It is no secret that the political world has its fair share of corruption and based on the recent actions of California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, the corruption is only perpetuating.
Campaign donations are a key factor for elected officials to maintain their political platform. Moreover, behested payments—charitable donations made by a company or individual on behalf of a certain official—also greatly help their cause. Normally, these types of donations are perfectly legal, but with regard to Ricardo Lara, the donations are in more of a grey area. Elected in 2012 to the California Senate, Lara has collected over $785,000 in donations from an array of nonprofit groups.
Interestingly enough, half of the money was funneled to the California Latino Legislative Caucus Foundation, a charity where Lara was president and CEO. Furthermore, in newly released tax records, a large portion of the money was spent on travel, grants, and conferences—completely unrelated to the charity’s goal—over the time period that Lara managed the charity. While the foundation claims transparency and compliance, the tax records show that Lara was dishonest about the amount of donations received.
A good portion of the donations on behalf of Lara has been from insurance companies, conflicting with the impartiality of his position. Despite his promise to pay back any conflicting donations, Lara has still been inconsistent. He has kept donations that are deemed questionable, including one from Aflac.
Perhaps the most controversial donation to Lara would be one from Applied Underwriters. The donation came when the Department of Insurance was analyzing one of their sales. Regardless of his recusal, his office was still involved with four cases that were in favor of Applied Underwriters. Consequently, Lara was faced with a legal battle for overstepping his boundaries.
His willingness to accept money from just about any organization only highlights his disregard for caution and fairness. It raises strong skepticism about whether he is really fit to be in charge of the substantial amount of money the California Insurance Commissioner is responsible for.
