Insurance Post

I take strong exception to two points in your editorial (“Why All the Money for Insurance Post?” June 1).

First, you state that in this race for state insurance commissioner, I am “paying for (TV) commercials with money from trial lawyers.” That is not true. The truth is I have raised $1.2 million--more than any other candidate in this race--from a great variety of sources: labor unions, teachers, Democratic activists, doctors and lawyers, some 2,500 individual contributors. They are all helping pay for my TV commercials, because they believe I will make the best independent insurance commissioner.

Second, you imply I have not been talking about the issues in this race. Wrong again! I made my living talking about the issues. And in this race for insurance commissioner, I was the first to put forth a plan to revamp California’s earthquake insurance law; the only candidate to propose a detailed plan for fighting insurance fraud, and the first candidate to make health insurance the central issue in this campaign.

Finally, you ask: “Why All the Money for Insurance Post?” The answer is simple: Because we still don’t have real campaign reform in California that frees candidates like me from having to raise so much money. There’s one point we can all agree on!

BILL PRESS

Los Angeles