One Way or Another, It’s Over for Quackenbush

Two days after the November election in 1994, Republican members of the state Assembly convened on a telephone conference call. “Hey,” one asked, “any of you guys know anything about insurance?”

It was Assemblyman Chuck Quackenbush from the Silicon Valley, and he’d just been elected state insurance commissioner.

A joke. Self-depreciating humor. And prophetic.

People laughed. Some on that call still are laughing. But now it’s gallows humor.

The noose is tightening. The tall, handsome former Army helicopter pilot may yet wiggle loose. But the odds on his surviving in office are getting longer.

“The concern among Republicans is becoming deeper with each new revelation,” says Assembly GOP leader Scott Baugh of Huntington Beach. “The Department of Insurance was engaged in improper conduct. Whether it goes all the way to Mr. Quackenbush remains to be seen. If it goes all the way, it doesn’t bode well for him.”

That’s what Quackenbush’s fellow Republicans are saying on the record. Off the record, they’re pronouncing him politically dead. All that’s left are the funeral details--resignation or impeachment.

Even if it’s neither, Quackenbush, 46, is gone. He has lost respect and influence.

Sources say one of Quackenbush’s former deputies--George Grays, who allegedly doled out the scandal dollars--has been talking to state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer.

“If he’s singing like a canary,” says one key GOP lawmaker, “Republicans will call for Quack’s resignation or impeachment. In a heartbeat.”

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Let’s recap this sordid tale: Quackenbush initially threatened to fine insurance companies billions for mishandling claims after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. But he settled for $12.8 million in “voluntary donations” to nonprofit foundations whose ostensible purpose was to help consumers and quake victims.

Not one cent has gone to quake victims. But $3 million was spent for self-serving TV ads featuring Quackenbush. About $900,000 was given to Northern California minority groups with no connection to the Northridge quake, $263,000 went to his sons’ football camp and $1.4 million was divvied among GOP political and PR consultants.

“What’s troubling is people are making a whole bunch of money off the suffering of [quake victims],” says Assemblyman Ken Maddox (R-Garden Grove), vice chairman of the Assembly Insurance Committee.

There were four days of damaging legislative hearings last week. They produced evidence that punctured the commissioner’s denial of direct involvement in coercing insurers. A Farmers lawyer testified that Quackenbush twice personally pressed company execs to pay a foundation.

Another witness--a TV time-buyer for GOP politicians--poked holes in Quackenbush’s contention that he was not aware of how the foundation money was being doled. This pol said he called Quackenbush to complain about Grays’ “unconscionable” and “excessive” foundation spending.

Also:

* The Assembly committee was leaked a PR firm’s image-building plan for Quackenbush, the original proposal that apparently steered him down this road to disaster.

* It was disclosed that foundation money was spent for political polling.

* A former foundation board president testified that four checks totaling $381,000 that supposedly bore her signature must have been forged by Grays.

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One comment particularly caught my attention. It was uttered by Senate Insurance Committee Chairwoman Jackie Speier (D-Daly City) as she opened her hearing: “We are not here today because we want to be, but because we have to be.”

That attitude is bipartisan. At this crucial point in the legislative session, lawmakers would much rather be pushing their bills and pork.

“I do not yet see the stomach for impeachment,” Speier says. Impeachment became a dirty word during the Clinton sex scandal, she notes. Also, there’s a natural reluctance to probe deeply into the misconduct of a fellow politician.

But legislators are hearing from the people--especially earthquake victims--and realize it’s their duty to investigate the insurance commissioner. They’re motivated by an outraged public, not opportunistic politics. They also want to distance themselves from his misconduct.

His repeated whining about “a partisan witch hunt” couldn’t be more off base.

Back during that 1994 conference call, somebody should have told Quackenbush the important thing to know is not insurance. It’s that the insurance department exists to serve consumers, not a commissioner and his cronies.