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SAN FRANCISCO — As they head toward Tuesday’s primary, the three major Democratic candidates for insurance commissioner are running TV ads that are triggering more sniping in one of the fiercely contested statewide races. 

In an ad for Assemblyman Tom Calderon that began running widely earlier this week, a woman speaking in sign language, “I’m sick of waiting for someone to take on the HMOs, so I’m voting for Tom Calderon.” 

The ad is misleading, according to Calderon’s opponents and consumer critics, because the insurance commissioner has little jurisdiction over the state’s major health maintenance organizations, or HMOs. The state Department of Managed Health Care, created in July 2000, is the HMO industry’s primary regulator. 

“It’s a tremendously deceptive claim,” said consumer activist Jamie Court, who has worked on several HMO reform bills in the Assembly. 

If he is elected, Calderon intends to push for changes that will give the insurance commissioner more power over billing disputes involving HMOs, said his spokeswoman Valerie Martinez. “It’s an issue important to California and an issue that hasn’t been addressed,” she said. 

The Department of Managed Health Care doesn’t agree with Calderon. “The governor created this department to protect patients’ rights and any retreat from that would be bad news for consumers,” said Daniel Zingale, the department’s director. 

The ads of Calderon’s chief opponents, former Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and former Assemblyman Tom Umberg, are also drawing criticism.