Hospital’s Ballot Initiative

* The Board of Supervisors is likely to take a lot of heat for blocking Community Memorial Hospital’s initiative from the November ballot. I would like to commend the action.

Although the supervisors are elected on a nonpartisan basis, anyone who follows Ventura County politics knows that these five members do not vote unanimously very often. East county joined west county and Republicans joined Democrats in saying this is a bad initiative.

It’s sad to see how the initiative process has evolved over the past few decades. It’s gone from being a last resort for grass-roots interests trying to initiate a change that government had either ignored or thwarted, to a gold mine for special interests with deep pockets trying to make the system more profitable for themselves.

The deep pocket in this case is Community Memorial. Not the caring, hard-working nurses, doctors and staff but the hospital’s board of directors and chief executive. They say this initiative is “for the people,” but that’s so transparent it isn’t even funny. It’s no secret that Community Memorial would like to see Ventura County Medical Center close its doors, thus eliminating their competition for insured patients. I don’t think the other hospitals in the county want to see that happen, judging from the number of county patients from outside the city of Ventura who have come to Ventura County Medical Center because they have no health insurance.

Unfortunately, this initiative will probably appear on the ballot because Community Memorial can afford to pay as many attorneys as it takes to make sure it does. I just hope that by then that voters will see this initiative for what it is and just say no.

KENT HOLLENBACK

Ventura