Mendoza Calls on Garamendi to Recuse Himself from Executive Life Matter

While appearing March 28 on Adelphia Cable System’s public interest show “Week in Review”, Republican Insurance Commissioner candidate Gary Mendoza called on his Democratic rival, John Garamendi, to commit to recusing himself from any further involvement in the Executive Life matter.

In making this call, Mendoza stated that “the Executive Life debacle continues to unfold, and it is likely that the next Insurance Commissioner will be involved in negotiating a final resolution of this matter on behalf of the Executive Life policyholders who have lost more than $3 billion.”

Noting that Garamendi has been named as a defendant in one class action lawsuit filed on behalf of policymakers and was allegedly responsible for the decisions that gave rise to the policyholders’ losses, Mendoza said “Mr. Garamendi has an unavoidable conflict of interest here. To make certain that the interests of the injured policyholders are fully and fairly addressed, Mr. Garamendi should agree now to recuse himself from any further involvement in the Executive Life matter.”

Mendoza later continued his criticism of Garamendi by saying, “Executive Life is just one example of many of Garamendi’s failed tenure as Insurance Commissioner. During this campaign, I plan to contrast my strong pro-consumer record as California Commissioner of Corporations with Garamendi’s flawed tenure as Insurance Commissioner. I believe I am much better prepared to deal with the Executive Life mess than the politician who created it.”