Defeat of Measure O
* Democracy is alive and well in Ventura County. The voters saw through slick ads and a costly campaign and soundly rejected Community Memorial Hospital’s attempt to abscond with the public treasury.
The goal of Community Memorial was never to reform county government and the Board of Supervisors’ spending practices. It would have been easy to write an initiative that directed the county to spend the tobacco settlement in particular ways. Instead the goal was to transfer the funds from an accountable public agency to a private business.
Questions do remain: Where did the money come from to run a multimillion-dollar propaganda campaign? How much came from local contributors and Community Memorial supporters? How much came from members of the hospital’s board of directors who authorized this hunting expedition? But how much would otherwise have been spent on health care? How much was funneled from the tobacco lobby? Will Community Memorial give any of us an accounting?
Congratulations to the voters of Ventura County. They showed that money can’t always buy election results if the underlying proposal is seriously flawed.
BOB BRAITMAN
Ventura
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