Late last week, California’s esteemed Lieutenant Governor, Democrat John Garamendi, took a break from his statewide "we need taxes not spending cuts" tour to fire off a petulant letter to his successor as Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner. The subject? Garamendi is upset because after reviewing them since he was elected to office, Poizner has determined that a bunch of last minute regulations that Garamendi adopted literally on his way out of the office were in need of revision, which he is doing. I will spend more time soon delving into the policy issues involved with these regulations.
Of course, the sub-text to this back and forth is that Garamendi has made no secret of his desire to be California’s next Governor, and if he can best Jerry Brown in a Democrat primary, it could very well be Poizner that he faces off against…
The text of Poizner’s response letter is below, or if you want to see the .pdf on official letterhead, click the link at the bottom of this post.
Dear Lieutenant Governor Garamendi:
**There is more – click the link**
May 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am
You hit it on the head. Commissioner Poizner is a quality guy and a great Insurance Commissioner. Not sure what Mr. Garamendi is doing whining about his old job. Can’t he move on to tackle some real isues that our state faces? Mr. Poizner has the insurance climate improving nicely. Leave him alone and do your own job, John.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Brilliant. Garamendi is probably yelling at whoever wrote that “first person press release” for him. :)
May 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am
There is nothing quite like watching a slugger knock a hanging slider into the upper deck in center field!
May 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Thought you’d like to know that this post got picked up by the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE editorial writer/blogger Chris Reed. For folks wanting to read some excellent insights into San Diego and particularly state politics, you might want to sign up for Reed’s blog:
http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/afb/archives/022932.html
Poizner 1, Garamendi 0
I agree with Jon Fleischman — Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner got much the better of Lt. Gov. John Garamendi in their tiff over Poizner’s handling of some auto insurance regulations Garamendi imposed just before leaving office as insurance commissioner. Poizner uses his letter responding to the Lt. Gov. to raise questions about Garamendi’s job performance at his previous post:
Poizner: “If these regulations were so important, why is it that you failed to implement them over two terms as Insurance Commissioner in a period that spanned 16 years? Why did you wait until after the November 6, 2006 elections, when you were leaving office, to submit them? Is it because (a) they weren’t really that important to you; (b) you weren’t all that interested in protecting consumers; (c) you didn’t want to be saddled by regulations that weren’t workable? It’s a multiple choice question — and there may be more than one right answer.”
Posted by Chris Reed at May 5, 2008 12:44 PM
May 5th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Ka-Ching! Right on and high five to Poizner.
Question: Isn’t the job of Lt. Governor is to preside over the State Senate? If so, how many days did Garamendi vacate that chair to let Perata to run the upper chamber?