CA Ins.Comm Candidate Padilla Letter~City Council, Poway,CA~$3M~MOLD~WC Insurers

[Guest guest]

Dina Padilla

California Insurance Commissioner Candidate

7564 Way

Citrus Heights, Ca. 95610-2111

tele: (916) 725-2673 fax: dinajpadilla@...

www.padilla4insurancecommissioner.com

August 17, 2010

Mayor Don Higginson

City of Poway City Hall

13325 Civic Center Drive

Poway, California 92064 y

Council Member Merrilee Boyack

Council Member Jim Cunningham

Council Member Carl Kruse

Council Member Mullin

Re: $3 million in taxpayer redevelopment funds to a Poway business that

has: i.) harmed the health of employees via a known environmental work

exposure; ii.) has attempted to shift the cost burden of the injuries onto CA

taxpayers; and iii.) has attempted to intimidate an employee into silence by

threat of libel from the workers comp attorney.

Honorable Mayor Higginson and Poway City Council Members,

My name is Dina Padilla. I am running for California Insurance

Commissioner for the Peace and Freedom party. My primary area of interest that

caused me to run for this position is my deep concern for workers’ rights,

health and safety, being adversely impacted by rampant, questionable insurer

practices in the State of California.

I am concerned of not only the adverse impact this is having on the

injured workers and their families themselves, but also the cost burden it is

placing on the taxpayers of the State of California. When employers and their

insurers are able to successfully game the workers comp system to deny

their financial responsibility to injured workers, these injured workers and

their families end up on depending of state and federally funded programs for

survival. The taxpayers are footing the bill.

According to Governor Schwarzenegger, when addressing the California

Chamber of Commerce in May of this year, Workers’ Comp “Reform†has given

back

or saved California industries and their insurers $50 billion since the Ca

Senate Bill 899 was implemented in 2004. However, California is now $20

billion dollars in debt with much of the problem being our now beleaguered

state disability fund.

As the saying goes, “Think globally. Act locally.†It has been brought to

my attention that the City of Poway is intending to give the owners of

Toyota of Poway $3 million dollars of taxpayer dollars in the name of

redevelopment. Questions should be asked of these new business partners of Poway

regarding how they handle injured worker claims.

Is the City of Poway aware that these same owners appear to have:

i.) knowingly exposed employees to the health hazard of a moldy building;

and

ii.) have fired no less than one of the employees injured by the moldy

building; and

iii) have attempted to run from their responsibility to this injured

worker by attempting to deny his workers comp claim, running him through the

gaunlet; and

iv.) have attempted to shift the cost burden for this injured employee

onto state disability funds; and

v.) are documented as threatening this employee via their workers comp

legal counsel, with libel for daring to inform his prior fellow employees,

fellow human beings, of the potential long term health threat to which Toyota

of Poway is continuing to expose them?

Does the City of Poway condone this type of behavior among businesses with

whom they intend to partner while using taxpayer funds? I am not inclined

to believe this is the case. Poway and its leaders have a well respected

reputation of doing what is in the best interest for the residents and

taxpayers of Poway.

I am aware there are senior residences within close proximity of the new

body shop that is to be built by Toyota of Poway with a portion of the

redevelopment funds. What has the City of Poway done to assure that their new

business partners, Toyota of Poway, will protect the health, safety and

welfare of the Poway area residents from body shop contaminants, better than

Toyota of Poway has demonstrated they protect the health, safety and welfare

of its own employees?

I urge you to investigate this matter further before you choose to

allocate $3 million Poway taxpayer dollars to a business that has demonstrated

they have little regard for the use of taxpayer dollars if it means they can

shift their responsibility for environmental exposures and resultant

illnesses on to the taxpayers of California.

Attached are letters I have sent this week regarding the matter of Toyota

of Poway being indicative of how commerce is gaming the workers comp

insurance system to: SD County District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis, CA

Commissioner

of Insurance, Steve Poizner; and CA Attorney General Jerry Brown. Also

attached is the attempted threat into silence of injured worker, Tim Hack, by

Toyota of Poway’s workers’ comp insurer, “legal†counsel, Ms. Amy Lessa,

Fisher & LLP.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this very serious matter. By

properly addressing how taxpayer dollars are used by businesses in Poway and

what are the businesses’ societal responsibilities to the workers and

citizens of Poway before you allocate dollars; you are helping all injured

workers, citizens and taxpayers of California.

Sincerely,

Dina Padilla

Enclosure (4) CA

Commissioner of Insurance Candidate

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