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.
Californians Overpay $10 Billion For Gasoline In 2015; Consumer Watchdog Shows Oil Refiners Rig Market With Secret Trades & Anti-Competitive Acts
Sacramento, CA -- Consumer Watchdog today revealed to a state oversight panel new tactics by which California oil refiners had their most profitable years ever and state drivers paid more at the pump than ever before compared to US drivers.
Consumer Watchdog Chides LA Mayor And City Attorney For LADWP Settlement That Delays Ratepayer Refunds into 2017 And Beyond While Paying Millions To Lawyers...
Santa Monica, CA — The latest proposed settlement of a $44 million LADWP overbilling scandal offers some improvements over the last two, but still unfairly disadvantages ratepayers, Consumer Watchdog said today in a letter to LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA City Attorney Mike Feuer.
L.A. Mayor And City Attorney Urged To Replace DWP Ratepayer Advocate And To Explain Fairness Of New DWP Settlement At Lunch With Overcharged Ratepayers
Santa Monica, CA — Consumer Watchdog today wrote LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Attorney Mike Feuer asking the public officials to fire DWP’s “ratepayer advocate,” an energy consultant and Enron apologist, and to attend a lunch with overbilled DWP ratepayers to explain how their latest version of a settlement with the LADWP is fair and reasonable for them.
Ratepayers and Consumer Advocates Urge LA Mayor and City Attorney To Pull Back Anti-Consumer DWP Over-Billing Settlement
Los Angeles, CA -- Consumer Watchdog and overbilled ratepayers today urged Los Angeles City leaders to immediately fix or withdraw a “breathtakingly anti-consumer settlement agreement” over tens of millions of dollars in overbilling at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
Consumer Watchdog Reports On Historic Gap Between Wholesale Prices and Retail Prices At Gas Pump To Expose California Gas Price Manipulation To Energy Commission
Sacramento, CA -- Consumer Watchdog testified Tuesday that the gap between the retail price paid at the California gas pump and the wholesale price of gas traded within the oil industry has never been greater – signaling gouging of the consumer.