Measure O

* Community Memorial Hospital has launched a high-priced campaign to take Ventura County’s tobacco settlement money out of taxpayers’ control. They seem to have bottomless pockets and have hired an army of slick, out-of-town press relations people and lawyers.

I’ve received five or six expensive-looking mailers that make it seem like voting for their measure would guarantee that this money is used for the poor and elderly. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

If voters bother to read the measure, they will see for themselves that Community Memorial has carefully written the measure to give itself a big, no-strings-attached gift of taxpayer money for the next 25 years.

Don’t be fooled by Michael Bakst and his media consultants. Read the measure for yourself and you’ll join me in voting no on Measure O.

SIRI FEENEY

Ventura

* It’s perplexing to hear Measure O opponents’ shrills about having accountability over tobacco settlement money should voters adopt the initiative. It’s perplexing because the actual text of Measure O is quite clear about required audits and public oversight.

To save opponents the time to read the seven pages of Measure O, here are sections outlining audit requirements:

Section 4101-5: “The county shall be allocated $175,000 annually from the settlement fund to administer the claims program and fund the annual audit required by section 4101-8.”

Section 4108-8: “The Board of Supervisors shall appoint a private, independent auditor to conduct an annual audit of the Discharge Data Report filed annually by each hospital with the California office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.”

Measure O goes further by stating that final audits shall be transmitted to a commission, appointed by the Board of Supervisors, for “disclosure to the public and transmission to the County.” By accepting funds from the settlement fund, each hospital agrees to this audit, Measure O states in black and white.

Measure O’s text also clearly outlines the only purposes the tobacco funds can be appropriated for--all health care related. If a purpose is not listed directly in the text, it cannot receive funds. All the talk about increasing hospital executives’ salaries or benefiting shareholders is hogwash. I ask that [Measure O opponents] take the time to read the seven pages.

MICHAEL LURIE

Oak View

* I am once again appalled by the deceitfulness of Community Memorial in its attempt to pull the wool over our eyes. Community Memorial has launched an obscene campaign to try to fool us into believing that if we vote for Measure O, all of Ventura County will benefit. In fact, if Measure O passes the only one to benefit is Community Memorial.

What do I mean by “again” being deceitful? Four years ago, Community Memorial launched a nasty campaign for the passage of Measure X. The result of this measure was to take money away from Ventura County Medical Center, the hospital that truly does serve all of our county. Guess who benefited?

Part of Community Memorial’s strategy in the last campaign was to publish a full-page ad listing the names of many community members who, ostensibly, supported its Measure X. There were many names in the ad, my own and my husband’s included, of people who in no way, shape or form supported them! Nor did we give permission for our names to be used!

Halloween is right around the corner. Beware of the hit pieces or phony ads. I urge a no vote on Measure O.

TERRI LISAGOR

Camarillo

* I am writing this letter in support of Measure O. We in Ventura County are extremely fortunate to have at our disposal nearly $10 million a year of tobacco settlement money. I am a critical care nurse who has for 20 years seen firsthand the damage that smoking has done to our population.

Because of severe damage caused by smoking, it would be criminal to use the money we receive on anything other than health care and educational programs. This money was not intended to pay for past county budgetary mistakes.

This is not a war between Community Memorial and the Ventura County Medical Center or a duel between administrators but an incredible opportunity to spend much needed funds on smoking prevention education, indigent health care, immunization programs and in-home care for the elderly--all very important issues.

Please take the time to look past the biases and think about how the entire medical community, as well as all county residents, would benefit from spending the tobacco settlement money as it was intended to be spent.

MARSHA J. ALSTOT

Ojai

* The Community Memorial money mill for its Measure O is operating at full tilt, probably headed for the $2-million mark before the election. As executive director Bakst said, “I’ve never worried about overdoing anything.”

Certainly the loot is worth it. Under the Bakst formula, only the private hospitals of the county would have a shot at the quarter of a billion dollars due from the state’s tobacco settlement funds, which they would administer themselves principally to reduce their bad debts. Also under Bakst’s formula, only his hospital and a couple of others would qualify.

The Ventura County Medical Center, by name, would be cut out entirely even though it serves about 90% of the county’s uninsured. Once Measure O is passed, public remedies for misuse of the funds are lost.

All of this is outrageous.

It’s a pity that no public body is authorized to conduct a competing campaign and that most victims of the measure are poor. The citizens Coalition Against Measure O has raised less than 4% of what Bakst has spent so far. Maybe the coalition will be able to get the word out, but certainly not in the overpowering and professional way that Bakst is able to buy.

Most initiatives are tightly drawn by special interests to get something that could not be gotten in the public scrutiny of the legislative process. They are sold to voters through expensive sales campaigns full of lovely flimflam. If they succeed the rewards are enormous. Measure O is a classic example of this.

Go slow and vote no on O.

JAMES D. PARRIOTT Sr.

Oxnard

* It is no secret that Ventura County is plagued with decades-old problems that can’t be fixed without getting rid of every employee and starting over. That includes the Board of Supervisors.

A recent example is how city councils are trying to take positions on Measure O. The role of city councils is to govern the business of the public corporation they were hired by, or to manage issues that directly involve the cities in which they were elected.

Cities are not involved with providing health care services to the public. Measure O is about health care and has nothing to do with municipal corporations, so the cities should stay out of the fray.

CAROLYN DALY

Oxnard