Fw: Attorney Roy Cannon on Nevada AB667

[Guest guest]

Roy Cannon worked so diligently on this for us. He is right, though, we are

not defeated yet.

Patty

----- Original Message -----

From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 11:13 AM

Subject: Attorney Roy Cannon on Nevada AB667

> Dear Ilena: I'm afraid that it does not look good for our bill right now.

> After passing the Assembly on a 42-0 vote; we got bottled up in the

Senate.

> The Republican leadership seems determined to kill the bill, although it

> has been endorsed by the Nevada Attorney General, has enough votes to

pass

> in the Senate, and would be signed by the Governor. Senate Majority

> leader Raggio let the bill sit on his desk for over 2 weeks before

acting,

> only after extreme pressure was brought to bear by the public and press.

> The bill was then assigned to the Judiciary Committee, which after a

> couple of days apparently decided that it was too much of a " hot potato "

> for them, and punted it to the Commerce and Labor Committee (a big

> business friendly committee). This committee is chaired by Senator Randy

> Townsend, whose conduct has been absolutely inhuman. We convened for a

> hearing last Wednesday at 8:00 AM. We put on our presentation, including

> testimony from two of the Assembly members who had supported us. I

> testified, as did Geoff White, a neurologist from Las Vegas and several

of

> the women. The stories were very touching -- at least for humans, but

> apparently not for the committee. They told of lives ended and shattered

> (of both women and children); of broken hearts; and pain. They also

> talked about the deception of the manufacturers who told them that

> silicone was safe. After our presentation was completed, Senator Townsend

> summarily announced that he was continuing the hearing to Friday at 8:00

> AM, and continued on with other business. Friday Dow put on their " dog

> and pony show, " which I believe we were able to successfully negate.

They

> put on two doctors, by telephone, who authored the 1999 IOM literature

> study. They testified that they had reviewed " every piece of literature

> in the world, " and could find no credible evidence that silicone caused

> problems. They then were impeached with the new studies, which they had

> to concede did provide credible evidence. They also conceded that liquid

> silicone in the body has a high toxicity. Dow then brought in the former

> Legislative Legal Advisor (not right title), who testified that this bill

> would be unconstitutional. We put on the current Legislative counsel to

> rebut, along with the Chief Deputy Attorney General. Both agreed

> emphatically that the bill was constitutional and should be passed. At

> this point I thought that we were doing well; but Townsend again summarily

> announced that he was continuing the hearing to Saturday at 8:00 AM.

Since

> the hearings in Carson City were being televised by closed circuit TV in

> Las Vegas, each day many supporters had shown up there. This was again

> true on Saturday; however, Townsend never called the bill for a vote. We

> had women there who were afraid to even go out for lunch because they

> might miss the committee vote, and women in such pain that they had to

get

> out of their wheel chairs and lay on the floor. Another suffered

> seizures. They remained until almost 7:00 PM, when they were advised

that

> no action would be taken. Townsend again advised them that the hearing

> would be continued to Sunday at 9:00 AM. Today they only waited until

> 5:15 PM before being told that no action would be taken. At no time has

> Townsend explained the delay, or apologized to the sick women for keeping

> them needlessly waiting. Words cannot begin to convey the suffering,

both

> physical and emotional, that these tactics have caused. It certainly

> seems that Senator Townsend has decided to thwart the will of the

citizens

> of Nevada, and even the remainder of the State legislature, because he

> knows that if AB667 gets out of his committee if will become law. Dow,

and

> its 4 lobbyists have done well. Tomorrow, June 4, is our last slim hope.

> This is the last day of the legislative session. If we do not get a

> committee vote early in the day, and immediate transmittal to the floor,

> Townsend will have killed a bill that had overwhelming bipartisan

support,

> without even taking a vote! We will have won every vote taken, but will

> have lost the battle (but not the war). The women of Nevada may be

> angry, are bloodied, and have suffered much needless pain as a result of

> the tactics of Dow and Townsend, but they are not yet defeated. They

have

> already lined up a list of supporters in both houses of the legislature

> who OFFERED to sponsor legislation next term if we can't make it this

> time. Hopefully they will be able to avoid the " Townsend Experience " if

a

> repeat becomes necessary. I am extremely proud and honored to have had

the

> opportunity to work with the Nevada women (and men) who have so

> unselfishly supported this cause. Roy

>

>