Bannister back in race for insurance commissioner

Danette Goulet

In the race for California Insurance Commissioner, Huntington Beach

insurance agent Wes Bannister plans to run a race to end all races.

The former Huntington Beach Mayor and city councilman plans to

campaign for a return to appointed state insurance commissioners rather

than elected ones, he said Tuesday.

Bannister, 65, first ran for insurance commissioner in 1990 as the

Republican nominee against Democrat John Garamendi. It was the first year

it was an elective position following the passage of the 1988 initiative, Proposition 103.

A complete unknown, he lost to Garamendi by a relatively small margin.

In 1994 Bannister ran again, this time in the primary against fellow

Republication Chuck Quackenbush, who had the GOP nomination. Quackenbush

was later forced from office after allegedly allowing insurance companies

to escape fines for mishandling Northridge earthquake claims.

Bannister ran a low-cost grass-roots campaign in the Quackenbush race,

spending virtually no money. He felt then, as he does now, that his

insurance business should instill comfort and not fear in the hearts of

voters saying the job should go to one who knows the industry and is not

a politician.

“I’m tired of politicians in that office,” he said. “I’m tired of the

problems because of politics. That’s the problem we’ve had since it

became an elected position. When we had appointed commissioners at least,

even though it was political because they were appointed, they made sure

they knew something about insurance.”

While political analysts may understand his reasoning, being an

insurance agent is unlikely to help his campaign, said Mark Petracca, a

professor of political science at UCI.

“Being an insurance agent isn’t going to help,” Petracca said. “This

isn’t an office where you want a fox in the hen house -- you want fat ‘ol

rooster in the hen house.”

It is one of the most powerful state offices. The insurance

commissioner has the authority to grant insurance rate increases,

investigate fraud and respond to consumer complaints. The commissioner

can seize insurance companies deemed to be insolvent and manage them to

protect policyholders.

“To some extent, he is an insurance agent, so there is some sort of

logic to his running, but it’s a pro-consumer office and the stench of

Quackenbush is still strong in the air,” Petracca said.

Bannister said he does not think his fellow Republican’s alleged

misdeeds while in office will mar his chances of winning votes. The

scandal, in fact, is another reason Bannister said he would like to see

the office taken from the political arena.

“The problem is not that Quackenbush was a Republican,” he said. “If

you look at Garamendi, he made promises, then as soon as he got in

[office] began campaigning for governor. Quackenbush went in with the

same intent -- to run for governor. I think we can identify the problem

with Quackenbush not with his being a Republican, but that he was a

career politician.”

Despite his stints in city and county politics, having been on the

Huntington Beach City Council and being the Orange County Water District

board, Bannister says he is not a politician.

“I’m an insurance man,” he said. “I’m interested in doing something

about insurance problems. We’ve seen insurance premiums more than triple.

There’s a crisis in insurance in California.”

Although he is the only Republican to have filed so far, his

Democratic counterparts, former Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi,

former assemblyman Tom Umberg and Assemblyman Tom Calderon (D-Montebello)

all have a leg up in terms of name recognition.

“People forget. You have to keep your name in the press. Consumers of

the Orange County Water District may know who he is but that level of

name recognition does not a state race win,” Petracca said. “He would

have to work hard to create that name recognition.”

The other strike against Bannister is funding.

“His biggest hurdle in the past will likely be the biggest hurdle

again - money,” Petracca said. “If there’s someone on the Republican side

running with a lot of money - he’s toast. Maybe if he’s the only

Republican nominee they’ll dump a lot of money into his campaign to

strengthen the Republican ticket.”

As to how this campaign unfolds, Bannister said it depends on who the

Democratic Party decides to support.

“If its is Garamendi it will be a more even race this time around,” he

said. “Franky I don’t know the principles or policies of Calderon or

Umberg, I know they have a lot of money. If it is Garamendi we start out

a lot more even than we did in 1990. He’s not in the powerful position he

was then.”

* DANETTE GOULET is the assistant city editor. She can be reached at

(714) 965-7170 or by e-mail at o7 danette.goulet@latimes.comf7 .