SACRAMENTO — State Health Director Kenneth Kizer on Tuesday accused the Lyndon LaRouche followers who placed an AIDS initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot of wrongfully using his name, while the attorney general dealt the measure a blow by concluding that it could cost taxpayers millions of dollars more than first expected.
At a press conference here, Kizer said the LaRouche backers misled voters by including his name in statements they submitted for the official ballot pamphlet to be sent to all voters before the election.
He demanded that his name be deleted before the pamphlet is published, and Secretary of State March Fong Eu agreed Tuesday afternoon.
The measure, designated Proposition 64 on the ballot, would give AIDS the legal status of an infectious disease and would attempt to bar AIDS victims and carriers of the AIDS antibody from jobs in restaurants, schools and medical facilities. It would specifically authorize quarantines of acquired immune deficiency syndrome victims and give officials the authority to order blood tests and report the results to the state.
The LaRouche group's ballot statements, which have become controversial on several counts, included a paragraph that states: "Many health officials are demanding public health measures. Dr. Kizer, California's top health official, has called for more reporting and testing powers."
That is apparently a reference to Kizer's request last April for broader state powers to require that potential AIDS victims undergo testing. Kizer also proposed that the state loosen its promise to keep test results confidential. Both are steps the LaRouche-affiliated initiative sponsors, Prevent AIDS Now Initiative Committee (PANIC), have recommended.
However, Kizer said Tuesday that he has never supported the initiative and in the past has described its backers as "ill-informed and misguided on this issue."
"What is the most upsetting to me is they have used my name and implied my support for the initiative," he said Tuesday.
Unlike most of the state's medical leadership, which has strongly blasted the initiative as a threat to the fight against AIDS, Kizer said the state Department of Health Services is still studying Proposition 64 and will take a position within a few weeks.
