Alex Sink's cold war with the insurance commissioner

Gov. Charlie Crist and two members of the Cabinet voted on Tuesday to select a new person to head the Office of Financial Regulation, the arm of state government charged with investigating financial fraud.

But in the two-and-a-half years since a new administration took over there has never been a vote to confirm Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, who was picked for his job when former Gov. Jeb Bush was still in office. And as long as Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink remains in office that won't likely change.

While McCarty has constantly been praised by Crist, it's clear that Sink has a completely different viewpoint. Sink has faulted McCarty on a number of times since entering office in 2007. Her displeasure flared up again at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting when McCarty presented a report on the entry of new capital into the property insurance market.

McCarty made the presentation at the request of Sink, who was following up on complaints from lawmakers who pushed the insurance deregulation or a.k.a the "State Farm" bill. These lawmakers have contended that McCarty misled Crist before he vetoed the legislation and there remains a quiet effort to get the Legislature to pass a new version of the bill if there is a special session later this year. The bill in essence would allow large capitalized carriers to have unregulated rates. (Sink refused to say Tuesday whether Crist should have signed or vetoed this bill - saying that was "the governor's decision" to make.)

McCarty for his part has refuted the suggestion he misled anyone, saying he and members of his office have been "candid" that a big chunk of new capital in Florida has come from unregulated surplus lines carriers which do not usually cover those in the residential homeowners market.

Sink on Tuesday morning chided McCarty for failing to get her the information she requested earlier, saying "it still stuns me" that his office was unable to get the information to her sooner. She added "It's really disturbing" and "I find it insulting."

The job of insurance commissioner used to be an elected position. But the 1998 reorganization of the Cabinet approved by voters collapsed the job of state treasurer and comptroller into the new chief financial officer position. But lawmakers uncomfortable with handing over all the power to the CFO - primarily Tom Gallagher since he was the main GOP candidate for the new job - placed the hiring and firing of the insurance commissioner under the governor and Cabinet.

But there was a twist in that 2002 law: It would take three votes - including yes votes from both the governor AND the chief financial officer - to either hire or fire the insurance commissioner. Translation: If the governor and the CFO don't agree, nothing happens. Sink has backed legislative proposals to change this, including an effort by Sen. J.D. Alexander to require an annual vote on whether to keep the commissioner, but that hasn't gone anywhere.

When asked on Tuesday whether she had confidence in McCarty, Sink instead repeated that he "didn't complete his assignment on time." When then asked if Sink would keep McCarty if she were elected governor, she said "that's entirely speculative."

She then added: "You always review the people who are there and evaluate their qualifications and then you make a decision."

Interestingly enough, Attorney General Bill McCollum - and Sink's likely rival for the governor's office in 2010 - praised McCarty's report, saying that Floridians should "very pleased" with the amount of surplus lines coverage since it has helped decrease the need to have commercial coverage picked up by state-created insurers.

Comments

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McCollum just demonstrated how clueless he is by praising the report which basically showed Mccarty was lying. Let's hope to God that people figure out that McCollum is just another career politician primarily interested in getting elected.

At least Sink knows that something smells at the OIR. So do many legislators. McCarty's days as Insurance Commissioner are numbered.

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