Honig Drops Aide, Quits Campaign for No-Fault Insurance

Bill Honig, the state superintendent of public instruction, said Tuesday that Clint Reilly is no longer his chief political consultant and that he is dropping his active participation in Reilly’s main campaign this year, the car insurance industry’s no-fault initiative.

Although Honig said he will continue to endorse Proposition 104, the no-fault initiative, he said it is “unlikely” that he will allow his name to be used any longer in its advertisements or that he will appear in any more press conferences for it. He said he had been uncomfortable with some of the advertising already done in his name.

In fact, he said, he supports insurance rate regulation and a lifting of the insurance industry’s antitrust exemptions called for in two competing initiatives, Propositions 100 and 103. And, he said, he is considering endorsing a third insurance initiative, Proposition 101, the so-called Polanco initiative.

Honig at first said in a telephone interview that he might also endorse Proposition 103, the sweeping Voter Revolt insurance rate rollback and regulation measure backed by consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

But an hour later, he called back to say that he has “problems” with this initiative that preclude his endorsing it.

Honig, who has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1990, said he and Reilly, a San Francisco political consultant, had “mutually agreed” to part because Reilly is a consultant to former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who also may bid for the governorship on the Democratic side.

Reilly confirmed that he is no longer working for Honig after managing his campaigns for state superintendent of public instruction in 1982 and 1986 and making Honig a leading public spokesman for the insurance industry in initiative campaigns against the state’s trial lawyers in both 1986 and this year.

“Everyone has a right to have someone completely loyal to his interest, and given my divided loyalties, it’s proper for him to seek help from a compatible consultant,” Reilly said. “I want to stay with Dianne (Feinstein). I will back Bill (Honig for governor), if Dianne does not become a candidate.”

Honig said he has already retained veteran Richard Ross as his political consultant.

Honig’s steps may have important repercussions on both the next governor’s race and the current bruising battle over the five auto insurance initiatives.

His retreat from active participation on the insurers’ side could bring pressure on another prospective candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, to distance himself from the trial lawyers’ side in the initiative fight.

Harvey Rosenfield, coordinator of Voter Revolt, declared when he heard about Honig’s moves: “Being on the side of the insurance industry, or for that matter with the trial lawyers, is no place for future-looking elected officials to be. . . . I would expect John Van de Kamp to be the next politician to wake up to this fact.”

Van de Kamp this week was the target of an insurance industry telegram expressing “grave concern” about his “fairness and objectivity” in preparing what was said to be a slanted official summary of the insurers’ no-fault initiative for the ballot. The telegram asked him to amend the summary.

Honig, explaining the discomfort he felt as an advocate in the initiative fight, declared: “There were a couple of statements in some of the ads that I had not properly considered. One of these was critical of judges. . . . I should have caught that.”

Honig was quoted in an April 26 newspaper ad by the insurers as saying that “responsible leaders” were amazed by a judicial decision that invalidated the first version of the insurers’ no-fault initiative. A second version, stripped of the offending provisions, had to be circulated for signatures at a cost of more than $1 million.

Honig said Tuesday that he had been shown the ad by Reilly in advance, but had not focused on its implications.

“I’m still supporting no-fault,” he said. “I’m not going to take a lead role or an active role in it because I’m taking a lead role in Proposition 98, on school funding.”

‘A Compromise’

Actually, he added, he feels that the best solution to the state’s insurance problems would be “a compromise” that would incorporate the rate regulation and antitrust provisions of Propositions 100 and 103 with the no-fault provisions of 104.

He added, however, that he cannot support Proposition 100 because it would specifically rule out no-fault, and he has problems with Proposition 103, the Voter Revolt measure, because it prescribes rate rollbacks without allowing the insurance industry any savings on its costs.

Honig said that nonetheless he is willing to meet with sponsors of the other initiatives to discuss them and review his position.

Steven Miller, chairman of the Proposition 100 campaign, promptly said that despite Honig saying he could not support it, he had called the Honig staff and arranged such a meeting.

“We’re delighted with Honig’s new position,” he said. “I’m quite confident that when he recognizes the comprehensive nature of our initiative he will agree to support it.”