Insurance Initiative Drive Short on Cash

About 73,000 donors, each giving less than $100, made up nearly three-quarters of the $890,262 collected through July 15 by the Voter Revolt organization, sponsor of the insurance initiative backed by Ralph Nader, according to contribution reports filed Tuesday.

The small gifts to Proposition 103 totaled $647,751 of the $679,411 given directly to the campaign in contributions. Another $210,851 came in loans, some from philanthropists and some from the campaign’s consultant, Bill Zimmerman.

But despite the Voter Revolt organization’s success in collecting gifts through the mail, or in household or telephone canvasses from citizens unhappy with the insurance system, the report also listed $675,004 in unpaid bills.

This showed that Voter Revolt’s financial position remains much more precarious than competing initiative campaigns, which have been funded primarily by the big interest groups involved in the insurance fight, the insurers and the trial lawyers.

According to the report, Voter Revolt owes Zimmerman not only $42,217 on amounts outstanding from his loan, but also $102,500 for his campaign services. In addition, it owes $244,489 to its primary mailing firm, Coplon & Co. of Santa Monica, $49,613 to a supplementary mailer, Imaging Sciences of Lombard, Ill., and thousands of dollars to other suppliers of services.

The heavy debts indicate that Voter Revolt may have trouble meeting even its projected fall campaign budget of $1 million to $2 million, only a small fraction of what both the insurers and the lawyers plan to spend. Zimmerman said Tuesday that he is not optimistic about the campaign’s financial prospects.

The Voter Revolt initiative calls for 20% rollbacks of auto, homeowner and commercial liability premiums from their Nov. 1, 1987, levels, stringent rate regulation, an end to the insurers’ antitrust exemptions and an elected instead of appointed insurance commissioner.

As its contribution report showed, it is getting very little money from the special interests, although it did list $24,500 in loans from its parent group, Access to Justice, which before the initiative campaign began received much of its financing from trial lawyers.

The trial lawyer support disappeared when the Voter Revolt initiative incorporated more sweeping provisions to change the insurance system than the California Trial Lawyers Assn. advocated. The trial lawyers are now giving massive support to Proposition 100, a competing initiative.

The largest apparent contribution from a private attorney reported by Voter Revolt Tuesday was $1,000 from Ralph Alpert of Santa Cruz. Few other lawyers were found in the report.

Voter Revolt also said it had received $5,000 from the campaign organization of Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn, $5,000 from the organization of Hahn’s father, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, $5,000 from the organization of Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and $1,000 from the organization of state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee.

Major loans included $101,100 from philanthropist Joshua Mailman, a New York private investor, $51,000 from Berkeley philanthropist and foundation executive Jeremy Sherman and $5,000 from philanthropist and economist Stanley Sheinbaum.

In the case of the loans, the report said $8,783 has been paid back to Sherman, $8,783 to Zimmerman and $500 to Access to Justice. Zimmerman said that $10,000 more in assorted repayments are expected next week.