CALIFORNIA INSURANCE COMMISSIONER SHOULD BE APPOINTEE, SAYS POIZNER

California insurance commissioner Steve Poizner who is campaigning for governor to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger, said in a speech at the weekend that the commissioner's post has become overly politicized and should again be a gubernatorial appointment, as it is in 35 other US states. The office has been an elected post in California since 1991. Speaking at a meeting of the California Newspapers Publishers Association in Sacramento, said that the insurance commissioner was an important "watchdog", and that he or she should not be swayed by politics or campaign contributions. Republican rival Meg Whitman's spokeswoman Sarah Pompei responded that Mr Poizner had himself politicized his post by failing to implement Governor Schwarzenegger's order temporarily to lay off state employees. An insurance department spokesman said that whether the Governor had the right to make such an order was currently with the courts, and that Mr Poizner would comply with the courts' decision. Meanwhile, permanent cost savings implemented by Mr Poizner had brought about savings greater than would have been achieved through the proposed lay-offs.