Torres to Seek Insurance Commissioner Post

SACRAMENTO — Democratic state Sen. Art Torres, promising to protect Los Angeles earthquake victims from “unfair tactics” of insurance companies, announced his candidacy Tuesday for state insurance commissioner.

If elected, Torres, 47, who was born in East Los Angeles, would be the first Latino to hold statewide office since 1875 when Romualdo Pacheco was governor.

“I am not running as a Latino candidate,” said Torres, chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee. He called himself a watchdog for consumers who is “best qualified to stand up to insurance companies and who happens to be Latino.”

Democrat John Garamendi, who became the first elected insurance commissioner in 1990, is running for governor.

In the Democratic primary, Torres will face Assemblyman Burt Margolin of Los Angeles. Republicans who have declared their intent to run include Assemblyman Charles Quackenbush of Cupertino; Wes Bannister, the 1990 nominee, and Jim Conran, state director of consumer affairs.

Torres is the Legislature’s senior Latino member, having been first elected to the Assembly in 1974. He told supporters in Chatsworth that he would work to make “whole” insurance customers whose property was damaged by the Northridge earthquake and last year’s Southern California fires.

He said his newly drafted homeowner “bill of rights” legislation would protect policyholders from the types of “unfair insurance tactics” faced by survivors of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 and the Oakland hills fires in 1991.

In those disasters, many policyholders charged that they were led by insurance representatives to accept inadequate settlements and were promised compensation they did not receive.

Torres said he will accept no campaign contributions from insurance industry sources or trial lawyer organizations. The two groups often are in opposition on key insurance issues.