Hospitals’ Tobacco Money Initiative Gets Closer to Ballot

VENTURA —  Supporters of a controversial tobacco money initiative were cheered Friday when a judge ruled that the Ventura County clerk can begin the process of putting the measure on the November ballot.

“This is an appropriate next step,” said Mark Barnhill, spokesman for Community Memorial Hospital, which wrote the initiative in an attempt to transfer control of $260 million in national tobacco settlement money from county coffers to seven area private hospitals. “It was outrageous for the supervisors not let him put this to a vote.”

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Henry Walsh heard arguments for and against letting County Clerk Richard Dean begin the paperwork for the initiative, should it be declared legal.

County supervisors said the measure is illegal and refused to put it on the ballot. They sued Community Memorial, claiming the initiative is an unconstitutional grab of public money. Community Memorial responded with its own lawsuit, trying to force the county to put the measure on the ballot.

The private hospitals, led by Community Memorial, say they want the funds to help offset spending on indigent and uninsured patients. Although the County Board of Supervisors already has promised to spend the money on health care, the hospitals say the county instead might use the estimated $10 million a year over the next 25 years to shore up its mismanaged budget.

Dean, who insists he is neutral, has been caught in the middle. He says the county can’t legally keep the measure off the ballot. His attorney Bradley Hertz argued in court Friday that if Dean didn’t begin soliciting arguments for and against the measure soon, he would be far behind his election schedule.

The arguments are placed on sample ballots, which are usually mailed out 35 to 40 days before an election. Dean said Aug. 11 is the deadline to get initiatives on the ballot.