An $80 Million David vs. Goliath Battle
-- How an Anti SB899 Initiative Could be won! --
If you feel like a victim being swept away by the big corporate tsunami with little hope of fighting back, the answer lies in the passage of proposition 103. (Haven't seen much news regarding the tsunami recently. What's up with that? Did the problem go away?)
This was one time when the people beat the big insurance industry at what has become a big business game, the initiative or proposition.
The insurance industry spent millions (90 or so million) to pass prop 104 to limit damages for automobile accidents and essentially ruin PI attorneys.
Harvey Rosenfield and Ralph Nader ran a counter proposition, 103, that sought to require insurance rate regulation, not tort reform, as the answer to the auto insurance rate "crisis". They had about 2 million dollars to fight the insurance industry. Most of that money was spent just to get the signatures to have the initiative on the ballot.
They ran a grass roots campaign. The consumers of California finally got it, since they associated Nader with their own best interests and passed prop 103, which is still the law today.
Actually, Proposition 103 applies to every other line of insurance except WC. Isn't it Interesting that the only rate "crisis" in CA is WC!
The lesson, I believe, is that we can implement an initiative on the same philosophy with "minimal" capital and turn back much, or all, of SB 899.
However, in order to successfully do this a grass roots organization must be formed and put in place immediately. CAAA is already in the position to organize such a grass roots effort. CAAA has membership in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as many other counties. It is this membership across California that would have to be mobilized to form the cells or grassroots branches in these major cities as well as throughout all of California. Based upon my recent informal poll of our local AA's, there seems to be unanimous agreement that an initiative is something that should be done.
Without money to promote our initiative, we will have to generate "free" publicity by conducting somewhat outrageous events, including, but not limited to protests.
Again, Harvey Rosenfield has demonstrated how this can be done. As I mentioned before, and mention it again, he hired an airplane to fly around the Governor's fundraisers with an appropriate banner. On the ground, the nurses and teachers were protesting in a very vocal way. This was happening at the same time that the nurses were prosecuting a successful lawsuit. Don't ever believe that the favorable public opinion they generated had nothing to do with their victory.
CAAA is prosecuting a lawsuit, but without the political movement broadcasting the problem, the employee class is totally unaware of both their own plight and those that are fighting for their rights. Consequently, there is little, if any, public support for CAAA and the principle enunciated in the lawsuit. In short, CAAA is fighting with one hand tied behind their back. With a political movement going on that is generating headlines we can't loose the lawsuit. If we win, we win. If the suit fails it becomes a "martyr" in our cause.
The way it stands, if the suit were dismissed with prejudice tomorrow, it would be like a tree falling in the forest. No one would know or care other than a handful of people who realize the extent that the working/employee class was looted by the sociopath insurance industry.
Most injured workers, let alone workers who have never had to file for comp, are, in the most part, oblivious to the fate that awaits them. Moreover, failure to bring public pressure on the sociopath government will only result in more and bolder 'take always' in the near future.
Finally, the sociopaths understand that the elimination of an applicant's attorney bar is the final step in this phase of their economic fascist platform to gain total control of injured workers, as well as the multi-billion dollar Workers' Compensation system.
The implementation of SB 899 has the dual purpose of gaining billions in profit as well as the design to eliminate AA's, and more so CAAA. Once the sociopaths have total control of the system, they will literally skin the injured workers, as well as the general public, in high cost premiums that they never intended to reduce in the first place. This is a typical example of the corporate looting that is going on across our state, country and the world. Once AA's and CAAA are destroyed there will be little possibility for dissent. It will be a free for all by the insurance industry.
This recent "lunch break" business is direct evidence of the skinning mentioned above.
So what I am suggesting, if we realistically want to promote some form of initiative, is that CAAA will have to organize it and promote it. Before we few fledgling AA's try to take this on ourselves, we should petition CAAA to initiate the initiative.
CAAA should also engage Rosenfield, Nader Senator Alarcon to back us in any capacity they would be willing to. If it were done before, it could be done again.
Of course, the true power lies in the millions of employees who were looted. There are a few groups and individuals who are fighting and ready to fight. The nurses should be on our side since many of them are injured at work. Teachers, firefighters, police officers and their unions should get behind this as they are at great risk of injury at work. In fact, every employee in the state should vote yes to our initiative. Of course, the problem is that they have been conditioned to vote for Arnolds psychopathic fascist insanity. Our real challenge is to counter condition them, as Rosenfield and Nader did, to vote in their best interests.
More so, the voters from the ages of 18-25 years are the real issue. Their future is, for the most part, 40 years of hard labor with little pay and little protection against catastrophe when they are injured at work. Their energetic youth, if mobilized as it was during the Vietnam War, will ultimately energize our movement and bring about victory. In other words, we need to bring our message to college campuses. Their ability to earn is what will finance your social security. They must understand this before the psychopaths loot them, and all of us, out of our social security benefits.
In conclusion, this is a feasible plan since it has worked before. As far as I know, it's the only plan proposed to quickly unravel the most draconian portions of SB899. If others or CAAA have another plan, other than lawsuits, please let us all know. If the plan I propose is subject to critique that is convincing then we'll have to form another plan. Until a better plan is proposed, this plan is our only alternative other than acceptance of SB899. If we are going to go with this plan, we had better get to it NOW! There is no time left to procrastinate.
If CAAA or Applicant Attorneys are not willing to take up this challenge as the leaders, or vanguard of the injured workers, then the injured workers will have to do this themselves.
Below is an article regarding the story of Proposition 103. It demonstrates exactly how we can actually win this initiative. The first thing that comes to light is that it can't be won with apathy. It will take dedication and HARD WORK.
This article is merely a philosophical analysis sketching the concept. What actually needs to happen is similar to a business plan. Typically, organizations form a committee with subcommittees to draw up a detailed plan to implement the overall philosophy, like an army. Without structure, all that's left is anarchy.
In the meantime, if one of the local AA's, perhaps Brian Mitchell the local CAAA chapter president, would kindly prepare and circulate the petition, we could get this ball rolling.
Harvey Rosenfield For Insurance Comissioner! That would put a monkey wrench in their facist machine.
To read the full copyrighted David vs. Goliath story from consumerwatchdog.org
click here.
To read the full text of Proposition 103 (from consumerwatch.org)
click here.
To see an example of what we should be doing, watch how the nurses did it by
clicking here.
- J. Geller
March 15, 2005
