Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's conference on women Tuesday featured a message of taking charge. In that spirit, a cadre of angry nurses repeatedly interrupted his speech before 10,000 women to chant in protest until being led away by security guards.
But the act of public disobedience didn't change many minds in the cavernous Long Beach convention hall. Schwarzenegger drew raucous cheers from the audience by ridiculing the protesters from the California Nurses Assn.
The union has been holding demonstrations around the state to protest the Republican governor's decision to allow hospitals to delay a scheduled rise in staffing levels that would have forced them to hire more nurses.
Nurses protest -- An article in Wednesday's California section about the Governor's Conference on Women, at which nurses protested Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's policy on hospital staffing levels, misquoted Jan Emerson of the California Healthcare Assn. She appeared to criticize the professional dedication of nurses represented by the California Nurses Assn., a labor union. She actually said that most nurses do not belong to the union and that most nurses, including those in the union, are dedicated people who spend their lives helping others.
"Pay no attention to those voices over there," Schwarzenegger said of the protesting nurses. "They are the special interests, and you know what I mean. The special interests don't like me in Sacramento because I am always kicking their butts."
As about 300 nurses marched outside, the union purchased 15 tickets to the event, which allowed members to paper the conference with fliers and infiltrate the governor's speech.
In the middle, about eight nurses unraveled a banner about 100 feet from the governor and began chanting the tongue-twister line, "Safe staffing saves lives," and "Hands off our ratios" -- a reference to past allegations that Schwarzenegger had groped women.
The convention hall was so large that most of the audience probably didn't hear the protest, but the VIPs up front did. It was a small dose of political reality amid a conference designed to be nonpolitical and uplifting for California's 16 million women.
The annual California Governor's Conference on Women and Families was created 18 years ago under former Gov. George Deukmejian. Last year's event took place just two days after voters ousted Gov. Gray Davis.
"Welcome to the estrogen festival! The largest estrogen gathering in the country," said actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who called the governor her friend and mentor and his wife Maria Shriver her girlfriend. Before Curtis' comments, another speaker had asked the women to hug each other.
In remarks that brought several laughs, Curtis said Schwarzenegger had "the heart of a woman. He is compassionate. He is passionate. He listens. Well, two out of three ain't bad. He can multitask. He can find your keys. He is the ultimate girlie man" -- turning around the governor's own words about state legislators.
- Gov. Steps Off Stump for Women Oct 28, 2005
- Shriver Wants Her Spouse 'Back Home' Apr 09, 2005
- Maria Shriver Recasts 'First Lady' as a Powerful Role in California Dec 25, 2005
