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Uploaded: Wednesday, August 15, 2012, 1:46 PM
El Camino: five vie for three seats on district board
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by Nick Veronin
Mountain View Voice Staff
Three newcomers and two incumbents are running for three seats on the board of directors of the El Camino Hospital District.
Dennis W. Chiu, Bill James and Julia E. Miller have all filed their candidacy papers with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, challenging incumbents Wesley F. Alles and John L. Zoglin, who are seeking reelection. Non-incumbent Catherine Vonnegut had pulled nomination papers, but ultimately decided not to run.
Miller is the latest of the candidates to throw her hat into the ring. She is a former administrator at Lockheed Martin, has served as mayor and city councilwoman for the City of Sunnyvale, and serves as a board member on the San Francisco Bay Trail and works for Sustainable Silicon Valley.
She said she is concerned with issues that were raised by two recent reports, issued by the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury and the Local Agency Formation Commission. And, she noted, both of the incumbents were not elected but appointed. "I think the public gets to choose," she said.
Chiu is a lawyer and the owner of the Sunnyvale-based firm, Prodigy Law. He said he is running because he believes the hospital has strayed from its original purpose and he wants to get it back on track.
James is a patent lawyer and partner at Van Pelt, Yi & James LLP, an intellectual property law firm based in Cupertino. He ran for the hospital district board 2002. According to James, one of his biggest concerns is transparency. He believes too many decisions are made behind closed doors at El Camino.
Alles was first appointed to the board in 2003 and is seeking his third term on the hospital district's governing body. Zoglin, senior director of digital marketing services at the IBM-owned Coremetrics, is the board's current chairman. Both incumbents said that their experience on the board makes them the best choices for this election.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by gcoladon, a resident of the Slater neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 2:18 pm
gcoladon is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online Could anyone help me understand why a successful suburban hospital that brings in quite a bit of money through the services it provides should still be receiving a large taxpayer subsidy, rather than operating like a normal, private, unsubsidized non-profit hospital?
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Posted by karin, a resident of the Cuesta Park neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 2:51 pm I would also like to understand why El Camino hospital is receiving taxpayer subsidy. Let us bring new people into the board to change things!
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Posted by Rex, a resident of the Rex Manor neighborhood, on Aug 15, 2012 at 3:48 pm I agree with the previous two commentators: Why is El Camino Hospital receiving tax payer dollars?
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Posted by Nick V, Mountain View Voice Staff Writer, on Aug 19, 2012 at 11:04 am
Nick V is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online El Camino Hospital doesn't receive taxpayer dollars, per se. The El Camino Hospital District is the entity that collects the taxes. A hospital district is a public municipality, kind of like a city. If the El Camino Hospital District did not exist, and El Camino Hospital were a private entity, there would be no tax collection in connection with the hospital. However, if the hospital were solely a private entity, voters would have no say over who is on the district board. This is a very basic explanation. I've been kicking around the idea of writing an article explaining all of this in much greater detail. Is that something that readers would like to see?
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Posted by gcoladon, a resident of the Slater neighborhood, on Aug 20, 2012 at 9:08 pm
gcoladon is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online Nick V I think that's a great idea for an article. An informed electorate is a wonderful thing.
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Posted by Peter Wolken, a resident of another community, on Oct 14, 2012 at 2:46 pm Good idea to prepare an article detailing what the Board is expected to do and what their compensation is. How much does the El Camino Hospital District receive from our taxes?
I understand the hospital offers free emergency care for those who cannot afford to pay and agree with that policy. That may justify receiving taxpayer financing.
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Posted by Taxpayer Joe, a resident of another community, on Oct 14, 2012 at 7:38 pm I'm all for more accountability and transparency. I would vote for Miller and Chiu.
Unfortunately, I cannot vote for any patent attorney, since patent attorneys are the people most responsible for the huge patent litigation mess we are all paying so dearly for, so only 2 out of 3 for me.
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Posted by Fed Up, a resident of another community, on Oct 19, 2012 at 12:03 am The two incumbents have had years to make board actions transparent to the community and have failed miserably in doing so. I'm happy to finally have enough candidates to make this a real "election" vs. having board members "elected" by virtue of running unopposed or by being appointed. It is great to see more interest in improving the functioning of this board.
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Posted by karin, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Nov 6, 2012 at 9:54 am To clarify on a point made up above by Peter, all emergency departments are obligated to perform a medical screening exam and stabilize a patient (as best they can) regardless of ability to pay. Now, whether the patient receives a bill later in the mail, I do not know. Nick V., I think an article on this topic would be extremely valuable (even post election).
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