Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's office disputes accusations of lavish trips

The California Department of Insurance (CDI) defended Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, stating that a recent report accusing him of spending taxpayers' dollars on trips and personal entertainment is incomplete and includes false claims. 

The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is currently assessing a complaint against Lara after ABC7 Bay Area exposed his expenditures with at least a dozen lavish international trips.

The documents revealed that some of these trips did not include any insurance-related meetings, but were five times more expensive than originally reported. Some of the allegedly tens of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars were spent on an extended five-star resort in Africa and another 10 days in Dubai.

ABC7 also reported a trip without insurance-purpose justification in New York City for PrideFest with a VIP rooftop event with internationally renowned drag queen “DJ Kitty Glitter.” The four-day trip had a tab of more than $11,600. 

Since 2019 when he took office, Lara has traveled at least 48 times, including 21 times internationally. Some of these countries include Scotland, Egypt, Chile, Costa Rica, Tokyo, Uruguay, France, Switzerland, Singapore, Ireland, Guatemala, and three trips to Bermuda, according to ABC7.  

An incomplete report

While Lara didn't respond personally to questions by CALÓ News, his communications representative Michael Soller, said the CDI has a direct business purpose for every trip Lara has taken, just like his predecessors, who also did some international traveling. 

Soller said the five-day South Africa conference was the standard-setting body for international insurance regulation.

“Commissioner Lara did not attend for ‘two and a half weeks’ as reported. There was no ‘limo’ used,” he said. “Any personal excursions are paid for by the Commissioner personally, not by the Department.”

Soller said Lara has relied on the California Highway Patrol (CHP) only for dignitary protection.

“Calling this ‘private security’ is an insult to sworn peace officers dedicated to upholding their duties as part of the CHP’s dignitary protection unit that protects California’s statewide elected officials,” he said.

The trips to Colombia and New York were by invitation to Lara – who is widely known as the first openly gay elected to lead as assemblymember in California – to speak in favor of human rights.

While attending those conferences, Soller said Lara was also fighting for health insurance equality along with other state insurance commissioners. 

The Colombia five-day trip had a tab of $24,000 and at least $7,000 of “taxi fares” which turned out to be private security, according to the report by ABC7. There were no insurance-related meetings on his calendar during those days. 

“Immediately following this conference, Commissioner Lara initiated a series of actions to promote health insurance equality and led an effort with 17 other state insurance commissioners to protect federal rules addressing unfair treatment of LGBTQ people,” explained Soller. 

He said when Lara travels internationally it is in his role as a member of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the standard-setting body for U.S. regulators, and the association pays the costs and maintains those records. Therefore, there are not any missing expenses. 

The community reacts

While some of Commissioner Lara’s social media pages prevent people from adding comments, people have gone to older ones to voice their concerns. Several have requested to show the receipts of his trips and others question him for taking those same luxury trips on taxpayers’ dollars. 

Lara has been very vocal in his support for Garfield High School, especially for the marching band, as he was part of it when he was a student. In 2019, he selected the school to perform at  his swear-in ceremony as commissioner.

CALÓ News attempted to get a comment from the school and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), which stated, “Los Angeles Unified and Garfield High School are dedicated to serving students and families through excellence in education. The District and District schools do not comment on matters involving pending review or investigation.”

Representatives from City of Bell Gardens, which he represented in the California Assembly from 2010 to 2012, said they haven’t seen or heard from him since he became a commissioner.  

The job of the insurance commissioner

The CDI states that the role of the head of the department, in this case Lara, is to protect consumers by regulating the insurance industry. This includes licensing insurers, monitoring their financial stability, approving rate applications, enforcing insurance laws, investigating complaints and prosecuting insurance fraud to ensure fair and competitive insurance markets. 

Lara is the eighth elected insurance commissioner since the position was created. He is in charge of helping Californians recover from natural disasters and alleviated the impact of climate change across the state.

He’s also in charge of ensuring a fair insurance market. Lara has investigated complaints and conducted market conduct exams. In 2018 alone, the Department recovered $154 million in claims and premiums on behalf of wildfire survivors and other Californians.

As of now, he is in charge of dealing with insurance claims after the L.A. County wildfires.