CA Nurses & Air Arnold Bring Schwarzenegger Protests to Stones Concert Sunday at Fenway

CA Nurses & Air Arnold Bring Schwarzenegger Protests to Stones Concert Sunday at Fenway

Pre-Concert Press Conference at 5 p.m.

BOSTON, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered Nurses from the California Nurses Association (CNA) and the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) will travel to Boston to protest Governor Arnold "Sticky Fingers" Schwarzenegger's corporate fundraising and policies harmful to nurses and other Californians, outside a $100,000 per ticket fundraiser he is holding at the Rolling Stones kickoff concert at Fenway Park.

They will be joined by RNs from the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), as well as local teachers, firefighters, and activists at a pre-concert press conference this Sunday, August 21st at 5:00 p.m. Just as in California, Schwarzenegger will be greeted overhead by "Air Arnold," a chartered plane towing a message for the Governor -- this time, "Arnold's Beast of Burden: Corporate Cash." Air Arnold will fly over Boston all day, and Fenway as daylight permits.

WHAT: RNs protest Schwarzenegger at Rolling Stones Concert

WHEN: Sunday, August 21, 5:00 p.m. Press Conference; 6:00 p.m. Concert

WHERE: Fenway Park, entrance to glass elevator

Schwarzenegger has been dogged for the last nine months by protestors, led by the CNA, at some 75 public appearances, especially his corporate fundraising events held across the nation. The protests have galvanized public opposition to his policies, which include attacks on nurses, teachers, firefighters, and have contributed to a free fall in his approval ratings from the mid-70s to the low-30s. Schwarzenegger at one point boasted about "kicking (nurses') butts" and moved to roll back the state's landmark law requiring safe registered nurse staffing ratios to protect patient safety. The MNA has recently proposed a similar law for Massachusetts.

As Governor, Schwarzenegger has smashed every record for corporate fundraising, with him and his allies taking in $81 million in just the first six months of 2005. Schwarzenegger is now raising funds to support a costly special election that he has scheduled for November, called despite the opposition of a majority of Californians. The ballot includes a variety of pro-corporate proposals, including measures to:

-- End prescription drug pricing reform and guarantee pharmaceutical
corporations billions more in profits from low-income consumers.
-- Give Schwarzenegger much greater power to cut funding for health care,
education, and other social programs.
-- Slash job protections for teachers
-- Discourage RN and other public employee unions from participating in
politics while placing no limits on corporate spending on elections

"Arnold Schwarzenegger has Sticky Fingers for corporate cash. He is Under the corporations' Thumbs -- and we've got no Sympathy for This Devil. But the good news for the people of California? It's All Over Now, as his approval rating has dropped down around 35%," said Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the California Nurses Association.

"Nearly 70% of Californians have seen through the Hollywood hype and now disapprove of Arnold Schwarzenegger, his cash register politics, and his disgraceful attack on those who provide vital public services in our state," said Deborah Burger, RN, President of the California Nurses Association. "The reason he is traveling around the country raising money is that big corporate interests hope to replicate his disastrous program in other states. The nurses of California, joined by our colleagues across the nation will be sure that our message is heard as well."

You can read more about the effort to defeat Schwarzenegger's special election by visiting www.StopArnold.us, a project of the California Nurses Association, or the CNA website at www.calnurses.org.

Source: California Nurses Association

CONTACT: Shum Preston of CNA, +1-415-412-0825; or Julie Pinkham of MNA,
+1-617-901-1948

Web site: http://www.calnurses.org/

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