Consumer Watchdog’s President and Chairman of the Board is an award-winning and nationally recognized consumer advocate. Capitol Weekly, naming Jamie to its “Top 100” list of unelected movers and shakers in California politics, wrote, “Court has made a career of battling all comers in the interest of the public, and his take-no-prisoners approach has earned him plenty of enemies.” Jamie’s latest book is The Progressive’s Guide To Raising Hell: How To Win Grassroots Campaigns, Pass Ballot Box Laws And Get The Change You Voted For (Chelsea Green, 2010).
“Americans angry about the state of their government might find in Court’s persuasive manifesto a cause for action,” Publishers Weekly writes. “With great accessibility and a fired-up attitude, Court brings his lessons in empowerment to the people.” He is also the author of Corporateering: How Corporate Power Steals Your Freedom And What You Can Do About It (Tarcher Putnam, 2003) and co-author of Making A Killing: HMOs and the Threat To Your Health (Common Courage Press, 1999). Jamie has led dozens of major corporate and political campaigns to reform insurers, banks, technology companies, oil companies, utilities and political practices. He helped to pioneer the HMO patients’ rights movement in the United States, sponsoring successful laws in California and aiding them elsewhere, and was an early champion of many of the most important consumer protections in the federal Affordable Care Act years before they were enacted. In recent years, he has led the campaign to hold California oil refiners accountable for price gouging at the pump which resulted in the toughest oil refinery regulation in America.
A frequent media commentator and op-ed contributor, Jamie is a high-profile and stalwart defender of consumers’ rights. The Los Angeles Times calls him “a tireless consumer advocate.” The Wall Street Journal writes, “He’s notorious for his dramatic, sharp-tongued attacks on the health- and auto-insurance industries, and on any politician who takes their campaign cash.” His public interest career began as an advocate for the homeless and as a community organizer. Jamie’s Alma mater is Pomona College, where he graduated with a BA in History in 1989.
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Yes on Prop 46: 44% of San Diego Doctors On Probation Have Substance Abuse Problems
SANTA MONICA, CA – ABC News 10 reported Sunday that 44% of doctors on probation in San Diego were disciplined for substance abuse or addiction. The report revealed the clear problem with doctors abusing drugs or alcohol yet the California Medical Board is unwilling or unable to act to protect patient safety.
Yes On 45 Supporters Deliver Steer Manure to Health Insurance CEOs at Nob Hill Gala to Return Some of the BS Companies Are Dishing...
San Francisco, CA—Consumer Watchdog, the California Nurses Association and supporters of Yes on Proposition 45 delivered a truckload of steer manure to health insurance industry executives who gathered at the Fairmont Hotel today to fete former Kaiser CEO George Halvorson.
Yes On Prop 45 Advertising Begins, Warns of Health Insurance Companies Spending $57 Million To Stop California From Reining In Excessive Rates
Santa Monica, CA --- Consumer Watchdog Campaign today announced that advertising has begun for Yes on Proposition 45, which would give the elected insurance commissioner power to veto excessive health insurance rates. The David v Goliath campaign has been outspent by insurance companies by more than 25 to 1.
Yes on 45: Small Businessman Speaks Out About Anthem Blue Cross’ Unreasonable Rate Hike; Only Prop 45 Could Stop Increase
Santa Monica, CA— The Department of Insurance today declared Anthem Blue Cross’s 9.8% rate increase on small business “unreasonable,” but has no power to stop the hikes unless Proposition 45 passes.