People’s Veto Receives Approval to Attempt to Oust Quackenbush

A group accusing California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush of misspending earthquake settlement money posted recall petitions Monday on the Internet seeking to force the commissioner from office.

The group, People’s Veto, received approval from the secretary of state’s office to gather petition signatures on its web site, www.peoplesveto.org. The group is asking registered California voters to download petition forms, sign them and mail them in. The group has until late November to gather 964,325 signatures.

Led by Sandi Webb, a former Simi Valley city council member, the organization consists of just three members, Webb, her husband and one other person. They requested using a web site to gather signatures because they cannot afford to hire people to tackle the task.

Quackenbush is currently under investigation by California lawmakers for allowing insurers to avoid paying nearly $3 billion in potential fines for violations related to the 1994 Northridge earthquake. He instead allowed the insurers to make sizable donations to a nonprofit earthquake relief fund he created. While Quackenbush denies any wrongdoing, he acknowledges that none of the $12 million the California Research and Assistance Fund took in has been spent on the quake research nor consumer aid it was created to provide.