CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / INSURANCE COMMISSIONER : GOP’s Link to Industry May Kill Chances

In contrast to the intense and expensive battle for the Democratic nomination for insurance commissioner, the contest among five contenders on the Republican side is poorly financed and well out of the limelight.

Focus group interviews conducted by a GOP political consultant in Sacramento have given as strong an indication as any that the Republican candidates in the state’s first election for insurance commissioner have only a slim chance of victory in the November general election.

According to consultant Sal Russo, the chief finding from eight focus groups in Los Angeles, Orange County, the Bay Area and Sacramento is that “clearly, voters weren’t looking for somebody who was from the insurance industry, and they didn’t see a big distinction between agents and brokers and other insurance people.”

This is bad news for the Republican field, because four of the five candidates are insurance people of one kind or another, and the other has insurance associations.

Focus groups are panels of various segments of the electorate--of 10 to 12 people each--who are interviewed in-depth on their views. They are often used by market researchers and political strategists to closely examine what advertising sales pitches, products or candidates will go over best with the public.

The findings of the Russo focus groups have been cited in recent campaign appearances by Thomas A. Skornia, one of the GOP candidates, to argue that the other four GOP candidates would not be as strong in the general election as he would be because they all are insurance men.

But until recently, Skornia was an official of the Assn. of California Tort Reform, a group regarded in political circles as so close to the insurance industry that its endorsement for the Democratic nomination was repudiated last week by a candidate concerned that he would be tainted by its insurance associations.

Skornia has been one of the top two candidates in most polls of the race for the Republican nomination. The other, Wes Bannister, decided to call himself a “small business owner” on the ballot. The small business he owns is a Huntington Beach insurance agency.

At a recent appearance by three of the GOP candidates before a Republican women’s group in Anaheim, Bannister contended that being part of the insurance industry would not necessarily be a handicap in the race because, in the end, voters might want a regulator who fully understood the industry.

Asked why he had taken steps to conceal his occupation on the ballot, Bannister smiled and said, “I figure, why take a chance?”

Bannister has been the best financed of the Republican candidates. But he conceded recently that his contributions have been so slim that he had to dismiss his campaign consultant and is trying to rely on volunteers. “I am usually traveling and working alone,” he said.

By contrast, at least three Democrats have several hundred thousand dollars in contributions thus far.

Russo said his focus groups indicated that voters “wanted somebody who was knowledgeable or understanding of the insurance industry, but someone who had some distance--maybe a CEO (chief executive officer)--who got fed up and quit and is now working for a public interest group.

“They weren’t looking for anyone to bash the companies, necessarily, but they wanted a consumer tilt, somebody who could make sure that everybody was playing fair. The name that came up most was Peter Ueberroth.”

Ueberroth, former president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee and former commissioner of baseball, never showed an interest in running for insurance commissioner and filing for the position has closed.

Besides Bannister and Skornia, the other GOP candidates are insurance adjuster/investigator John L. (Jack) Hardin, claims consultant Joseph D. Dunlop, and lawyer/insurance broker John S. Perise.

Hardin and Dunlop have sided with the industry in recent campaign speeches. Hardin’s chief campaign plank has been a promise to crack down on those making fraudulent insurance claims.

Perise is the only GOP candidate to take the trial lawyers’ side of the insurance issue and oppose no-fault insurance. He defends the industry in many instances, however.

Russo said the focus groups indicated that the right kind of Republican could have stood a chance in the race.

“There’s a little higher comfort level with a Democrat than a Republican, in general,” he said. “But it was not so pronounced that I thought it was a bar. A Republican who didn’t look like he was in the industry’s pocket could definitely win.”

However, he said, none of the five contenders would seem to fit that description.