Prop. 103 Chiefs Won’t Back Hayden for Insurance Post

The leaders of Voter Revolt, which sponsored Proposition 103 on the November ballot, said Thursday they are searching for a candidate to endorse for the newly elective post of state insurance commissioner, but it will not be Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica).

The only one of five insurance initiatives to win approval on the November ballot, Proposition 103 provides for sweeping changes in state insurance law, including making the commissioner’s job, which now is filled by gubernatorial appointment, an elective post starting in 1990.

Hayden, who will say only that he is considering running for the job, emerged as the leading prospective Democratic candidate in a recent California Poll.

But Proposition 103 leaders, Harvey Rosenfield and Bill Zimmerman, expressed concern that the assemblyman, with his reputation for radicalism, might weaken the statewide Democratic ticket in 1990. They also charged that he was more closely aligned with a rival November ballot initiative, Proposition 100, backed by the California Trial Lawyers Assn.

Their statements raised the possibility of a continuing split in consumer and liberal ranks in the fight over the future of the insurance system, just as last year Propositions 100 and 103 competed against each other for consumer and liberal support.

Rosenfield and Zimmerman said that by making it known they would endorse someone other than Hayden, they hoped to encourage other candidates to come forward. Rosenfield said he has been told in recent weeks that many prospects on the Democratic side are discouraged because they think Hayden may have a lock on the party’s nomination.

A Hayden spokesman, Bill Schulz, said later that the assemblyman “had no comment except to reiterate his position that he intends to run for reelection to the Assembly in 1990 and will continue to explore the option of running for insurance commissioner, feeling that the office deserves the strongest possible consumer advocate for Californians.”

“He intends to make his decision known sometime later this year,” Schulz added.

Zimmerman was manager of several Hayden campaigns in the 1970s and early ‘80s but has since had what he would only describe Wednesday as a “personal” falling out with the assemblyman.

The endorsement of the Voter Revolt organization, and particularly Rosenfield, might be of considerable importance in any race for insurance commissioner next year, presuming that the constitutionality of Proposition 103 is upheld by the state Supreme Court and the post does become elective. Rosenfield has said he will not run himself.

He and Zimmerman listed as other possible Democratic candidates Assembly members Lloyd G. Connelly, Sacramento, and Maxine Waters, Los Angeles; Consumers Union West Coast Director Harry Snyder, and state Sens. Gary K. Hart, Santa Barbara; John Garamendi, Walnut Grove; Alan Robbins, Tarzana, and Daniel E. Boatwright, Concord. Also listed were Contra Costa County Supervisor Sunne McPeak, Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn and state Board of Equalization member Conway Collis.