBY, KHAY and KVEN for the next few weeks. Future ads will also air on KVTA, said Barnhill.

“The radio ads begin a sustained period of voter contact between now and November to ensure that all voters know what Measure O is about and why it’s important for health care in Ventura County,” Barnhill said.

He would not say how much the campaign costs.