(Inside California Politics) — The race for insurance commissioner doesn’t often get a lot of attention. But this year, amid an insurance crisis, the November general election will pit two Democrats against each other for a position that’s rising in prominence.
Inside California Politics host Nikki Laurenzo sat down with one of those two Democrats this week: state Sen. Ben Allen, who will face San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Jane Kim in the general election.
Allen touted his work on consumer protection legislation in the Legislature and noted that he represents communities that were devastated by last year’s fires in southern California.
“I just think that we need somebody in this position who’s going to work really hard to improve the customer service operations of the department, to get people off of the FAIR plan, to make sure the market’s more healthy, to drive down rates — and, in the long term, to really, really work intensely on risk reduction,” Allen said.
As commissioner, Allen said he would focus on expanding the department’s customer service capabilities, noting that there are only 34 people currently answering calls in the agency.
Allen also criticized Kim, saying he sometimes worries that his opponent is making campaign promises she can’t keep.
“I think anybody who tells you that they’ve got a magic wand that can just fix everything tomorrow is lying to you,” he said. “And one of my challenges in this race, quite frankly, is that I’m not willing to make a bunch of commitments and promises that I don’t think that I have a real chance of completing and complying with.”
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