Former insurance commissioner hopeful attacks rival's disaster-insurance plan as misleading

Former insurance-commissioner candidate Patrick Wolff published a scathing editorial accusing Jane Kim of running a campaign built on "profound intellectual dishonesty." Wolff targeted Kim’s flagship idea—a statewide single-payer disaster-insurance fund called "Natural Disaster Insurance for All"—arguing it would shift billions of wildfire liabilities onto California taxpayers and offers no concrete financing details. He highlighted that Kim’s comparison to foreign models is inaccurate, noting the only cited example, a New Zealand scheme, does not cover fire.

Wolff further dismissed other policy pledges, such as ending credit-score based insurance denials, as redundant with existing rules. Kim, a former San Francisco supervisor endorsed by Bernie Sanders and leading the California Working Families Party, now competes with state Sen. Ben Allen in the general election for the insurance commissioner position.