Consumer Watchdog in Middle of Fight for Insurance Rate Regulation<\/i><\/p>\n
by Brian Leubitz<\/p>\n
Consumer Watchdog (CW) has more than its share of enemies. While most normal Californians have very little idea who they are, the denizens of the Capitol are not really normal, are they? They have a pretty good idea of who they are.<\/p>\n
They have enemies from the 2007 health care fight, where California ended up with no health care reform package, partly because the left didn’t want to be complicit with Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plan. You see, fellow progressives, we are supposed to stand by while the “adults” do all the negotiating and then cheer when we get some scraps. By adults I mean, the corporate right, the Tea Party, and the center-right Democrats. So, you know, “serious” people.<\/p>\n
It turns out that when CW helped out with blowing up that 2007 process, there were some hard feelings. And these things linger in Sacramento. Of course, for Consumer Watchdog, it is hardly the first time they’ve pissed anybody off.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to this year, when AB 52, health insurance rate regulation is up in the Senate. It ultimately fails, and Sen. Ed Hernandez, the chair of the Healthcare committee that ultimately passes it to the full Senate, catches some flack. Hernandez didn’t ultimately support the bill in the full Senate, or at least he has said as much. Consumer Watchdog then proceeded to put out a TV spot attacking Sen. Hernandez.<\/p>\n
The spot was pretty hardhitting, and Asm. Feuer and IC Dave Jones have distanced themselves from it. However, what is interesting now is that the focus doesn’t seem to be on the issue itself anymore, but rather that vague sense of transparency. You see, like the Chamber of Commerce and other organizations, CW keeps some of their contributors private.<\/p>\n
Thornier than the fees is the disclosure of individual donors who fund Consumer Watchdog, It is widely believed – and some within Consumer Watchdog have confirmed it over the years – that much of its money comes from the trial bar. The group receives individual donations from the public, money from foundations, money from settlements that go into affiliated foundations for education and outreach that provide money to the main group and money from labor and other groups.<\/p>\n
But individually, just who gives what is not available, Court said, “the donors can get harassed by politicians because people like us run ads about their (the politicians’) conflict of interest,” he said. He said nondisclosure as a civil rights tool, much as nondisclosure was important to the NAACP to protect its donors.<\/p>\n