Press Release

October 14, 2022

In Case You Missed It: “Enough with this foolish extortion” says LA Times columnist George Skelton

For immediate release: October 14, 2022

Contact: Kathy Fairbanks, (916) 813-1010

In Case You Missed It:

“Enough with this foolish extortion,” says LA Times columnist George Skelton

Sacramento –In a column earlier this week, venerable LA Times political columnist George Skelton wrote that Prop 29 “… has all the looks of a club being used by a union trying to bludgeon dialysis providers into surrendering to unionizing” and called the measure “political extortion.”

Prop 29 on the November 2022 California ballot will jeopardize access to care, worsen our health care provider shortage and increase health care costs for all Californians. It is opposed by a broad coalition of patients, doctors, nurses, veterans, seniors, community groups, and business and taxpayer groups.

Additional highlights from Skelton’s column include:

• “Political extortion was not what reformers intended when they created California’s system of direct democracy 111 years ago.”
• “But it seems to currently exist with Proposition 29.”
• “…looks of a club being used by a union trying to bludgeon dialysis providers into surrendering to unionizing.”
• “…why isn’t the union making a serious effort to pass Proposition 29? It qualified the measure for the ballot by collecting enough voter signatures, then essentially took a hike.”
• “…according to the nonpartisan legislative analyst, it ‘would increase each clinic’s costs by several hundred thousand dollars annually on average.’”
• “…what does the union not understand about the voters’ answer of “no”? It doesn’t seem to care.”
• “Hopefully, Californians will reject this initiative abuse for the third time and send the union a loud message: Enough with the foolish extortion.”

Every editorial board in California has urged voters to reject Prop 29:  San Diego Union Tribune, La Opinión, Santa Cruz Sentinel join the Bakersfield Californian, Fresno Bee, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, San Jose Mercury News,  East Bay Times, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Orange County Register, Riverside Press-Enterprise, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Pasadena Star-News, Whittier Daily News, San Bernardino Sun, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Los Angeles Daily News, Torrance Daily Breeze, Redlands Daily Facts, and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin urging voters to reject Prop 29 in recent editorials.

Background:

Prop 29 is opposed by the California Medical Association, American Nurses Association\California, patients, and many others because it would jeopardize the lives of dialysis patients by forcing hundreds of dialysis clinics to cut back services or shut down – making it more difficult for dialysis patients to access their life-saving treatments. 

Prop 29 would make the state’s current health care provider shortage and emergency room overcrowding even worse, while unnecessarily increasing health care costs for taxpayers and consumers by hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

There are approximately 80,000 dialysis patients in California with failed kidneys who need dialysis machines to clean their blood and remove toxins from their bodies. Patients must receive dialysis treatment three times a week for four hours at a time to stay alive. Access to consistent dialysis treatments is so important that just one missed treatment increases patients’ risk of death by 30%. 

Prop 29 is sponsored by the United Healthcare Workers West (UHW) union – the same organization that abused California’s initiative process in 2018 with Proposition 8 and in 2020 with Prop. Now, this special interest is at it again with Prop 29.

Please visit No on Prop 29 for more information.