Quackenbush, Family Bid Their Alohas to California Ex-insurance chief has moved to Hawaii, lawyer says

Sacramento -- Former California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, who resigned in July, is moving with his family to Hawaii and may write a book about his experiences, his attorney said yesterday.

Quackenbush quit his post under the threat of impeachment and still faces criminal investigation by California's attorney general for his handling of settlements by insurance companies accused of wronging policyholders after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

According to neighbors and Quackenbush attorney Don Heller, Quackenbush already has moved with two of his three children to Hawaii, and his wife, Chris, will follow soon. Reached at their home in Rio Linda, a semirural community a few miles north of downtown Sacramento, Chris Quackenbush refused to talk to reporters.

Heller said Chuck Quackenbush has been in Oahu a few days and loves the island.

``A change of location will absolutely be in his benefit, allow him to think things through, to decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life,'' Heller said.

According to state records, by the time he left office in July, Quackenbush had transferred a total of $565,000 in political contributions, mostly from insurance companies, to campaign accounts for his wife's unsuccessful state Senate race in 1998. The transfers allowed the couple to pay off personal loans, including a $456,000 mortgage that was taken out to finance personal loans Chris Quackenbush made to her campaign.

Campaign finance experts said such transfers did not violate state law. Chris Quackenbush has steadfastly defended her husband and argued that Democrats targeted him because he offered the Republican Party's best hope to gain higher statewide office in the next election. Chuck Quackenbush was re-elected insurance commissioner in 1998.