Former California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, who left office under a cloud seven years ago, has found a new life under the Florida sun as a rookie deputy sheriff.
Mr. Quackenbush began patrolling as a sheriff's deputy in June of 2005 in southwest Florida's Lee County.
The insurance commissioner was a rising star in the California Republican Party until his abrupt departure in the middle of his second term as commissioner sent his stock plummeting.
Mr. Quackenbush resigned his post after it was revealed he brokered a settlement in which several national insurers contributed $13 million to an education foundation in lieu of claims payments that might have been owed stemming from the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.
Critics charged that the foundation was a thinly veiled enterprise to further the commissioner's career through public service advertising ostensibly about earthquake preparation measures.
Despite a variety of inquiries into the arrangement, no official action and no charges ever resulted against Mr. Quackenbush.
Lee County public information officer Angelo Vaughn confirmed that Mr. Quackenbush is a deputy based in Fort Meyers.
“There is really no maximum age to be a rookie sheriff,” he said.
Mr. Quackenbush is 52, and according to department officials, scored 500 out of 500 on the physical agility test and was in the top 10 percent of his class in the academy.
A story earlier this month in the Fort Meyers News Press brought new attention to Mr. Quackenbush and his unusual career move.
He told the newspaper that he can get by on his $35,000 annual salary because he has made a lot of money in real estate and is interested in pursuing his avocation in his new home.
“I can understand it's a story,” he told the News Press. “But at some point I just get tired of people asking. I am content now. I have a feeling of accomplishment here. I just want to leave the past behind.”
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