HONDA/CUNNEEN: Doctors Accuse Honda of ‘Distorting’ Cunneen’s Record
Objecting to a one-page campaign handout that they say "distorts" Assembly member Jim Cunneen's (R-Campbell) health care record, six Santa Clara County physicians Tuesday asked Assembly member Mike Honda (D-San Jose), who is running against Cunneen for the 15th COngressional District seat, to withdraw the piece, the San Jose Mercury News reports. In a letter to Honda, the doctors disputed his statement that Cunneen opposes a patients' bill of rights, pointing to a list of Cunneen's health care achievements in the state Legislature. Cunneen was a co-author of a 1998 measure that would have created a patients' bill of rights, and he endorsed several patients' rights measures in 1999. Honda campaign officials argued that Cunneen's 1998 proposal died in committee. In addition, Honda spokesperson Vince Duffy said that in 1998, Cunneen voted against a measure that would have permitted patients to sue their HMOs. However, Cunneen supported a similar measure that was revived and passed in 1999. Honda supported the measures both years (San Jose Mercury News, 10/11).
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