By Bob Walsh
State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara leaves an Assembly
Committee on Insurance hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 at Los Angeles
City Hall.
Ricardo Lara is the elected
Insurance Commissioner of the formerly great state of California. He
travels. A LOT. On the taxpayers dime. And, despite law to the
contrary is very closed-mouth about why he was traveling to where he
traveled to and what relationship it had to his job. Not only are the
Republicans making a lot of noise about this but now it seems even a few
Democrat-Socialists might be interested in asking what the hell is
going on.
Lara has made at
least 46 out-of-state trips since 2019. At least 11 of these were fully
funded by taxpayers. These trips include Singapore, Glasgow, Paris,
Bogota, Chile and Dubai. Due to this travel Lara has missed MORE THAN
HALF of the state insurance hearings held since he took office. After
more than a month of asking questions his office has yet to offer up the
"legitimate business purpose" for these trips. He also likes 5-star
hotels. He stayed at one in Bogota. He stayed at one in N.Y.C. for the
Pride Week Fest. DJ Kitty Glitter was specifically on his itinerary.
Current
procedure requires that agencies supply the information for the
"purpose of the trip", it's "mission critical criteria" and, if that
isn't possible, at a minimum the "explanation of why it is in the best
interest of the state." So far that info has not been forthcoming from
Lara or his agency.
ABC news is pushing this one hard. With justification.
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