While Poizner writes campaign checks and reads his stacks of news clips, California homeowners affected by the fires get short s

From Brian Brokaw:

The New York Times today reports on a troubling new obstacle facing many of the 14,000 homeowners who suffered losses in the Southern California wildfires: that the insurance coverage they have on their homes may not be enough to actually rebuild them.

According to the Times: “As Californians recover from another season of devastating wildfires, one of the biggest obstacles is a painfully familiar one. As many as 40 percent of homeowners statewide lack enough insurance to cover their home-replacement costs, according to the California Department of Insurance, and most realize the problem only when it is too late. After past disasters, California state officials tried to raise homeowners’ awareness of their coverage limits by requiring policies to be written clearly and with disclaimers about what is not covered.”

What sayeth the state official charged with overseeing the Department of Insurance, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, about this serious problem? How will Poizner remedy this problem, for those who are stuck in this dilemma now and in the future? As of yet, he’s said nothing. Apparently this issue isn’t even on Poizner’s radar screen.

Perhaps Poizner has been too busy lately reading his own news clips – all the coverage analyzing his calculated and costly attempt to burnish his currently-flimsy conservative credentials by bankrolling the No on Proposition 93 campaign. Or maybe he’s been memorizing those columns all but declaring Poizner the next governor of California, three whole years before the votes are cast. 

"I wouldn't be leading the charge with my money and passion unless 93 was written to fool voters," Poizner recently explained to Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton. 

My bet is that the homeowners whose homes were destroyed and whose lives have been altered by the fires want their insurance commissioner to direct his passion elsewhere: toward doing his job and protecting consumers.