CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: THE AD CAMPAIGN

The race: Insurance commissioner. Whose ad? Democratic candidate Conway Collis.

Collis has a new 30-second commercial that attacks two leading opponents, Bill Press and John Garamendi, for their alleged connections to trial lawyers and insurers, respectively. Collis said the ad began airing in Los Angeles on Saturday and will start airing in the rest of the state today.

Ad: Collis’ commercial features Harvey Rosenfield, author of 1988’s insurance reform initiative, Proposition 103. Rosenfield, who has endorsed Collis’ candidacy, declares that “insurance companies and lawyers spent 90 million bucks” against Proposition 103. “We beat ‘em then,” he says. “But now they’re trying to buy their own insurance commissioner. The trial lawyers are bankrolling Bill Press. He’s their guy. And the insurance industry has its guy, John Garamendi. But who’s going to be our commissioner? Conway Collis has been with me every step of the way in the fight for 103. So when you vote for insurance commissioner, remember this name--Conway Collis. Conway Collis. He’s the guy I’m voting for.”

Analysis: This ad contains several questionable statements or misstatements. While insurance companies spent $64 million in the 1988 initiative campaign, not all of that money was devoted to attacking Proposition 103. Much of it went to tout three competing insurance initiatives they were backing. The trial lawyers, in contributing to a $14 million campaign for Proposition 100, did not attack Proposition 103. Press has received at least $273,000 in trial-lawyer support for his campaign for commissioner. But Garamendi has renounced insurance industry support in his campaign. The only money he has taken from insurers is about $40,000 from lawyers that defend insurers. Garamendi, in fact, has been campaigning against the insurance industry. Finally, Collis has not been with Rosenfield “every step of the way in the fight for 103.” He specifically stated in the fall of 1988 that he would not be active in the campaign for passage of the measure, and did not become so. He has supported implementation of the measure, however.