it makes a govt employee look especially bad, and corrupt, when they get audited and that turns up 30,000 dollars in meals with the corporations they are supposed to be regulating, and 11 taxpayer-funded excursions to places like Bogota, Paris, and Toronto.

Just weeks after ABC7 revealed California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's extensive travel during his time in office, ABC7's media partner The San Francisco Standard has released their own investigation into the commissioner's spending on expensive restaurants - to the tune of nearly $30,000.

Critics' complaints about the lavish meals are multifaceted: Commissioner Lara shared some of these meals with insurance industry bigwigs, who represent the very companies the Department of Insurance is meant to regulate - and at a time when insurance companies are canceling coverage and ceasing new business in the state.

the commissioner took at least 46 cross-country and international trips, including at least 11 taxpayer-funded excursions to places like Bogota, Paris, and Toronto. But after more than a month of questioning his office, Lara's staff has been unable to identify the business purpose for nearly all of them.

https://abc7news.com/amp/post/calif-insurance-commissioner-found-have-spent-30k-lavish-meals-according-sf-standard/16157716/