Disgraced Republican, now deputy sheriff, shoots attacker

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Former California insurance commissioner Quackenbush, now a deputy in Florida, shoots suspect
(North County (CA) Times, March 1, 2008)

Former (Republican) California insurance commissioner Charles Quackenbush, who resigned in disgrace seven years ago, is now working as a deputy sheriff in Florida, and shot a man after being attacked last week, it was reported today. Quackenbush had quietly obtained a job as a sheriff's deputy in Lee County, Florida, which encompasses the Fort Myers area on the state's west coast in 2005. Last week while on patrol, Quackenbush struggled with a suspect who was suspected of spousal assault.

After the man reportedly grabbed Quackenbush's stun gun and pointed it at the former California Insurance Commissioner, Quackenbush shot the suspect in the abdomen. The suspect is reportedly hospitalized, and Quackenbush is on the standard paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated by Florida officials, the Fort Myers News-Press reports.

Quackenbush has won the statewide race for insurance commissioner in 1994 and 1998, and was considered a possible Republican gubernatorial candidate. But his rising star was tarnished in 2000 when he admitted that insurance companies had secretly paid into two charitable foundations he controlled and were given permission to evade paying what they owed to victims of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Evidence showed that the Republican official had channeled more than $500,000 into a sports foundation for a league in which his children played. Other evidence showed he accepted a $1 million contribution for his charities from an insurance company at the same time he was deciding to let it off the hook for in settlement due to quake victims. Quackenbush had reportedly moved to Hawaii after his resignation, and his subsequent move into law enforcement in Florida had not been reported. He's been carrying a Lee County badge and gun since 2005.

Sounds like Quackenbush is better as a "security" guy than as a "governor" guy. Hopefully the suspect will soon apologize for being shot.

P.S. Does the deputy sheriff's name ring a bell? Perhaps you are thinking of the Groucho Marx character in "A Day At the Races":

Groucho’s character was initially to have been named Dr. Quackenbush, which he and everyone else thought was too silly a name to offend anyone. But MGM’s legal department discovered at least a dozen legitimate U.S. doctors named Quackenbush, so, for legal reasons and to Groucho’s dismay, the name was changed to Hackenbush.

(More Marxist trivia here.)