CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / INSURANCE COMMISSIONER : Democrats’ Fight Takes Nasty Turn : Margolin ads attack Torres on his convictions for drunk driving. Torres accuses Margolin of taking campaign money from vested interests.

The Democratic primary fight for insurance commissioner has turned nasty in the final days of campaigning, with Assemblyman Burt Margolin citing Sen. Art Torres’ drunk-driving convictions and Torres accusing Margolin of taking campaign money from vested interests.

Meanwhile, Margolin picked up the endorsements of Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina and consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Nader is one of the architects of Proposition 103, the 1988 initiative that made the insurance commissioner’s job elective and created the tough regulatory system for insurers.

“There is just no comparison in terms of (Margolin’s) proven record of defiance of the insurance industry,” Nader said.

When he got word of Nader’s endorsement of Margolin, Torres called on Nader to reconsider. In a letter to Nader, Torres pointed to “nearly $20,000” in campaign contributions to Margolin that came from lawyers who represent insurance companies, and others with ties to the industry.

Torres told Nader in the letter that he has taken no insurance industry money since he assumed chairmanship of the Senate Insurance Committee two years ago.

Nader said Wednesday that he stood by his endorsement.

“If the insurance companies are giving him money, they’re getting nothing in return,” Nader said from Washington, where he is based.

On both the Democratic and Republican sides, the primary contests for insurance commissioner are among the most hotly contested on Tuesday’s ballot. The next commissioner is certain to face weighty issues, ranging from how to handle health care reform to how to hold down company rate increases.

Hope Warschaw, Margolin’s campaign manager, acknowledged that Margolin has taken donations from lawyers, including some who represent insurance companies with cases pending in the courts against the Department of Insurance. But she said Torres also has taken money from firms and lawyers with insurance ties.

“Torres is obviously desperate,” Warschaw said. “He thinks this Nader endorsement is a big deal, and he wants to draw public attention away from the drunk driving.”

Torres, who has represented the Eastside as a legislator since 1974, enters the final weekend with a lead in public opinion polls--and the endorsements from much of the Democratic Establishment, including the Democratic Party, which donated $65,000 to him, and the California Teachers Assn., which gave him $30,000.

Margolin, who has represented the Westside since 1982, was using his war chest to air radio spots attacking Torres for his record of two drunk-driving convictions, the most recent of which was in 1990. It is a point Republicans are certain to home in on in November if Torres wins on Tuesday.

“It’s desperation tactics,” Dario Frommer, Torres’ campaign manager, said of Margolin’s attack. “It’s old news. Art has been honest about it. He talks openly about his recovery. He hasn’t had a drink for five years.”

On the Republican side, Assemblyman Chuck Quackenbush (R-Cupertino), the most well-funded of the GOP candidates for insurance commissioner, aired his first television commercial in Los Angeles. The 10-second spot is designed to introduce the Silicon Valley lawmaker to Southern California voters.

It identifies Quackenbush as “co-author” of the “three strikes and you’re out” anti-crime bill. The legislation signed into law this year to sentence felons to life in prison had several co-authors in the Legislature.

Quackenbush’s campaign received a $200,000 loan from Pacific Loan Administrators in Menlo Park. The company has donated another $5,000 to him. He also took $10,000 from Fremont Compensation, a workers’ compensation insurance firm, and $5,000 from ACHD Insurance Co., an insurance brokerage firm.

Jim Conran, another Republican seeking the nomination, took to the air with a radio commercial that identifies him as former director of the Department of Consumer Affairs. The spot cites his investigation of 72 Sears auto repair shops, which resulted in Sears paying $8 million to settle the case.

“Now Jim Conran is running for insurance commissioner. He wants to go after crooked companies, phony claims and unfair rates,” the narrator says.