GOP Nominates Villines for Insurance Commissioner

Assemblyman Mike Villines says the California Department of Insurance needs a good manager, not a politician looking at the post as a stepping stone to higher office.

Villines will face Democratic Assemblyman Dave Jones in the November general election after he narrowly won the Republican nomination over a state worker who spent virtually no money in the surprisingly close contest.

Villines won with 50.5 percent of the vote, the secretary of state’s office said. He edged insurance department attorney Brian FitzGerald by 16,346 votes.

FitzGerald said he got into the race because previous commissioners used the office as a launching pad to higher office.

Villines said he’s not one of those politicians.

Villines said his ambitions go no higher than serving the maximum eight years as insurance commissioner, if he can defeat Jones this fall and win a second term in four years.

“I think this job begs for somebody who’s a manager, somebody who understands government and policy,” said Villines, 43, a former Assembly minority leader from Clovis. “For me politically, this really is how I’d like to end my career.”

Jones, 48, of Sacramento, said he, too, wants to serve as insurance commissioner for as long as legally possible.

“I’m running for the office because I want to make it what it should be, which is California’s most important consumer protection agency,” Jones said.

“I think the race offers voters a sharp contrast,” Jones said. “I have consistently authored legislation and voted for bills that protect consumers from the insurance industry, while Mr. Villines has voted against consumers and for the insurance industry.”

Most recently, Villines joined other Assembly Republicans last month in voting against Jones’ AB2578, which could let the insurance commissioner reject insurance rate increases he deems excessive. The bill passed and is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

Jones said he is refusing insurance industry contributions to his campaign and won’t transfer insurance money from his old Assembly account.

Villines raised $1.1 million from all sources for his primary race, but still had trouble defeating FitzGerald, who spent less than $5,000.

“It has been a long month,” Villines said. He said FitzGerald’s near miss “demonstrated you can run in this state without any money and do really well.”

Villines had earned key newspaper endorsements, held town hall meetings and paid to put his name on slate mailers.

But he was vilified and called a tax traitor on conservative talk radio in Southern California for his 2009 vote to raise taxes to help close the state budget deficit.

FitzGerald, 53, has worked in the legal division at the Department of Insurance for the last 16 years as a staff attorney on enforcement cases. His campaign got little media attention, until the day after the primary when he grabbed the lead in the early vote count.