Santa Monica, CA – Insurance companies’ addition of $1.365 million this weekend to their campaign to elect Mike Villines as insurance commissioner is consistent with Consumer Watchdog’s expectation that the industry will spend at least $5 million before election day. The following insurance industry contributions, totaling $2.655 million, have been given to a Sacramento political committee called “JobsPAC,” since late September:
- George Joseph, Chairman of Mercury Insurance – $775,000
- Allstate Insurance – $700,000
- Liberty Mutual – $490,000
- Progressive Insurance – $390,000
- Anthem Blue Cross – $100,000
- Health Net – $100,000
- Farmers Insurance- $100,000
To date, JobsPAC has spent approximately $845,000 on ads attacking candidate Dave Jones and $566,000 on ads supporting Mike Villines. Consumer advocates expect that JobsPAC will report another one million dollar expenditure on the race in the next few days and another two to three million dollars in insurance industry contributions and campaign expenditures before election day. Because the industry money is first going to JobsPAC, the fact that it came from insurance companies will not be disclosed to voters who see or hear the ads. A copy of the television advertisement being aired can be viewed here or watched below. The advertisement’s disclosure, which makes no mention of insurance company funding, reads: “PAID FOR BY JOBSPAC, A BI-PARTISAN COALITION OF CALIFORNIA EMPLOYERS. Read more…
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