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Over a thousand California nurses are gathering this morning outside the home of former eBay CEO and Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman in Atherton. The conservative billionairess has taken on the California Nurses Association after it endorsed Democrat Jerry Brown for governor. Part of Whitman’s election campaign is to fire 40,000 state workers. She also wants to cut $15 billion from the state budget, which the San Francisco Chronicle speculates are “signs that she wants to cut pensions and roll back benefits won by nurses.” The CNA, one of the most organized and progressive unions in the country, have responded by protesting at Whitman’s campaign events. They have also dubbed her “Queen Meg” in a reference to the extent of her obscene personal wealth. Whitman recently sent a letter to more than 100,000 individual nurses. In it she invited them to join a nurses campaign advisory board she plans to create. She also blasted the CNA leadership for making the union a front group for the Democratic Party that’s misusing members’ dues. Apparently Whitman hopes to divide and conquer the union by turning its rank and file against the leadership. The Associated Press reports that it’s the type of “expensive micro-targeting…only a multimillionaire could afford.”

GUEST: DeAnn McEwen, Board member of the California Nurses Association, joining us live from Atherton, CA

Meg Whitman’s Attack Website on the CNA: www.truthfornurses.com.

CNA’s Response to Whitman: www.truthforshareholders.com.