What’s up on the left coast?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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New West thread.
Woolsey or Nation? I’m leaning towards Nation right now.
Hello how are you? I am Lincoln Joel in Kampala Uganda saying hello to you.
Have a wonderful day.
lincolnjoel@yahoo.com
The voter’s guide arrived for California’s primary, June 6, 2006. Also available in Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Chinese, Korean, and by TDD.
Only 2 propositions are on the ballot: Prop 81, a bond for public library construction and renovation, and Prop 82, an initiative to create a preschool program funded by taxing high incomes.
Up for Statewide election: governor, lt. gov., sec. of state, controller, treasurer, atty gen., insurance commissioner, superintendent of public instruction, and the 4 boards of equalization.
Candidates who accepted voluntary spending limits could purchase a statement in the voter’s guide. So, no statements from Schwarzenegger and the 2 Democrats with touchy-feely t.v. commercials, Westly and Angelides.
Statements from Peace & Freedom candidates were a tad brief (“Raise corporate tax rates” “double the minimum wage!” “fair elections, stop corruption”). The two from American Independent candidates offered even less. Peter Camejo, Green Party candidate for governor, boosts his party (“Just watch the internal debate and confusion among the Democrats”). The Libertarian candidate for lt. gov. focused on medical cannibis and hemp.
The Democrat I’d like most to see win lt. gov. is Jackie Speier, a legislator with political skills and decades of experience. The one I’m afraid of is Garamendi, Insurance Commissioner for eons who failed to fully use his power for consumer-protection.
I’m really puzzled by your criticism of John Garamendi.
Garamendi was California’s very first Insurance Commissioner and was responsible for reining in insurance industry excesses from ’90-’94. When he ran (unsuccessfully) for governor in 1994, he left the Insurance Commissioner position, which was filled by Republican Chuck Quackenbush, who was widely supported by the insurance industry. The scandals that enveloped Quackenbush led him to the brink of impeachment in 2000, and he was forced to resign before the end of his second term. The position was temporarily filled by a Gray Davis appointee, retired Judge Harry Low, who brought a steadying hand to the position but was not familiar enough with the job to effect serious reform of the anti-consumer positions enacted by Quackenbush.
In 2002, after having served as Bill Clinton’s Undersecretary of the Interior through the ’90s, Garamendi ran for a second term as Insurance Commissioner where he was effective in cleaning up the mess left by the Quackenbush fiasco and has subsequently exercised firm control over the insurance industry.
Or at least that’s my understanding of it.
You refer to “Garamendi, Insurance Commissioner for eons who failed to fully use his power for consumer-protection.” Could you please be a little more specific in your complaints with Garamendi, perhaps naming actual instances where he has failed the citizens of California? I am genuinely in the dark as to these failings and would appreciate your further explanations.
I agree about Quackenbush & his mess. I also agree that Garamendi has accomplished plenty. My beef is that Garamendi did not provide enough consumer protection for health insurance coverage.
First issue: no consideration of PPO beneficiaries.
As you may know, only HMO’s are/were regulated by the Insurance Commissioner. Garamendi closed down Lifeguard’s HMO for insufficient funding. This caused Lifeguard (a California outfit started by M.D.’s) to go bankrupt, including the PPO.
As the Insurance Commissioner has no authority over a PPO, he does not investigate it or respond to claims against it. And while his decision against its owner can close it down, there can be no appeal from the PPO beneficiaries affected.
It’s not good enough to say the PPO was simply collateral damage. The damage was foreseeable and he should have arranged something beforehand to protect the PPO consumers instead of leaving them to hang.
Second, more important: no interest in accountability for health insurers’ cherry-picking.
As you know, lack of health insurance coverage is a huge issue in California, where now only 2 or 3 firms provide coverage, led by Blue Cross. In the past several years, too, California’s continued loss of jobs means that a lot more people, unable to obtain insurance through employers, apply for health coverage privately. When their applications are rejected, they have no true recourse.
Insurers’ underwriters turn down applicants with no accountability. Underwriting guidelines may be seriously outdated or conflicting, there may be inadequate medical oversight, internal appeals may be meaningless, medical records may be misunderstood, and so forth.
The Insurance Commissioner has no authority to investigate cherry-picking of applicants. It is the Insurance Commissioner’s office which is best able to collect data from claims of unfair application rejection. From this information they can see, for example, if there is widespread age discrimination by insurers in rejecting applicants. The data can be used for legislation to protect consumers who have none now.
