Gaines to run for state insurance commissioner

Ted Gaines, who represents most of the Lake Tahoe Basin in the California Senate, is running for state insurance commissioner in 2014.

Gaines believes under the current leadership, the California Department of Insurance has become a hostile bureaucracy that is driving companies out of the state.

Ted Gaines

“The insurance commissioner should work to protect consumers, keep rates low, and make it easier for companies to hire and retain workers,” Gaines, R-Rocklin, said in a press release. “When the insurance commissioner pushes insurers out of California just to score political points, the result is less competition and ultimately fewer choices and higher rates for all our citizens. More competition means more choices and better rates for consumers.”

For nearly 30 years, Gaines has run a family insurance business, representing individuals and small business clients as an independent insurance agent.

Gaines represented Tahoe in the Assembly from 2006 until he had to resign to take the state Senate job.

The 1st Senate District encompasses parts of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento and Sierra counties. Gaines was elected in January 2011 in a special election to fill the seat of Dave Cox who died the previous July.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report