SOMETHING MAY BE ROTTEN THERE

By Bob Walsh

 

Ricardo Lara is the elected CA State Insurance Commissioner.  He is in his second term.  Prior to 1988 this was an appointed position.  Lara is (let's hear the drum roll) the first openly gay elected statewide office holder in CA.  He has a bachelors degree in Spanish and Chicano Studies from San Diego State.  So he is semi-untouchable, but only semi.

He has of late done a LOT of traveling.  Out of the country.  Kind of odd for a state insurance commissioner.  Recently it has been discovered that the amount of taxpayer money he ACTUALLY spent on these trips seems to be a LOT more than was originally reported by his office.  He is currently under ethics investigation by the CA Fair Political Practices Commission according to ABC7 news.

It seems that, since 2019, he has taken 48 trips, many of which have very tenuous connections to his job and very skimpy documentation.  These trips include stays at 5-star resorts, luxury transport and upgraded air travel.  Documentation for his trips to Egypt, Chile, Singapore and Ireland are completely absent.  It also seems that he initially "neglected" to report his "security expenses" which boosted his cost of travel significantly.  Apparently since he is "openly gay" he has security risks a non-homo would not have.  These came to as much as 500% of the original costs reported.  For example, a five-day visit to Columbia for an LGBTQ political leaders conference cost $24,000 including more than $7,000 in transport costs for his private security.

Lara is defending these trips as relating to "climate risk and health coverage equity."

The immediate prior insurance commissioner had an average yearly travel expense of $19,000.  Lara's ran $33,000 for just security for just one trip to South Africa.