Measure O

* I just received another fancy mailer from the proponents of Measure O. On a bright yellow background it said, “The best way to learn the truth about Measure O is to read it.” At last I have found something that I agree with them about!

I encourage everyone to read this measure carefully. The three places where they added bold-face titles are exactly the areas in which they have been criticized, and rightly so.

They headline “Citizens Oversight,” but section 1(f) and Article 1 Section 4101-2 both state that the commission to oversee their plan will be made up of the chair of the board and the chief of staff from each acute-care hospital. There is no guarantee of public input and true representation of the people.

Their second headline is “How the $ Will Be Spent,” and they refer to Section 4101-3, which says the tobacco settlement will be “continuously appropriated annually by this article exclusively for the following purposes and in the following priority.”

The first priority is to pay costs for the hospitals and physicians according to a formula presented later in the statement. The second and third priorities, to be funded after the first is complete, pertains only to elderly and children “who are not otherwise eligible for coverage under any private insurance or local, state or federal program.” There are very few who would qualify for this because most people are eligible for some insurance, even though they may not carry it.

The third headline is “Audit.” Section 4101-8 “Annual Audit,” subsection (a), describes a reporting system to correctly determine the number of “self-pay adjusted patient days,” which will be audited. Folks, this is a program audit; it is not a financial audit. There is simply no financial audit for total expenditures of $10 million a year.

Vote no on Measure O.

DORIS C. HOWARD

Simi Valley

* Halloween is approaching, and something very scary is the massive amount of money the tobacco settlement agreement will funnel to Ventura County. Think of all the damage county government could do with $10 million more a year.

I envision county departments and agencies illegally billing each other to claim bigger pieces of the tobacco pie. I see county managers adding imaginary college degrees to their resumes so they can claim the pay raises from the tobacco money. I see the supervisors thinking about using a nice chunk of change to build a golf course / amphitheater / juvenile hall / ski resort at Frazier Park.

I see a nightmare.

It would be nice if there was a way the public could freeze this money for a single worthy cause and prevent the county from wasting it away.

But there is. Considering the source of the money is tobacco companies and that they will surrender the money because of the adverse health affects their product caused the public, the money should be used only for health care services.

And Measure O proposes just that: Freeze the money for health care purposes only. Vote yes on Measure O to improve our overall health care system and to keep the money away from the county government.

ROLAND M. OULLETTE

Moorpark