Lt. Gov. Race Lures 3 Consumer Advocates

Three of the most active consumer advocates in elective office in California are fighting over one of the least powerful statewide jobs: lieutenant governor.

Though it carries no substantial powers, the office holds strong appeal because its occupant is next in line to run the largest state in the union.

Still, only nine of 45 lieutenant governors have become governor: Gray Davis was the most recent and one of only two who were elected to the post rather than having assumed it after the incumbent died or resigned.

As for the other 36 lieutenant governors: Who remembers the likes of Samuel Purdy? Anyone? Anyone?

This year, three self-styled reformers -- state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and state Sens. Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) and Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) -- are running in the Democratic primary June 6 on promises of making the job more worthwhile. The winner is expected to face Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks in the November general election.

“I’m going to transform this office into something that’s meaningful for the average Californian,” said Speier, 55, noting that one of her mentors, former Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, liked to say “his first task was to read the obituary page” to check on the health of the state’s governor.

Speier proposes to build on the few responsibilities the office is granted. The lieutenant governor is a University of California regent and acting chairman of the trustees of the California State University system; Speier says she will champion higher education in much the same way that another statewide official, the superintendent of public instruction, advocates for primary and secondary education.

She also says she would use the largely ceremonial role of president of the California Senate to hold public hearings and set up an “investigative unit” to delve into consumer matters around the state.

Garamendi, 61, was the state’s first elected insurance commissioner, from 1991 to 1994. Voters returned him to the office in 2002 after his successor, Chuck Quackenbush, was forced out in scandal.

Garamendi has set his sights higher in the past, running unsuccessfully for governor in 1982 and 1994. But he says lieutenant governor can be a powerful post.

“The lieutenant governor’s position is misunderstood and significantly undervalued,” he said. “It does have the second-best sound system in the state if somebody cares to use it.”

Garamendi said that as lieutenant governor, he would advocate for universal healthcare and higher education, and promote legislation combating global climate change. The latter role springs from the position’s automatic seat on the State Lands Commission, which oversees California’s waterways.

Figueroa’s statewide profile may be lower than that of her competitors, but the 55-year-old has built a strong reputation among consumer advocates from her perch as chairwoman of the Senate panel that oversees the boards regulating California professionals. She wrote laws to block uninvited telemarketers and allow patients to sue HMOs.

She says she would use the lieutenant governor spot to focus on issues involving women, children and health. She differentiates herself as the one candidate with no desire to be governor.

“I want it to be a real position,” she said, “so families can know that there’s someone who is going to stand strong on the issues that I care about without looking toward that political future.”

The keen competition may be mostly because of term limits. The office’s current occupant, Democrat Cruz Bustamante, must leave because of term limits and is running for Garamendi’s job. Speier and Figueroa are prohibited from running for another term in the Legislature.

Garamendi is the only one voluntarily abandoning his post; he says after eight years regulating insurance, he wants to delve into other topics.

As of last month, Speier had built the largest war chest, with $2.6 million on hand, eclipsing the $1 million Garamendi has and the $522,130 in Figueroa’s account.

Considered by analysts to be the long-shot candidate, Figueroa is playing up her ethnicity and personal background in her ballot statement and campaign efforts. The daughter of immigrants from El Salvador, “I remember going into classrooms not speaking a word of English,” she said.

Garamendi is the best-known of the candidates throughout the state. Some political observers say he would gain if Speier and Figueroa split voters from the Bay Area and those who want to support a female candidate.

On April 3, Garamendi had surgery to repair a heart valve. His campaign says it poses no threat, and so far his opponents have not raised the topic.

Garamendi’s campaign touts his aggressive regulation of the insurance industry. Last year, for instance, he won an $8-million settlement from the nation’s largest disability insurer while regulators in many other states closed their investigations without findings of wrongdoing.

Garamendi has rounded up the most major union endorsements, including the California Teachers Assn. and Service Employees International Union. Speier has been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and the Sierra Club. Figueroa has the support of the California Nurses Assn. and United Farm Workers.

Speier has a compelling personal story her campaign is emphasizing: as a young congressional aide, she was shot five times in the 1978 Jonestown massacre in Guyana. In the Legislature, she has written laws to protect financial privacy and crack down on delinquent child support payments. She also has held hearings on the use of steroids by teenagers, and as chairwoman of the Senate Insurance Committee has looked into insurance companies’ practices.

In dueling interviews, Garamendi and Speier traded jabs about each other’s fundraising practices.

Garamendi portrayed himself as the only candidate in the race who does not take money from those he oversees, in his case from insurers. Speier does: Campaign records show she has accepted more than $260,000 from the industry since 2000.

“I know you cannot take money from those you regulate or those who come before you for a vote,” Garamendi said.

Speier objected to the implication that she is compromised: “I am not for one minute presuming he is not doing his job effectively, and I presume that he recognizes that I’m doing my job in the same manner,” Speier said. “There is no insurance entity that I know of [that] thinks kindly of me.”

Speier said Garamendi does not deserve the moral high ground because he accepted $20,000 from insurers in 1994. Garamendi did not return the money until the San Francisco Chronicle discovered it in 2002.

In addition, she noted, Garamendi has accepted contributions from law firms that have been hired by the Department of Insurance. His campaign says such donations are not inappropriate because he does not regulate law firms.

So far, Figueroa has stayed clear of the finger-pointing about donations. “People don’t want that,” she said. “Each of us have a record people can study and draw their own conclusions.”

Figueroa has accepted money from doctors, nurses and other groups whose professions her committee oversees. She has said it poses no conflict.

The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to face McClintock, a candidate for governor in the 2003 recall who has raised more than $1 million for this year’s contest.

Unlike the Democratic candidates, McClintock’s campaign is not bashful about the job’s appeal. His ballot statement begins: “California’s lieutenant governor must be ready to assume the office of governor at a moment’s notice.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Facing off in the Democratic Primary

Liz Figueroa

Party: Democratic

Occupation: State senator

Age: 55; born in San Francisco

Residence: Sunol (Bay Area)

Personal: Divorced; two children

Education: Attended UC Berkeley

Career highlights: State Assembly, 1994-98; state Senate, 1998-present

Platform: Expand the Healthy Families program that covers children in working families. Use position on UC Board of Regents to advocate greater transparency on executive pay and perks in state universities. Fight offshore oil drilling.

John Garamendi

Party: Democratic

Occupation: State insurance commissioner

Age: 61; born in Camp Blanding, Fla.

Residence: Walnut Grove (Sacramento County)

Personal: Wife, Patti; six children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in business, UC Berkeley; master’s in business administration, Harvard University

Career highlights: State Assembly, 1974-76; state Senate, 1976-90 (majority leader, 1980-90); state insurance commissioner, 1991-94 and 2002-present; deputy secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1995-98

Platform: Turn the lieutenant governor’s office into a watchdog. Work to fully fund schools but demand audits to ensure money is spent in classrooms. Work to protect home care services for seniors. Work for universal healthcare. Make California a world leader in fighting global warming.

Jackie Speier

Party: Democratic

Occupation: State senator

Age: 55; born in San Francisco

Residence: Hillsborough (Bay Area)

Personal: Husband, Barry Dennis; two children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, UC Davis, 1972; juris doctorate, UC Hastings College of the Law, 1976

Career highlights: San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, 1980-86; state Assembly, 1986-96; state Senate, 1998-present

Platform: Transform the office of lieutenant governor into a guardian of higher education, a champion for consumers, a watchdog for government accountability. Will support the highest level of funding for UC and CSU and establish investigative unit.