Annie... get your gun

Everyone -- especially those in NY--should be keeping an eye out on the fight over Governor Spitzer's proposed budget cuts. It is getting ugly--and this is just the start!

The Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) and 1199SEIU have joined forces "to become one of the most powerful lobbies in Albany" and they (along with others at the power breakfast on Friday that included "business executives, civic leaders and former mayors") were stunned when Governor Spitzer included a slide in his presentation titled "Guardians of the Status Quo" with the logos of the two health care groups.

Many of you may have seen the television commercials by GNYHA and 1199SEIU -- the newest ones featuring "a series of nurses, in their scrubs, saying things like, 'I don't understand why Governor Spitzer is attacking me and my hospital,' and, 'Let the governor walk in my shoes for a day, and then call me a crybaby.' " These were a rebuttal to the commercials Governor Spitzer had featuring "a group of newborns in the hospital, with the implication that budget critics were 'crybabies.' "

Get ready. This battle will get ugly.