Garamendi Plans to Recapture Calif. Commissioner Post

John Garamendi, who became California’s first elected insurance commissioner a little more than a decade ago, recently announced that he wants his former job back when it comes up for election next year. Meantime, several other potential candidates wait in the wings as one of the more challenging positions in the state goes up for grabs next year.

Garamendi, 56, first captured the commissioner’s post in 1990, only to turn around and give it up in 1994, when he made an unsuccessful bid to become the Democratic candidate for governor of California, a position he has sought twice. His resume also includes positions as deputy secretary of the Interior in the Clinton administration back in 1995 and working in private investment in the Golden State for three years. Garamendi filed state paperwork earlier in April to make a bid for secretary of state but changed his mind about two weeks later.

A predecessor to Republican Chuck Quackenbush in the Commissioner post, Garamendi emphasized that, unlike Quackenbush, he would turn away all campaign donations from insurance interests—just as he did in his successful 1990 campaign.

“My first job, if elected, will be to rebuild the integrity of the office,” Garamendi told Insurance Journal from his office at the Los Angeles-based Yucaipa Company, for which he has worked since 1998. “People grew very dismayed and lost confidence in the office. All that we built in those four years was torn down almost overnight.”

Garamendi gave consideration to running for secretary of state, but said the more he thought about it, he realized he could do more for the people of the state in the role of insurance commissioner.

“I’ve got the experience, and it is a position where both businesses and individuals can be helped,” he said. “Among all statewide offices except for governor, this is the one job that has the most affect on the well-being of Californians. I tackled some very heavy issues in my first term, including Prop. 103, and it is an issue that is not necessary to wage a war to get it done.”

Garamendi notes his experience in recent years, including helping run the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., as beneficial to his being able to work with a variety of people and problems. “I think I have both an international and national perspective,” Garamendi stated. “I’ve also work-ed three years in the private sector and it is a job I know I can do.”

The forecast for the coming months is to get a support base together and raise a little bit of money.

What remains to be seen is whether or not current insurance commissioner Harry Low, will run in 2002 when the office is up for election. A pair of Democratic state legislators – Sen. Jackie Speier of Daly City and Assemblyman Thomas Calderon of Montebello – are also thought to be possible candidates.

Low said he has not ruled out the thought of shooting for another term.

“I am considering running for comm-issioner in 2002,” Low commented. “For the first several months, I have been very busy, working hard, trying to restore respect and confidence in the CDI, building a good management team, learning about the CDI and doing my best to enforce the laws fairly, impartially and nonpolitically. There ismuch to do, and I am enjoying the office and the many talented people with whom I work.”

While Low ponders his future, Calderon appears to be leaning towards a run in 2002. In an announcement to the media April 30, Calderon noted that he had opened an exploratory finance committee with the possibility of running for the position.

For Calderon, his experience with the Quackenbush tenure is fresh in his mind. He played a major role in hearings last year, working in a bipartisan manner with Assembly Members on both sides of the aisle to investigate allegations of corruption, which hindered operations at the California Department of Insurance. His work on the issue led Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg to name Calderon chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee.

“The reasons I am considering running stem from really delving into the problems in the department and within the industry as a whole,” Calderon stated in a release. “It’s clear to me that the job requires someone who has a strong policy background, as well as political expertise, to solve the complex problems that threaten to shackle California’s economy. Issues like worker’s comp, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and the solvency of the California Earthquake Authority are not going away and they are key to protecting the property and economic health of California residents and businesses.”

Speier, has also been mentioned as a possibility for the office. Elected to the 8th Senate District in 1998 with nearly 80 percent of the vote, her district includes the western half of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County. Speier was first elected to the Assembly in 1986. She also chairs the Senate Insurance Committee.

Speier’s Co-Chief of Staff Richard Steffen commented that the state senator has not announced any plans to run at this time. “There is no definitive answer,” Steffen said. “She hasn’t issued any statement to that or answered any query to that.”

Candidates have until Nov. 7 (Nov. 12 if Low decides not to run) to formally put their name into the hat.

Topics California