SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- There was a sharp political clash Thursday in Sacramento, where one candidate for State Insurance Commissioner accused another of being "bought and paid for" by the insurance industry.

It's a charge that has special potency given the fallout from the Chuck Quackenbush (pictured, left) scandal two years ago.

It didn't take long for the sparks to fly with charges of corruption leveled against one candidate.

"The voters of California cannot afford to have another insurance commissioner that is bought and paid for by the insurance companies, the agents and brokers," Democratic candidate John Garamendi said.

Garamendi (pictured, right) aimed his salvo at Democratic Assemblyman Tom Calderon (pictured, below) who has received at least $800,000 in campaign cash from insurance sources.

"I said from the beginning that I was willing to take help from wherever I could get it. I'm a poor kid from East L.A. My wife doesn't have a trust fund. So I've got to raise money like every politician does who runs for office. And either you're able to put a firewall between politics and policy, or you're not," Calderon said.

The corruption charges stem from the scandal involving former commissioner Chuck Quackenbush who was forced to resign in disgrace in June 2000. A Capitol investigation found that Quackenbush, who was heavily financed by the industry, agreed to secret settlements following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, allowing insurance companies to escape millions of dollars in fines. The aura of that scandal still hangs heavily over this race.

"I've tried to disassociate myself from the fact that Quackenbush was a Republican. He really wasn't. He was a politician. I think being Republican or being Democrat or being Libertarian really doesn't matter. I think it's the man behind the job," Republican candidate Wes Bannister (pictured, right) said.

Efforts to ban insurance industry contributions in this race have been unsuccessful. Calderon makes no apologies for that support.

"I regulate the industry now as chair of Assembly Insurance. So either you're able to make good decisions, or you're not," Calderon said.

Garamendi, a former state Senator who once held the commissioner's job himself, calls that view "naïve." But while rejecting industry contribution, he said that he would accept checks from plaintiffs' attorneys who do frequent battle with the insurance firms.

"There isn't a conflict there. There's a conflict between attorneys and insurance companies, to be sure," Garamendi said.

Harry Low, who was appointed in the wake of the Quackenbush resignation, currently holds the commissioner's job. Low is not seeking election to the job.