Elected or Appointed--That’s Not the Issue

Much ink has been spilled in these pages of late regarding state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush and his mishandling of claims relating to the 1994 Northridge earthquake. That Quackenbush should resign or be impeached for his stunning misconduct seems hardly in question. The more troubling issue is what we have learned to expect from our elected officials.

For example, several people recently have claimed that as long as the post of state insurance commissioner is an elected one, we can expect to endure a similar pattern of conflict of interest and wrongdoing.

There is a terribly dangerous assumption inherent in that claim, which is that even good men and women can be expected to do rotten things when they are forced to raise money to stay in office. And the fact that this has become part of the conventional wisdom of l’affaire Quackenbush says alarming things about how we feel about our system of government. Sadly, though it masquerades as common sense, the argument acts as an unwitting apologia for all manner of political misdeeds.

In the case of Quackenbush, the fact that he is an elected official is a negligible aspect of why he committed these appalling improprieties. Sure, an argument can be made that Quackenbush would have been much tougher on the insurance companies had he not needed to solicit campaign contributions from them. At the very least, industry fines would have been higher. But no donor held a gun to his head to force him to spend the $12 million in payments--in essence coerced donations to foundations he set up--as he did. No insurance company said “Chuck, if you spend this money to actually benefit consumers, don’t expect another dime from us for your campaigns.”

It was Quackenbush and his staff who chose to spend the funds on football camps, political commercials disguised as earthquake information ads or popularity polls. This has nothing to do with the post being an elected one. It has nothing to do with a pragmatic need to raise more money to stay employed. It has everything to do with a decided lack of personal and professional ethics and a deep contempt for the people he was elected to protect.

A more ethical commissioner arguably could have accepted similarly low fines out of political necessity and still spent it to benefit consumers. District attorneys enter into questionable plea bargains every day, but most of them are made to eke as much justice as possible out of otherwise no-win situations. As an electorate, we understand that reality and, unless it’s egregious, we have no desire to recall the D.A.

Had Quackenbush just given the insurance industry a financial break, but spent the money responsibly, I doubt that anyone would be calling for his head. Ultimately, his office could have made the argument--however specious--that $12 million in payments to these foundations was the best he could do. But Quackenbush went above and beyond what political necessity demanded, and that’s what makes it a scandal.

Recently, the state Fair Political Practices Commission made a controversial exception to its own rules in order to allow state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-LaPuente) to keep a $10,000 silver lantern (valued at $9,700 above the legal limit for gifts state officeholders can accept) given to her by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation for standing up to entrenched interests. So what does that tell us? It tells us that when an elected official acts in a way that puts her own career in jeopardy--when she stands up and does the right thing and the consequences be damned--we are so shocked and surprised that we’re willing to do legal contortions to reward her. Clearly, we have lost all faith in the moral authority of those we elect to represent us.

Yet even if we’ve finally come to believe that because of current campaign finance requirements, all politics--and, ergo, all politicians--are inherently corrupt, we should not let this depressing capitulation to economic realpolitik cloud what is really going on in the office of the insurance commissioner.

Good people can make politically motivated compromises--and there are indeed good people in politics. Elected or appointed, Chuck Quackenbush just isn’t one of them. Let’s not give him an excuse for his actions that he doesn’t deserve to have.