This community opinion was contributed by Robert Bernosky. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. BenitoLink invites all community members to share their ideas and opinions. By registering as a BenitoLink user in the top right corner of our home page and agreeing to follow our Terms of Use, you can write counter opinions or share your insights on current issues. Lea este artículo en español aquí.
Editor’s note: Commissioner Page Galloway dismissed the case because Bernosky did not include a form in his filing. Additionally, she said she did not view the case “favor” of Bernosky because he did not present evidence the ballot question violated the law, though the parties did not get to the process where they argued the merits of the filing.
This is just one battle in a war to keep the hospital local. These things happen when you are fighting unlimited funds and a willingness to spend them. It may take time, but we are going to find out sooner or later what went on at Hazel Hawkins Hospital that is causing the board to sell before we do. In the meantime, be wary of Insight, the “buyer” that is going full throttle sprinkling money around the county to buy votes.
As a reminder, Hazel Hawkins Hospital is an incredible entity. It earned over $15 million in the year ended June 30th, another $1.1 million in July, has $35 million in cash, and employs over 600 people in Hollister. Yes, fellow Hollister residents, through pressures we have put on the hospital board and administration, we are finally getting operational excellence. Our efforts may have also caused 2 board members to step down in November. We wish them well as we move forward into a new era of transparency, accountability, certainty in longevity, and success in future growth.
On Aug. 16 we challenged the wording the current hospital board used in its third attempt to create a legal ballot statement to get our permission sell our hospital. The laws surrounding this say, in essence, that the statement not be false, misleading, or argumentative. The challenge we brought was that their statement included “Without raising taxes” and other language that is misleading because it is designed to scare you about what they want to imply would happen if you vote against Measure X. The hospital board wants us to prove a negative.
To us, the challenge was a plain vanilla argument, but the hospital board, after having to suffer the embarrassment of having to write the ballot statements 3 times already, brought out the most expensive big gun attorney they could buy with our taxpayer money. Margaret Prinzing argues ballot/election law in front of the California Supreme Court as casually and with expertise as Starbucks serves coffee. Instead of arguing the merits, she found a technical error in our court filing (a “verification statement” was not included, a statement that the petitioner believed the filing was truthful). So we never got to argue and the commissioner going on vacation next week, seemingly did not want to extend the proceedings).
This was just a skirmish lost in an overall battle. The shame of it all is that this is a war we should not have to be fighting. The only blame the current owners of Hazel Hawkins Hospital have, those being us, the residents of San Benito County, is that we did not pay attention to who we were electing to the San Benito Health Care District board and what they were doing. As long as I am here, that will not happen again.
A new battle is forming where board members may be putting pressure on hospital employees to endorse particular candidates to replace them “planting them.” The law also states that government entities may not participate in political elections, especially making employees feel like they must help “their” candidate win by having their union endorse them.
We have to continue the efforts to dismantle the current power structure and replace it with one that has nothing to hide, does not rely on extremely expensive consultants for day-to-day operations, and is committed to keeping Hazel Hawkins open and public, no matter what they find after they take office. It’s is job number one. As we all know by now, the current board has been less than forthcoming on what is going on at the hospital. Whatever new board members find, no matter how bad, they will deal with it and move forward. They should not be “out to get anybody,” but determined to fix the problems so that we have the healthcare that we need in this county and to assist what will become even more of an economic powerhouse by improving the reputation, the quality, and the all over patient experience.