Former SF Mayor Willie Brown Files Papers For Insurance Commissioner Post
By Associated Press - July 16, 2004SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Willie Brown has filed paperwork to run for state insurance commissioner in 2006, though the former mayor of San Francisco is downplaying chances he'll actually seek the office.
Papers declaring Brown's intention to run and setting up his fund-raising committee were filed at the secretary of state's office, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.
In a television interview Friday morning, however, Brown said the filing didn't mean much.
"At this moment, I'm not really running for anything,'' Brown, 70, said on KRON-TV. "I've got a placeholder, that's all it is.''
Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, a Democrat from Walnut Grove, said Friday he knew Brown wanted to run for insurance commissioner.
"Willie was in my office yesterday, and he asked if I was planning on running for lieutenant governor and I said yes,'' Garamendi said. "It did surprise me that he walked across the street and filed the paperwork.''
Term limits won't force Garamendi from office until 2010, but he said Friday that he's not interested in another term as insurance commissioner. Instead, Garamendi said he's been laying the groundwork to be the state's second-in-command.
"I see the office of lieutenant governor as an opportunity to continue working on issues that have been important to me throughout my career, universal health insurance, protecting consumers, the environment,'' Garamendi said.
Garamendi, who was the state's first insurance commissioner from 1991-94, said he was proud of the work he has done in his second term as head of the Department of Insurance since he was elected in 2002.
"The next commissioner, whoever that may be, will inherit the best consumer protection agency in the nation,'' he said.
But he added that he's not ready to throw his support behind any candidate yet, even his good friend Brown.
Two years ago, the former mayor looked at the possibility of running to replace John Burton when the veteran state senator is bounced by term limits in November. But after raising more than $800,000 he backed away from a likely March primary battle with state Board of Equalization Chairwoman Carole Migden, a Democrat who is expected to win Burton's seat easily.
The money Brown raised for the Senate race could be quickly transferred into another statewide campaign.
Brown won his first election in 1964 and became the state's longest-serving Assembly speaker. Term limits prevented him from seeking a third term as San Francisco mayor and he left office earlier this year | 
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