Gillespie’s GOP Opponent Seeks Money and an Identity

The only Republican other than Roxani M. Gillespie with announced plans to run for insurance commissioner is Huntington Beach Mayor Wes Bannister, an independent insurance agent who said he knows a lot more than Gillespie about how to reform the insurance business.

Bannister, 53, has been touring the state for several weeks now seeking to build a base both of campaign money and name identification necessary to take on the much better known Gillespie and have a chance of winning the Republican primary next June.

In an interview, Bannister and his campaign manager, Ken Rietz, suggested that Gillespie is the recipient of so much negative publicity that by election time a second Republican candidate could fare very well if he succeeds in establishing a reputation for evenhanded fairness toward all parties in the insurance imbroglio.

“California needs an insurance commissioner who can balance the needs of the consumer and the insurance industry to reduce rates without jeopardizing jobs,” is inscribed on the campaign brochure which identifies Bannister as mayor of the state’s “11th largest city,” an Army veteran, the married father of three and the owner of his own independent insurance agency since 1974.

Bannister said he favors giving drivers the insurance rate rollbacks called for under Proposition 103 and implementing the initiative’s new rating criteria, which would substantially change the way auto insurance is priced.

“As an agent, I’ve represented the public and not the companies,” said Bannister. “I’ve fought the companies tooth and nail. If I can get that image across, I’ll be all right.”

Once Proposition 103 was passed, he added, it became the duty of the insurance commissioner to implement the rate rollbacks it called for.

Bannister added that he hopes to develop issues in his campaign beyond those of auto insurance. He said that as commissioner, he would be concerned as well with the critical problems of health insurance and workers compensation insurance.

He said that he favors the authorization of more state money than the $30 million already allocated to make it possible for presently uninsurable people to obtain health insurance, and that he favors government cooperation with private companies so they can do the job.

The candidate said he realizes that Gillespie has had trouble, given state pay scales and past low morale at the state Department of Insurance, obtaining the personnel she needs to efficiently take on the broad new responsibilities handed her by Proposition 103.

But he said he already knows at least seven highly skilled people who would be willing to assist him at the department, even at much lower pay than they earn in private industry, and is convinced he would be able to retain many others.

Bannister said he has an initial fund-raising goal of $300,000 to $400,000 and should know by January whether he can obtain enough GOP organizational support to put up a serious run for commissioner. Rietz said $1 million in contributions will be necessary to win the primary. Bannister said he would accept campaign gifts from both insurers and trial lawyers.