When I wrote Mr. Garamendi — twice — about this, describing my personal experiences, I received nice replies that did not address the main complaint: there is no interest in discovering the extent of abuse by underwriters.
Obviously, the more people covered by health insurance, and the more careful and honest the health insurance carriers, the better for everyone in California. It’s a mistake to believe that Mr. Garamendi has had all consumers in mind while he’s been in office. He has neglected a lot of us, unfortunately for all of us.
The loss of my vote, I suppose, is a wee bit of collateral damage.
Hello how are you? I am Lincoln Joel in Kampala Uganda saying hello to you.
Have a wonderful day.
lincolnjoel@yahoo.com
I find it deeply disturbing to watch the EXTREMELY negative ad put out by the RNC against Busby in the Ca-50th. It is so disgusting I am amazed she doesn’t sue them. She asked Bilbry, whom she is running against in the special election for Duke “the criminal” Cunningham’s vacant seat.
I am so turned off by politics right now I am ready to walk away. Between the emails and the phone calls asking for money from everyone locally to Progressive Dems to Care to Red Cross to One to etc, etc, etc. What do they think we are a freaking ATM machine? Again, disgusted.
Just had to vent. Thanks for listening.
I can imagine the bombardment you’re getting from all directions.
From what I have gathered, negative ads are meant to suppress voters, not necessarily recruit new ones. It’s a sign of weakness that they are attacking her with (I’m guessing) a bunch of false accusations. I don’t think you’re the only one who is disgusted with politics, lets hope this move by the RNC blows up in their face and causes a backlash. Representative Busby has a nice ring to it.
Right back at you Manny! I was called two nights ago from a local TV news poll. The results came out today and Busby and Bilbry are tied right now at 45% with Indies swaying towards Busby. The neg ads just may work against Bilbry. One can hope.
I’m hoping (and disgusted!) with you. I see that RNC ad every flipping night – which means they are running during Padres games :-> I throw something at the tv each time. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
VERY burned out here. Bombarded too. I think I got the same call you did! It’s good to hear that the results are encouraging. Meanwhile I just want to bury my head in the sand until the election on June 6th, OK? Then I am off to Ykos which will hopefully re-inject me with some energy for November.
Hey SanDiegoDem…good to see you. Yeah, sure will be great when it is all over. The DNC ads aren’t much better but at least they are not lies. have a great time at Ykos. I am sure it will be great with all those like minded people together. You must write a diary afterwards and tell us all about it.
I had planned on going early on as my sister lived there but she just moved to Phoenix last week. Talk to you soon.
I would like to be your friend. My name is Lincoln Joel Nsubuga. I am a Ugandan male and live in Uganda. I speak English and Luganda my native language. I was born on 26/March/1973. I am also a born again Christian.
Wishing you well and your family. God bless you.
Lincoln.
Hello how are you? I am Lincoln Joel in Kampala Uganda saying hello to you.
Have a wonderful day.
lincolnjoel@yahoo.com
Via Wactivist.com
Ahem. WOOOHOOO!!! Looks like the Pederson TV ads are working.
Hello how are you? I am Lincoln Joel in Kampala Uganda saying hello to you.
Have a wonderful day.
lincolnjoel@yahoo.com
Is there a tag for “Slippery Slope Warning?”
cue the head asplosion in 3…2…1
I submitted my absentee ballot today Didn’t have the right pencil (#2 soft),so I walked down the street and bought a dozen of them so that I will probably be able to find one in Novemer.
The most important race on the ticket? Secretary of State. Why? Because that’s the person who decides what kind of machines are used in this state to count our votes.
This is the most important race this time because we have a clear choice – a Dem who is all over the electronic voting and has already passed legislation to protect our hand audits (Debra Bowen), and a Dem who says what’s the fuss? Everyone knows computers can be trusted. (Debra Ortiz)
Vote for Debra Bowen!!
In other races – Angelides (and btw – check out my ragging on Westly in person today – stumbled upon him by chance at lunch today and gave him what for re his incredibly dishonest attack on Angelides)
Brown for Attorney General
And I’m pleased to have the chance to reelect my excellent Congresswoman, Diane Watson. No one is perfect, but she’s damn close, in terms of her voting record. 😉