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  • Up to 11 Commissioners Could See Terms End After 2012 Elections

    January 19, 2012 by Jeff Jeffrey

    Jeff
    Jeffrey

    As many as 11 insurance commissioners could see their
    terms come to an end in 2012, either because they are part of gubernatorial
    administrations that are up for re-election on Nov. 6 — or they
    face elections of their own.

    The five commissioners facing elections this year include Wayne Goodwinof North Carolina; Adam
    Hamm of North Dakota;Monica Lindeen of Montana;Mike Kreidler of Washington
    State; and Karen Weldin Stewart of Delaware.

    Goodwin, a Democrat, was elected North
    Carolina insurance commissioner in 2008. A former member of the State
    House of Representatives, Goodwin oversaw the insurance response to
    Hurricane Irene. He and Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue have
    been critical of the National Flood Insurance Program’s claims
    adjustment process, saying that adjustments have been too often late,
    incomplete or not done at all (Best’s News Service, Nov. 1, 2009).
    With insured property damage exceeding $500 million, North
    Carolina was one of the three states hardest hit by the Aug.
    27 hurricane, according to Verisk
    Analytics Inc. (Best’s News Service, Oct. 18, 2011).

    Hamm, a Republican, was appointed North
    Dakota insurance commissioner in October 2007 by Gov.John Hoeven and was elected to a four-year term in November
    2008. He was recently elected vice president of the National
    Association of Insurance Commissioners and has played an active role in a
    number of issues facing the organization.

    As chairman of the Life Insurance and Annuities Committee, Hamm has
    been involved in the NAIC’s consideration of how to advise life insurers on
    interpreting Actuarial Guideline 38, which addresses reserves for universal
    life insurance policies with secondary guarantees (Best’s News Service, Nov.
    5, 2011).

    Prior to becoming commissioner, he served as a prosecutor for the Cass
    County State’s Attorney’s Office.

    Lindeen, a Democrat, also serves as an NAIC officer, having been elected
    secretary-treasurer at the organization’s fall meeting in November (Best’s News
    Service, Nov. 5, 2011). She was elected commissioner of securities
    and insurance in 2008 and also serves Montana’s
    state auditor. She was a member of the Montana House of Representatives
    from 1999 to 2006.

    In November, Lindeen was one of seven commissioners appointed to the Federal

    Advisory Committee on Insurance by the U.S. Treasury Department
    (Best’s News Service, Nov. 2, 2011).

    Kreidler, a Democrat, is serving his third term as Washington
    State’s insurance commissioner. Kreidler is an optometrist and
    practiced at Group Health
    Cooperative in Olympia,
    Wash., for 20 years. He served as a member of the Northwest
    Power Planning Council and a regional director for the U.S.
    Department of Health and Human Services, according to his online
    biography. In 1993, he was elected to Congress and served for one
    term.

    Last month, Kreidler ordered Geico
    to refund $7.5 million by the end of the year after overcharging
    its Washington state
    customers. The automobile insurer was also fined $100,000 in
    relation to the overcharges (Best’s News Service, Dec. 22, 2011).

    Stewart, a Democrat, was elected in 2008 and has led the state’s effort to
    become a leading captive domicile. Stewart oversaw the 2009 launch of the Delaware
    Insurance Department’sBureau of Captive and Financial Insurance
    Products, which was designed to focus its captive management and
    recruitment efforts (Best’s News Service, Aug. 10, 2009). Since
    then, Delaware has
    passed the 100th captive licensing mark (Best’s News Service, May 10,
    2011). Delaware
    reported the second-greatest number of new captives in 2010, licensing 48 new
    captives that year (BestWire, Feb. 22, 2011).

    None of the commissioners facing re-election have officially announced their
    candidacy yet, but those announcements would have to come relatively soon. In North
    Carolina, for example, candidates must file by Feb. 29
    to compete in the May 8 primary, according to the North
    Carolina Board of Elections.

    Goodwin, who is expected to run for re-election, will have at least one
    challenger this fall. Republican Mike Causey has announced he
    plans to run for insurance commissioner, marking his fourth campaign for the
    job. Causey lost his previous bids for commissioner in 1992, 1996 and 2000.

    While commissioners from six other states aren’t facing elections of their own,
    they serve at the will of the governor and could see their terms end as a
    result of the elections.

    Governors in Indiana, New
    Hampshire, Missouri,
    Utah, Vermont
    and West Virginia are all facing re-election in the fall.

    From a national perspective, perhaps the most interesting gubernatorial
    election is the one in Missouri.
    Missouri Insurance Director John Huff, who was
    appointed by the state’s Democratic governor Jay Nixon in
    2009, currently serves as one of two non-voting members of the Financial
    Stability Oversight Council. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, FSOC has been
    charged with identifying and responding to potential systemic risks to the U.S.
    economy. Some have argued that large insurance companies should be counted
    among those potential risks.

    Should Nixon lose in November, it could mean that Huff’s seat on FSOC could
    become vacant. That said, it is common for insurance commissioners to remain in
    office, despite a change in governor.

    Industry representatives and state regulators from both parties, including
    Huff, have routinely argued that the financial crisis showed that the existing
    state-led regulatory structure in the
    United States is effective in monitoring the solvency of insurance
    companies.

    (By Jeff Jeffrey, Washington Correspondent: jeff.jeffrey@ambest.com)

    Copyright:

    (c) 2012
    A.M. Best Company, Inc.

    Source:

    A.M. Best
    Company, Inc.

    Wordcount:

    867

    Originally Posted at InsuranceNewsNet on January 16, 2012 by Jeff Jeffrey.

    Categories: Industry Articles
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