A lesbian state senator who has spent the last four years pushing a bill to transform California's healthcare system has accused Janet Reilly, a candidate for state Assembly, of plagiarizing the legislation in her campaign materials and claiming it as her own idea.
Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) made the accusations against Reilly in a letter dated Friday, May 19. In it she expressed "deep disappointment and anger" at Reilly for "the way you are portraying yourself as somehow 'proposing' what is, in every respect, my bill." Kuehl also accused Reilly of "adding insult to injury" by purchasing a Web link using her name so that "each time someone Googled me, a link appeared to 'Janet Reilly's Healthcare Plan.'"
A furious Kuehl ended her letter by stating, "If this is your idea of good campaigning, I can only imagine your lack of integrity in the office."
In a phone interview Tuesday, May 23 Kuehl said, "It's plagiarism. I have never seen anything like this at all before, even among members. No member will expropriate another member's bill and call it their own."
Reilly is in a hotly contested primary race with San Francisco Supervisor Fiona Ma for the 12th District Assembly seat.
Eric Jaye, a spokesman for Reilly's campaign, called Kuehl's accusations inaccurate. He added that Reilly had not paid for any sites using the senator's names, and pointed to the fact that a link to Ma's campaign Web site comes up when someone Googles Janet Reilly.
"With all due respect to the senator and her record, what she is saying is not correct. While Janet applauds Senator Kuehl for fighting for single-payer health care in California, it is more than a stretch for the senator to say single-payer health care is her idea," said Jaye. "It is a basic system used in every industrialized nation."
The bill in question, SB840, would establish the California Health Insurance System and make all California residents eligible for specified health care benefits on a single-payer basis. The new agency would also negotiate for or set fees for health care services provided through the system and pay claims for those services. Kuehl introduced the bill on February 22, 2005.
Kuehl said numerous other candidates running in the June 6 primary have come out in support of her bill or have expanded on it and proposed additional solutions. All of which, Kuehl said she has no problems with because "that is appropriate campaigning."
But for Reilly to title her plan "Janet Reilly's Healthcare Plan" and talk about the ideas behind SB840 without ever once mentioning the bill, Kuehl said is "dishonest."
Reilly's plan, which can be found at www.janetreilly.com/healthcare.html, is 24 pages long and covers everything from reducing pollution and violent crime to installing a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge and funding physical education in public schools. But the number one proposal is implementing universal healthcare for all through a single-payer system.
In it, Reilly criticizes politicians for not "getting the job done. Bold solutions are risky to politicians worried more about re-election than about working families who struggle to pay for their next trip to the doctor."
Kuehl said she first learned about Reilly's healthcare plan and of the Web site using her name two weeks ago when she did a Google search to see what had been written about another of her bills that would require California public schools to teach students about the contributions LGBT people have made to society. Upon reading the plan, Kuehl said most of the material in it is lifted without any attribution from her bill and the supporting materials advocacy groups, such as Healthcare For All, have developed.
In her letter to Reilly, Kuehl charged, "nowhere do you mention the bill, the advocates who have developed the broad coalition on the bill, or me."
Outraged at what she considered to be deceptive claims on Reilly's part, Kuehl said she raised her complaints during a meeting of the legislature's women's caucus.
"Three day's later it was gone," said Kuehl of the link that had used her name. "I don't know if it got back to her or what."
Jaye characterized the letter from Kuehl as an attack orchestrated by Sacramento insiders who do not want to see Reilly defeat Ma in the Democratic primary race to replace District 12 Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), who is running for a state Senate seat. Kuehl has endorsed Ma in the race.
"An independent candidate like Janet Reilly scares the heck out of the Sacramento establishment. Unfortunately, Senator Kuehl, who gets her information from the Sacramento establishment, is misinformed," said Jaye.
Asked about Jaye's contention, Kuehl laughed and said "make sure to note I laughed uproariously to that. If there is anyone who is not a member of the Sacramento establishment it is me. I am just outraged and nonplussed at plagiarism, period."
Jaye said the flap over the healthcare plan is actually a benefit for Reilly because it highlights the fact she has a comprehensive plan while her opponent does not.
"Fiona Ma has not offered any solutions," he said. "This is an opportunity for people to go to janetreilly.com to read our plan. It is to our benefit and Supervisor Fiona Ma's detriment."
According to Ma's campaign Web site, she supports universal healthcare but wants to ensure the state can pay for it. Ma, like Reilly, makes no mention of Kuehl's bill but does state "the only way to achieve universal healthcare is through comprehensive reform of our healthcare system and a restructuring of our priorities on a state and national level. I support state measures to provide incentives for business owners to cover their workers and other such efforts, but we need the political will on a national level to be successful."
Ma campaign manager Tom Hsieh Jr. said he had not seen Kuehl's letter but had been told of its contents. While he would not comment directly on Kuehl's accusations, he did say, "It is shocking, that is for sure."
As for charges that Ma has no proposals for extending healthcare coverage, Hsieh pointed to Ma's working with Mayor Gavin Newsom to provide healthcare to people between ages of 19 and 25 and her working to restore mental health clinic funding in her district.
"She is in favor of universal healthcare and Kuehl has the market on that whole legislation. She is, of course, supportive of her bill," Hsieh said.Â