| Event Recap: Steve Poizner |
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SPARC joined with the Palo Alto Republican Women Federated (PARWF) to hold an event on June 19 featuring Steve Poizner as guest speaker. An enthusiastic crowd of over 140 great Republicans packed Ming’s banquet facility to enjoy a fantastic dinner and a highly informative and challenging speech by Steve, who is currently our very popular California Insurance Commissioner. This commission has a huge impact on California. As Insurance Commissioner, Steve manages a staff of approximately 1,300 employees and an annual budget of approximately $200,000,000. This commission regulates the Insurance industry in California, which is a $130 billion business. Steve discussed the successes that he has been able to achieve during his tenure as Commissioner. For example, during the past 18 months, the Commission has reduced Workmen’s Compensation premiums by $1.25 billion by using increased competition. The Commission has been successful in reducing the $15 billion fraud practice in Medical Insurance by working closely with police and district attorneys. Under Steve’s direction, the Commission has confronted the results of fires in both Lake Tahoe and Southern California that resulted in losses totaling $2.1 billion, by overseeing that the insurance claims were paid quickly so people could rebuild their homes and lives. Steve’s main concern now is that California, in general, seems to be off-track. He is convinced that our economic engine is sputtering and the state’s long-term economic health is in jeopardy. We need to make some very significant corrections. We are losing market share in most business areas, and California education is inferior to almost all other states---50% of 4th graders cannot read well enough to pass basic reading tests. Our highways were mostly built fifty years ago and are inadequate for today. Over 500,000 hours of lost time are experienced in traffic congestion everyday in California. Over 60% of our investment capital is now going out of state. We now face stiffer competition than ever before. India, China, and Russia have over 300,000,000 highly educated people forming a very aggressive challenge to our businesses. In China alone, more people are studying English than speak it in the United States and India has more than 200,000,000 users of My Space. The good news is Steve wants to do something about it. Although he has not announced that he is a candidate for Governor, he did admit he is thinking very seriously about it. He wants to bring California back to being the center of technical innovation. There is hope, he says, if we pay attention to and fix the following: 1. Education: K-12 must be changed and improved. The State Education Code is sick and broken. 2. Innovation: This must be reestablished by reversing the mass exodus of highly educated and creative talent from the state. Over 1,200,000 people leave California every year due to the incentives of favorable tax policies such as offered in Florida and Nevada. 3. State Government Overhaul: Our state government was organized over 150 years ago after the Civil War, and has remained basically static during this period. It must now be changed if we are to survive with all the vitality that we enjoyed in the past. Photos from the Event  Duffy Price, President SPARC, Steve Poizner,Insurance Commissioner State of CA; Edith Zitelli, President Palo Alto Republican Women Federated  Lou Becker, Los Altos City Councilmember; Steve; Diane Claypool, SPARC 1st Vice President  Steve with Gloria Hom, Former Candidate State Senator; District 11  Paul Nyberg, Town Crier Publisher with Steve  Duffy Price with David Wang, Ming's Banquet Manager |