A group of Orange County seniors, physicians, mental health professionals and community service workers want to send a message to state Sen. Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) this morning about looming state budget cuts they believe imperil California's healthcare safety net.
But the group's demonstration is not being held at the state Capitol, Harman's home nor the veteran legislator's district office. They've chosen a dental office; just look for the crowd in plastic ponchos.
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Let us allow the Orange County Congregation Community Organization and the Coalition of Orange County Community Health Centers explain:
Draped in rain gear to hold off the impending “storm” of budget cuts without the swift action of State Senator Tom Harman, Orange County dentists, health centers, mental health professionals, seniors and families will deliver a message to stop state budget cuts that rip away the basic social safety net in local California communities.
In a news conference in front of a Huntington Beach dental office, the groups of concerned Orange County residents will detail the devastating impact budget cuts already made have had on our children and their future; just days before the constitutional deadline to pass a state budget. With120,000 children booted out of health insurance programs, further cuts to
health and human services looming, the group will ask Harman to stop further cuts. Protecting our children's opportunities for the future and the open space they deserve in their environment requires maintaining existing revenues.
The fun begins at 10 a.m. in front of the dental office at 7891 Talbert Ave., #103
, Huntington Beach. And, no, it's not clear if that's where Harman gets his incisors sharpened. At least patients who've read all the magazines in the lobby will be entertained while passing the time.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.