Boosting Clout
“Minnesota’s on a disastrous collision course…obviously, I am a liberal.”
Jim Deal, a 72-year-old Minnesota crop insurance company founder from Anoka County, comment as he decided to go big joining the ranks of major political donors. Angered by Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s record on taxes, Deal didn’t parcel out his money to a string of candidates. Instead, he gave a cool $100,000 to Minnesotans for Change, a new political committee that’s running an ad campaign against the GOP incumbent. Wealthy donors across the political spectrum are getting more bang for their bucks by giving unlimited contributions to parties and so-called independent political committees instead of smaller amounts, capped by law, to candidates, according to the Associated Press story. AP
Enough is Enough
“When my friends started shooting at me, I decided I don’t think I want to mess with this anymore…My friends, I am tired.”
Comments made by Kansas State Senator Kay O’Connor who dropped out of the secretary of state race. This outspoken Republican conservative who once said women’s suffrage was a sign that society didn’t value families enough. O’Connor decided to resign from the Kansas Legislature. She received only 27 percent of the vote in her attempt to oust incumbent Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh. The state ethics commission fined her $3,000 in August 2005 and $5,000 more in June, both times for illegally soliciting campaign contributions from lobbyists. AP
Federal Charter Option
“An insurance provider could choose to be regulated by the 50 states or by the Office of National Insurance…This concept is not new — the banking system has lived under such a framework for much of our nation’s history.”
Comments made by Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, when legislation was introduced that would create an optional federal charter regulatory regime for life and property/casualty insurance providers. The National Insurance Act of 2006, H.R. 6225, is a companion bill to S.2509, which was authored by Sens. John Sununu (R-N.H.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.). The National Insurance Act would create a federal regulatory agency within the Treasury Dept. Royce noted it would leave the current state regulatory system in place.
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