Running for insurance commissioner doesn’t always mean you get a lot of press. In some states, the office is pretty much below the radar. In Louisiana this week, though, incumbent commissioner Jim Donelon garnered an important—and glowing—endorsement, from the Greater Baton Rouge Business Report. The endorsement, though, got a major fact wrong—if only wrong by the smallest degree. The Business Report said that the Center for Public Integrity ranked the Louisiana Department of Insurance 3rd in the nation. The Department actually ranked 4th in that report. More on that later. First, the endorsement:
“We all know the history of scandal in the past in Louisiana’s Department of Insurance. But that changed in 2006 when Jim Donelon was first elected. We have seen the attraction of new insurance companies to Louisiana for homeowners and a record number for workers’ compensation. The benefit to employers is a 37% decline in workers’ comp rates since 2007.
“In addition, he has gotten the job done while reducing staff from 275 to 225 and trimming the department’s budget from $32 million to $29 million this year.
“In 2013 he was elected by his peers to serve as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a first for Louisiana.
“The Center for Public Integrity, in its most recent State Integrity Investigation report, ranked the Louisiana Department of Insurance third in the nation. It’s hard to argue with these results,” concluded the editorial.
Reached by phone, Center for Public Integrity spokesperson William Gray, said, “I don’t know where they got that.”
The report, which ranks every state government in a number of areas related to integrity and transparency, gives the Louisiana Insurance Department a B+, including a 93% rating on the question of “Is the state insurance commission protected from political and special interest influence?” Given that Donelon’s opponents in the race like to say he is pretty much in the pocket of the industry, that’s a pretty good rating from a public watchdog. In fact, with six questions used to rank departments, Louisiana’s Insurance Department received marks ranging from 75% to 100% for an overall rating of 89%.
