CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: THE AD CAMPAIGN

The race: Insurance Commissioner. Whose ads? Democratic candidate Ray Bourhis and Republican candidate Tom Skornia.

Bourhis has two 30-second commercials that implore voters not to elect an insurance commissioner who doesn’t know anything about insurance and portray Bourhis as someone who does know insurance. Skornia has a single, 30-second commercial which tries to get across the idea that he is the only Republican candidate in the race who’s not on the side of the insurance industry.

Bourhis declines to say how much television time he is buying because he doesn’t want to reveal his strategy to opponents. Skornia says he is working to raise $50,000 to air his commercial.

Ads: The first Bourhis ad shows the candidate saying, “I want to apologize for being on your television sets. I really do, because it’s not about 30-second spots. How do you explain insurance. . . . You can’t even read your insurance policy in 30 seconds. How do you explain to people the complexities of this job and why they should vote for you instead of some blow-dried politician in 30 seconds on a TV spot that you can barely afford to pay for? For crying out loud, don’t elect an Insurance Commissioner . . . who doesn’t know how to read his own insurance policy.” The second Bourhis ad says he has been “representing consumers in cases against insurance companies” for 17 years, talks about how “incredibly wealthy” some companies are, and concludes that, “I want to do for the people of California what I’ve done . . . for my clients: take on tough insurance issues, win them on behalf of the people that I care about and the people who are in need of our insurance laws being enforced.”

Analysis: The first ad may be the most unusual political commercial to run in this year’s campaign, but it makes a point that few insiders, in their honest moments, would disagree with: that 30-second commercials are not a good way to decide who should be elected to a complex political office. The second ad recites Bourhis’ record of 17 years litigating against the insurance industry in personal injury and other cases. Earlier this year, Bourhis won a court ruling, for example, directing Insurance Commissioner Roxani Gillespie to follow the law and start prosecuting justified complaints made to her office against insurers, something she had not been doing.

Ad: Skornia’s ad states: “There are three things I’d like you to remember about my candidacy. First, I’m the only Republican candidate who will not accept insurance industry money for my campaign. Second, I’m the only Republican candidate who’s not a broker, attorney or claims processor for the insurance industry. Third, my name is Skornia, as in California.”

Analysis: Skornia, unlike three of the other four Republican candidates, has been working hard to put distance between himself and insurance company views. The remaining Republican candidate, John Parise, arguing trial lawyer views, has also done so, although Parise has not renounced insurer contributions and once worked in the insurance business. Skornia, in emphasizing that he is not an insurance man, does not mention that he has long been allied with the industry in pushing legal reform to reduce the cost of claims to insurers. In this campaign, he has put less and less emphasis on that point, while arguing for strong regulation of the companies.