Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Saturday May 13, 1989
The memo was written by Jim Bald of the Assembly Republican Caucus, advising GOP legislators to oppose a bill by Assemblyman Tom Hayden, D-Santa Monica, that would require many employers to distribute information on acquired immune deficiency syndrome to their workers.
"The information they want disseminated," the memo begins, "is the gospel according to the surgeon general, which holds that AIDS of the HIV virus can't be spread by sneezing or coughing or casual contact (let alone by toilet seats). . . .
"If an AIDS patient turns up on your job or in your office, not to worry, bubba, you won't catch this dread disease just because this guy works with you. Maybe. We hope."
Republican Assemblyman William Filante of Greenbrae, the Legislature's only physician, termed the analysis "a biased or slanted opinion" that ignores the need for AIDS education.
Hayden's bill was approved by the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee and is awaiting a hearing in the Ways and Means Committee.
The Assembly Republican Caucus analysis suggests that Hayden's real aim is to eliminate discrimination against "gays who may (one, after all, never knows) be carrying around the HIV virus. The liberals' biggest problem with AIDS isn't its danger to the community at large, but the negative spotlight it puts on the sexual preferences which have their blessing."
Mike Pottage, communications director for the caucus, said Bald's memo includes more rhetoric than analysis, but he said the wording is an attempt to use satire to point out flaws in the Democrats' approach to AIDS.
"The caucus position is that AIDS is a medical problem that needs to be dealt with as we would deal with any other disease," Pottage said. "It shouldn't be politicized."
Ann Richards, spokeswoman for Assembly Republican leader Ross Johnson, said, "I don't think any of our members would phrase it in that way, but I think some of our members may agree we don't know all the ways that AIDS is transmitted."
She said no discipline is planned for the author of the memo, who was unavailable for comment yesterday.
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