meg whitman is trying her hand at a manner of union busting – and her degree of success will help determine whether she's elected governor in november.
several major labor unions have launched campaigns to elect democrat jerry brown, with the california nurses association taking a particularly aggressive tack. even before the primary, a delegation from the union was dogging billionaire whitman at public events, dressing up in whitman wigs and featuring its own queen meg. a sampling of its satirical slogans: "only the rich deserve health care." "rich enough to rule." "we can't afford our democracy so why not try a monarchy?"
the nurses union has set up a facebook page, www.queenmeg2010.com. it's bought ads on spanish-language radio, reminding latino voters of her strong "no amnesty, no driver licenses, no sanctuary cities, no state universities for illegal immigrants" language during the primary. they're also planning to launch a campaign targeting women voters.
whitman has struck back by setting up her own website for nurses, www.truthfornurses.com. she points out that only one in four nurses here belong to the statewide union. she has done two mailings so far to california nurses. her poll of nurses shows whitman and brown in a statistical dead heat (the nurses union counters that the poll methodology was rigged).....
