The State; New Bids to Reform Campaign Finance; Elections: Bills would curb contributions by insurance industry and independent political committees Home Edition

State Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) is sponsoring new legislation that would prohibit insurance companies from contributing to the incumbent insurance commissioner or any candidates for the job. Her bill would allow individual contributions from insurance agents and company officers and direct...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Los Angeles times
Main Author VIRGINIA ELLIS and CARL INGRAM
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 24.03.2002
Subjects
California
Campaign contributions
Legislation
Political finance
State elections
California
SACRAMENTO
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Summary:State Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) is sponsoring new legislation that would prohibit insurance companies from contributing to the incumbent insurance commissioner or any candidates for the job. Her bill would allow individual contributions from insurance agents and company officers and directors but limit them to $500. Assemblyman Lou Papan (D-Millbrae) proposed the bill two weeks after his daughter, Gina, lost her quest for his seat in the March 5 Democratic primary. Papan said advertisements by an independent committee of trial attorneys had falsely claimed that his daughter's opponent, South San Francisco Mayor Gene Mullin, had been endorsed by the Sierra Club. Unlike campaign committees controlled by candidates, independent committees are now unrestricted in the sums they can pour into a campaign and, in many cases, are not required to publicly disclose their expenditures until long after the election. Papan singled out trial lawyers and organized labor as two special interests that ran high-spending independent "shadow" campaigns during the March 5 primary.
ISSN:0458-3035