Today in North Carolina the insurance industry and the Department Of Insurance reached a settlement, leading one state blog to note that, “having an Insurance Commissioner who is willing to stand up to the insurance industry can save consumers tens of millions of dollars.”
Chase Foster, of the Progressive Pulse, seems to believe that this all occurred because of the taxpayer-financed elections in the state. While that would certainly be a coup for advocates of the program, where’s the proof?
Simply because a candidate accepts contributions from private individuals, rather than take a government handout, doesn’t mean they lack the ability or the “guts” to make a change for the public good — or in this case, simply do their job and demand accountability from industry in the state. The Commissioner did his duty, and there’s no indication that it had anything to do with how he funded his campaign.
Foster writes that “if the Commissioner of Insurance was in the pocket of the insurance industry, we would certainly not have what the Department calculates to be the fifth lowest auto insurance rates in the country.”
If that’s true, what about the four states with superior rates? Do they too, not have their hands dipped “in the pocket of the insurance industry?”
Let’s take California, for example; this state has consistently had some of the lowest rates in the country and also saved its residents over $62 billion in the past two decades. The Golden State also has zero public funding for campaigns.
According to Foster’s logic, this would be impossible, because any candidate taking private contributions cannot possibly do their job and stand up to the “big bad insurance industry.”
Foster also eludes to Jim Long, former Insurance Commissioner; who for 24 years was re-elected and fought for the best interest of the public. Jim Long did not receive public funding; he did his job, and was known for it. What this article does, however, is put a question mark on former Commissioner Long and any other candidate who does not take taxpayer funding for their campaigns.
The moral of the story is that what makes a great public servant, or in this case a great Insurance Commissioner is not about whether or not they received private or public funding in their campaign; it’s about the responsibility and accountability for elected officials to follow the law and do their elected duty.
