Meg's Kiss Is On Nurses' List

"My friends wonder why I call you all the time,
What can I say?
I don't feel the need to give such secrets away"

-"Kiss on My List," Daryl Hall and John Oates

The latest silly yet mildly amusing campaign dispute -- between GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman and the California Nurses Assn. over whether Whitman should be able to have access to the nurses' mailing list -- had me humming a so-bad-it's-good pop song of my youth, the Hall & Oates 1981 hit "Kiss on My List."

OK, the song really isn't a perfect metaphor for the Whitman-CNA clash, but there are elements in common. While there's no great romance, there is some secret keeping, some strategizing, some smiling, some lying ("I only smile when I lie," Hall & Oates sang). And a lot of discussion of who is with you and of lists.

That's about all you need to know.

The nurses' union is firmly for Jerry Brown (who, like the union, is based in Oakland) and has been dogging Whitman at campaign events with street theater stunts designed to make Whitman look powerful and haughty.

Whitman's campaign asked for permission to mail her side of the story to the union's list -- a request that the campaign had to know would be rejected. The strategy of the Whitman side was to try to alter the story line and put the nurses' union, a powerful entity in its own right, on the defensive. The nurses responded by inviting Whitman to debate Jerry Brown in front of their members -- a request that the union knew would be rejected, and that served as a way to highlight the fact that Whitman dodges tough questions.

As a bit of public relations warfare, the whole thing was diverting, but neither side made any gains.

A note about the sorts of mailing lists that unions like CNA keep. They aren't mere lists. They are valuable documents of members and supporters that are extremely valuable to interest groups that keep them. Access to them is often sold for big money.

So no union or interest group with leadership in its right mind would let a political opponent -- in this case Whitman -- use the mailing list, even if the opponent paid for the mailing and used a favored printer. Being able to mail the list is itself a right that has monetary value. So a campaign that wants to use it either should be paying the nurses' union for that right -- or be a campaign that the nurses' union supports. 

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