Spring is In the Air

About those two faces on our cover this week. They’re beaming, for now, because they prevailed in the primary race for insurance commissioner of California. But John Garamendi and Gary Mendoza won’t smile for long, at least at one another. Barely drawing a shallow breath, they’re already squaring off in what promises to be a heated runup to the November general election.

We dispatched our own Dave Thomas for a glimpse into how that looming battle will unfold. His exclusive interviews in this week’s issue bare the early tactics of the contenders: In this corner, Mendoza, the challenging underdog, and in the other, Garamendi, the cautious frontrunner.

In coming months, the two will address issues galore, but few as protracted and intractable as the crisis in the workers’ compensation system, a concern shared far beyond California’s borders. To help you navigate the troubled waters of that turbulent line, you’ll find here IJ’s annual Workers’ Compensation Directory. And for an updated prose perspective on the whole mess, read former IJ staffer Stefani Mingo’s comprehensive take on the workers’ compensation market, which concludes, in our first issue of spring, this season of perennial promise, that it may well be on the road to recovery.

In spring, of course, a young man’s fancy (not to mention the rest of us) turns to things other than workers’ comp. Yes, there’s that, but baseball too. Before jumping on the team bus out of Seattle to watch his beloved Mariners unlimber in the Arizona sun, Dan Aznoff filed this week’s report on just how difficult it has become for Major League clubs to insure against the potentially career-ending injuries of their over-priced, over-contracted, and oh-so-fragile stars. Dan’s well-suited to the task. He’s the former editor of the now-defunct, Insurance West, and a freelance sportswriter to boot.

And then there are the issues for all seasons: From New York, veteran insurance journalist Joe Mangan reports that what policyholders don’t know about their scary exposures in cyberspace can do them damage that’s even scarier. From Austin, Texas, staff writer Stewart Eisenhart updates us on what insurers are doing on the technology front to combat fraud. And from his Paris perch, Charlie Boyle fills us in on the latest developments out of Credit Lyonnais and Berkshire Hathaway.

When I took over the editorial side here at Insurance Journal last month, I vowed to put out an issue like this one all the time. News and views you can use. Compelling reads, on timely business topics, assembled by people who know what they’re talking about—veteran writers and editors, and a few young ones on the brink. I think that’s what you want. I think that’s what we put together this week. If you think so too, write me. If you don’t, all the more reason for me to hear from you.

Until next time…