You guys let the neanderthal in the door, not me.
Quote of note:
The 18th annual governor's conference, an event chaired by Schwarzenegger's wife, Maria Shriver, drew an audience primarily of women to hear high-profile speakers including Oprah Winfrey and Queen Noor of Jordan talk about improving the lives of women at home and in the workplace.
The governor's opening speech was interrupted when about 15 nurses -- who had paid the $125 entrance fee to the one-day conference -- unfurled a banner inside the Long Beach Convention Center, held up signs and chanted "Safe Staffing Saves Lives.''
As the group was escorted out and continued to chant, Schwarzenegger tried to continue his talk about the contributions of California women.
"Pay no attention to those voices over there," he said. "They are the special interests. Special interests don't like me in Sacramento because I kick their butt."
At tribute for women, governor derides protesting nurses
He dismisses group opposing his policy as 'special interests'
- Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
Long Beach -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking Tuesday to open an annual conference celebrating women's contributions to the state, dismissed California nurses who protested his health care policies as "special interests'' who are mad because "I kick their butt."
The offhand remark by the governor, in front of 10,000 people at the California Governor's Conference on Women and Children, drew a blistering reaction from the California Nurses Association, whose leaders said they will sue this week to stop Schwarzenegger's executive order weakening mandated nurse-to-patient ratios in the state's hospitals.
Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the 60,000-member nurses group, said Schwarzenegger's characterization of the group as "special interests'' was "completely insulting'' and particularly inappropriate at a conference specifically aimed at honoring women.
"He's here to talk about empowering women, when in fact he's ... gutting the (nursing) profession,'' which is dominated by women, DeMoro said. "He's horrendous when it comes to issues of health care and women.''
