Maryland healthcare bill focus of pitched battle (Wal-Mart vs. Unions)

[Thom Little]

The hottest battle in Annapolis shifted to the airwaves this week.

Wal-Mart, the giant retailer, began running radio ads saying a bill that would force it to spend more for worker health care is "about playing politics with a single company." Labor groups, in their ads, counter that the measure is "only fair."

Debate on the so-called Fair Share Health Care Act has drowned out nearly every other issue on the eve of this year's General Assembly session. National interest groups have poured money into the state, which is seen as a testing ground for whether similar legislation targeting the giant retailer will succeed across the country.

The groups in Maryland that pushed for the bill initially have stepped up their efforts with radio and print advertisements, rallies, letter-writing campaigns and phone calls in an effort to override Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto, which was issued in May. An override vote is expected shortly after the General Assembly convenes next week.

"Right now, we're in a full-court press. Anything you can think of, we're doing," said Kimberly Nelson, state director of Maryland for Health Care, a project of the Service Employees International Union, which helped draft the bill.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.walmart06jan06,1,1958308.story?coll=bal-home-headlines