Report: ConsumerWatchdog.org Gets 100% of State Fees From State Department of Insurance in 2011
Group Rakes in $860K from Self-Serving Provision; Only Group to Collect Fees Since 2007
SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ConsumerWatchdog.org, which wrote a provision into a successful ballot measure it sponsored to reward groups that intervened in insurance rate cases, hauled in nearly $860,019 in such "intervenor fees" in 2011 and was the only group in the state to profit from the program for the fourth straight year, according to new statistics released by the California Department of Insurance.
Since 2003, ConsumerWatchdog.org has received more than $6.2 million in intervenor fees, according to Department of Insurance statistics. In 2010, it received $981,747 while accepting a record $2,447,126 in fees during 2009 and another $731,343 in 2008. It was the only beneficiary of the intervenor fee program during those years.
The fees are the result of language written into Proposition 103, which was authored by the group and won voter approval in 1998. The same provision is included in a measure the group is sponsoring for the November 2012 ballot to regulate health care costs, and was included in legislation it sponsored last year, Assembly Bill 52.
"It is outrageous that a special interest can write a measure and hoodwink voters into approving a law that puts money directly into the pockets of its author," said Steven Maviglio of ConsumerWatchdogWatch.com. "This self-serving provision is what this organization is all about: making money for itself instead of fighting for consumers."
The California Department of Insurance intervenor fee payment schedule can be found at the following website: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0250-insurers/0300-insurers/0200-bulletins/prop-103-recoup/report-on-intervenor-program.cfm
ConsumerWatchdogWatch.com includes details on other self-serving actions of the group, as well as details on salaries of more than $600,000 to its founder, Harvey Rosenfeld, FPPC fines against the group, and other forms filed with the California Attorney General and Department of Insurance that show its self-interest and links to special interests that pay the group to attack corporate enemies.
SOURCE ConsumerWatchdogWatch.com
Share this article