Political Notebook: RoseAnn DeMoro Joins Forces With Consumer Watchdog
By Joe Garofoli, THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
August 20, 2018
Five months after retiring as head of one of California’s most powerful unions, RoseAnn DeMoro is back in politics.
DeMoro, who left the California Nurses Association in March after 32 years with the organization, has been appointed to the board of the Consumer Watchdog advocacy group.
“Roseanne is a hell-raiser’s hell-raiser,” Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court told The Chronicle Monday. “When she’s on your board, you know that she will call you up and push you to keep going further.”
In June, Consumer Watchdog named DeMoro, 69, to its Consumer Advocate Hall of Fame.
“I’ve loved those guys (Consumer Watchdog) for years,” DeMoro, a longtime confidant of consumer rights leader Ralph Nader, said Monday. “Everybody says they don’t like lawyers. But these guys are focused on taking care of everyday people.”
DeMoro has already started advising the organization, focusing on ensuring that insurance companies cover victims of California wildfires. The issues resonates personally with DeMoro, as eight of her Napa County neighbors lost their homes in the fires and she has twice had to evacuate her residence over the past year.
As for her political future, DeMoro said she is still deciding what role she will take in the 2020 presidential elections. She is personally close with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT. The nurses association’s early advocacy of Sanders was key to his campaign’s unexpected success. Sanders has not yet officially decided whether to run in 2020.
Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @joegarofoli
