Insurance Industry Spends $22 Million on Advertisements Alone

Allstate Insurance Company added a $5 million check to the insurance industry campaign against California Propositions 30 and 31. If approved by voters the referenda would enact laws signed by Governor Davis in 1999 that provide innocent accident victims the right to sue an insurance company that denies, delays or low-balls a legitimate insurance claim.

Allstate joins State Farm and Farmers Insurance to account for over $40 million of the $50 million paid to the no on 30/31 committee, which is known officially as “Consumers Against Fraud and Higher Insurance Costs.” 100% of the contributions against the propositions have been made by insurance companies.

The media driven campaign has spent over $22 million placing advertisements, running a variety of television and radio ads throughout the state. The companies have also spent nearly $1.2 million purchasing endorsements in slate mailings. Additionally, the insurance companies have paid tens of thousands of dollars to campaign spokespeople and groups whose names have been used prominently in the campaign. The payments include:

• $125,000 to Voter Revolt, the once legitimate advocacy group that now fronts for insurance and other business interests;
• $60,000 to John Sullivan, a ballot signer and the President of the Civil Justice Association of California (formerly known as the Association for California Tort Reform);
• $37,500 to Consumers First, which is the name used by Jim Conran, a former Wilson appointee who lost to Chuck Quackenbush in the 1994 Republican primary race for Insurance Commissioner. Conran is also a ballot signer; and
• The campaign has paid the California Small Business Roundtable $30,000.

“Out-of-state insurance companies, with the thin veil of phony consumer advocates and the heavy hand of $50 million, are hiding behind a deceptive media campaign in this effort to overturn a consumer protection compromise worked out last year with Governor Davis,” said Doug Heller of The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.

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