Republican candidate Meg Whitman, facing a protest of 1,000 nurses outside her home on Thursday, has boosted her efforts to counter the California Nurses Association with plans to form a nurses advisory committee to help her reach nurses in her campaign for governor.

Union members say Whitman's unusual focus on nurses suggests she wants to separate 86,000 rank-and-file members of the union from its leadership. Such a tactic was disastrous for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who abandoned his call to increase patient-nurse ratios in 2005 after nurses protested statewide.

"We've seen Schwarzenegger do this before, bring out anti-union nurses and run anti-union websites," said Deann McEwen, an intensive care nurse at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and a member of the union's board of directors. "It's offensive, because it suggests nurses aren't intelligent enough to ... think critically on issues."

Malinda Markowitz, a registered nurse who is co-president of the union, said 1,000 nurses are expected to gather at noon Thursday outside Whitman's home in Atherton, before attending a forum at nearby Cañada College in Redwood City.

"Our members are coming to deliver a message to her: RNs and CNA will not be pushed around or bullied like one of her subordinates or subjects," Markowitz said.

Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei countered that "the radical leadership of the (union) has decided to spend untold thousands of dollars from members' dues on a stunt."

"While Meg believes it is important for all California nurses to know her true positions on the issues, she'll focus on having a meaningful conversation without the partisan politics," Pompei said.

The former eBay CEO's campaign, which created a website designed for nurses, also charged that "top leaders of the Democrat-controlled California Nurses Association union are continuing to mischaracterize her vision for California and her position on key health care issues."

The heated battle between Whitman and the nurses intensified after the union endorsed Democrat Jerry Brown for governor. The union has lambasted Whitman's campaign at protests, dubbing the wealthy candidate "Queen Meg."

Rose Ann DeMoro, the nurses union executive director, has said Whitman's goals of laying off 40,000 state workers and cutting $15 billion from the state budget are signs that she wants to cut pensions and health care and roll back benefits won by nurses.

Whitman's campaign countered by asking for the union's mailing lists to detail her positions. When that was refused, the candidate's team used another mailing list to send mailers blasting DeMoro and the union's political activity as wasteful and inappropriate in the governor's race.

-- The nurses union wants eBay's files on then-CEO Whitman's altercation with an employee. D1