Charles "Chuck" Quackenbush (born 1954) is a Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 law enforcement officer and former California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. He served as Insurance Commissioner of California

California Insurance Commissioner

California Insurance Commissioner is an elected executive office position in California. The officeholder is in charge of the California Department of Insurance.The current Insurance Commissioner is Democrat Dave Jones.- Duties :...

 from 1995–2000 and as a California State Assembly

California State Assembly

The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...

man representing the 22nd District, from 1986–1994.

Background and political career

As a child, he grew up in a military family and after graduating University of Notre Dame

University of Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...

 on a full ROTC scholarship, he joined the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 and rose to the rank of Captain and helicopter pilot. In 1982, he left the military to join the family business in Silicon Valley. He was elected as a Republican to the California Assembly in 1986.

In 1994 he was elected insurance commissioner, effectively applying considerable campaign contributions from various insurance companies and won re-election in 1998. At this point, Quackenbush was considered the most promising Republican elected official in the state of California.

Scandal and resignation

Note: For a timeline of the events associated with this section see

Cindy Ossias

Cindy Ossias

Cindy Ossias is a San Francisco, California, based lawyer and musician. In the early months of the year 2000, while serving as a long-time senior lawyer for the California Department of Insurance , Ossias leaked confidential documents exposing the allegedly illegal and corrupt activities of Chuck...

 came forward to reveal California State Department of Insurance (CDI) corruption. According to testimony by CDI employees, including Ossias, and staff attorney Robert Hagedorn, the commissioner and his top aides abused their positions for personal gain and acted against consumers’ interests for many years.

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake

Northridge earthquake

The Northridge earthquake was a massive earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 04:31 Pacific Standard Time in Reseda, a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, lasting for about 10–20 seconds...

, it was alleged that Quackenbush allowed insurance companies to compensate their clients much less than the actual damages. In exchange, the insurance companies set up special "educational funds". Those funds were used to create television commercials in which Quackenbush appeared as a basketball referee with Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...

 in a Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...

 uniform. The commercials were couched as public service announcements, but the suspicions rose that main idea behind the commercials was to increase Quackenbush's name identification, which is critical for electoral success in California statewide races.

In addition to the educational funds, those same insurance companies contributed to his wife's unsuccessful 1998 assembly campaign, as well as his children's football camps.

Initially, Cindy Ossias blew the whistle as an anonymous source. When her identity was revealed, Quackenbush put her on an administrative leave.

On June 28, 2000, he announced his resignation (to become effective on July 10), rather than face impeachment.

In February 2002, an 18-month investigation conducted by federal, state and Sacramento County prosecutors ended with prosecutors declining to press charges against Quackenbush, as they felt the evidence was not strong enough.

Life after insurance commissioner

After resigning as California's insurance commissioner, Quackenbush moved to Hawaii, where he claimed to be "doing political and military intelligence consulting". In 2005, Quackenbush became a sheriff's deputy in Lee County, Florida

Lee County, Florida

Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. Located in southwest Florida, the principal cities in the county are Fort Myers and Cape Coral...

.

While working as a sheriff's deputy in February 2008, Quackenbush shot and critically wounded a suspect who was allegedly resisting arrest.