CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / INSURANCE COMMISSIONER : Collis Gets Top Score, but Not Endorsement, From Nader

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader said Tuesday that Conway Collis, chairman of the State Board of Equalization, scored highest on his questionnaire of candidates for insurance commissioner, answering 68 of 72 questions about policies he would follow “correctly.”

Nader, however, stopped short of endorsing Collis for the post, noting at a Washington news conference that Democrats Ray Bourhis and Larry Murphy and Peace and Freedom candidate B. Kwaku Duren had all answered at least 64 questions the way he thought they should be answered and were in the “top range.” Bourhis was closest to Collis with 67 “correct” answers.

The consumer advocate said that just outside the top range was Republican Tom Skornia with 60 “correct” answers. Libertarian candidate Ted Brown had 29 “correct” answers and Republican candidate John L. (Jack) Harden 12. The rest of the candidates either did not respond, or, as in Bill Press’ case, answered with written statements that Nader said could not be graded.

Nader, who played one of the most decisive roles in the victory in California two years ago of Proposition 103, the landmark insurance initiative, added that he believed two other Democrats, Press and Walter Zelman, would have scored highly had they answered the questions.

What Nader regarded as “correct” answers were those that shared his views that Proposition 103 ought to be fully implemented, that consumers ought to be represented in all proceedings of the Insurance Department and that insurance reforms should not include no-fault or other steps curtailing the right to sue insurance companies.

The only questions that Collis answered wrongly, in Nader’s view, were four on paying consumer representatives to appear at departmental hearings. Collis favored paying “market rates,” which private lawyers charge, to such representatives, while Nader believes that would be excessive.

The only commissioner candidate criticized by Nader at the news conference was state Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), who declined to answer the questions, because he said he believed they were a “pseudo-examination” that sought to “showcase and aggrandize one candidate (Collis) at the expense of others.”

Nader said that he was dissatisfied with Garamendi’s voting record on insurance issues, and he noted that the senator had not supported Proposition 103 and in the campaign for commissioner had refused, for the most part, to join in candidate debates.

Reactions among the insurance commissioner candidates to Nader’s pronouncements about their contest varied predictably.

Collis hailed the results and indicated that he would advertise his top position. Bourhis and Skornia also expressed gratification. Skornia noted that he would have been at the top of the survey had he not supported no-fault.

Garamendi’s campaign declined to comment.

Press’ campaign manager, Michael Ganley, said he wondered why Nader “didn’t assess our rather lengthy and detailed response.”

Most critical was Zelman, who had refused to answer the questionnaire, partially on grounds it was a setup for Collis. He suggested that Nader agreed to the survey as an accommodation to his California friend, Harvey Rosenfield, the author of Proposition 103.

Reynolds reported from Washington and Reich from Los Angeles.