Allstate, Mercury Top $ 1 Million Each in Past Month; Both Have Big Issues Before Department of Insurance

Campaign for Consumer Rights News

October 25, 2010

Contact: Doug Heller 310-392-0522 ext. 309

Santa Monica, CA – In less than a month, ten insurance companies have spent $3.8 million in an unprecedented campaign to pick their next regulator. Even the disgraced Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush didn’t see this much insurance money flow this quickly into his campaigns, according to the nonpartisan Campaign for Consumer Rights.  

Voters viewing the advertisements paid for by the insurance industry don’t know their source, however, because the insurance industry money is being laundered through a Chamber of Commerce committee called JobsPAC. The campaign ads attacking candidate Dave Jones and endorsing his rival Mike Villines do not list the insurance companies’ funding.  The contributions to the campaign, which began on September 27th, have averaged about $1,000,000 per week and have been followed by media buys against Jones and for Villines of approximately the same amount.

The total industry donations to date are:

Allstate Insurance   $1,150,000

George Joseph – Mercury Insurance $1,000,000

Liberty Mutual   $640,000

Progressive Insurance   $390,000

Farmers $225,000

Anthem Blue Cross  $150,000

HealthNet   $100,000

P/C Insurers Association of America $74,000

American Insurance Association   $52,000

Personal Insurance Fed. of California $25,000

“Californians will not see these insurance companies listed on all the ads about the insurance commissioner race, but they need to know that the insurance companies are desperately trying to buy the office so they can own their regulator,” said Harvey Rosenfield, the author of the 1988 insurance reform measure Proposition 103 and Chairman of the Campaign for Consumer Rights.

Last week the Campaign For Consumer Rights launched a radio advertisement to inform voters insurance companies are paying for the advertising.  Listen to the advertisement at http://www.stoptheinsurers.org

Top Funders Have Company-Specific Issues Before Department of Insurance

The top funder to the insurance industry’s campaign to elect Villines, Allstate Insurance, is currently locked in a battle at the Department of Insurance over whether its so-called “Your Choice Auto” program is legal or an overpriced marketing scheme that is unfairly discriminatory.  The company of the second biggest donor to the campaign for Villines, Mercury Insurance Chairman George Joseph, is the subject of two Department of Insurance enforcement actions relating to illegal and discriminatory practices and has a pending rate hike proposal before the Department.  For both companies, it is generally expected that final decisions in these matters will not be made until the next Commissioner takes office.

“These insurance companies are spending millions to influence this commissioner’s race, because the winner will be judge and jury to cases worth tens of millions to the companies,” said Doug Heller with Campaign for Consumer Rights. “This is a textbook case of conflict of interest.”

###

Campaign for Consumer Rights is the advocacy and campaign affiliate of the nonprofit organization Consumer Watchdog and is online at http://www.CampaignForConsumer…

Congressman George Radanovich has announced his retirement to better support his wife who is battling cancer.  I wish them the best.

While the seat has been a Republican stronghold, GOP registration has gone from 47.64% five years ago to 43.62% today.  That is a huge decline, but not really enough to attract a top tier Democrat.  It has attracted a great deal of Republican interest because there are so few political jobs to go around.

The latest rumor has to do with Bill Jones, the former Secretary of State and author of the 3 Strikes Law.  He probably has the ability to clear out the Republican Primary, but former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson seems to like the Tea Party riff and could give it a go even with Jones in the race.  

Although Jones has a statewide stature, he has some major defeats in his past.  He could only manage 16% of the vote and a third place finish in the GOP primary against Bill Simon and Richard Riorden.  He lost to Barbara Boxer by 20 points.  Most Republican activists believe that anyone with a pulse should be able to beat Barbara Boxer (they gravely misunderestimate her) and that could put some doubt into Jones’ candidacy.

Jeff Denham has the support of Radanovich and (as important) David Dreier, but all of that was engineered before the Jones rumors and the apparent interest from former Congressman Richard Pombo.  

Do any of these candidates actually live in the district?  Not that its at all important in a Republican primary in the era of Tom McClintock and Dan Lungren.  Regardless, it could be one of the major primary shootouts in the nation.