Geller: Put insurance industry under the gun

Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller, agreeing with Gov. Charlie Crist, wants to put insurance industry execs under oath to explain why rates have not dropped as much as some expect.

“Floridians, along with this Legislature, have been patient long enough," Geller said in a statement this afternoon. “For that reason, I urge Senate President Ken Pruitt to convene special Senate hearings into the insurance rates controversy, and to launch those hearings as early as the upcoming special legislative session.

“Top insurance company officials need to appear and testify under oath - through subpoenas if necessary - and know that perjury charges will be brought if their answers are not candid and truthful."

“As we learned during the Senate’s medical malpractice insurance hearings, the stories told under threat of perjury can differ dramatically from those told without fear of sanctions.

“During last January’s special session, top industry representatives specifically told us that the reasons for the soaring property insurance rates in Florida were the high cost of reinsurance. We solved that problem by expanding the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund (CAT Fund) to provide more inexpensive reinsurance to the industry. Additionally, rates for private reinsurance have also gone down because of our actions. Yet the windstorm rates for Floridians not only have not come down, they appear to be on the rise, along with the insurers’ profits.

“Property owners in Florida and members of this Senate deserve to know why the promises received from the insurance industry of lower rates in exchange for that additional reinsurance have not been kept. They need to hear first hand whether the explanations for their failure to lower rates are the truth or just additional delay tactics to boost their bottom line.”

Comments

Go Geller Go!

More hot air!

Second verse, same as the first. Hasn't he done this before? Medical malpractice. Of course, there were some enlightened people after that happened.

But if the insurance companies are doing nothing wrong, why would they want to avoid testifying?

5:39:

Who says they want to avoid testifying under oath?

Why avoid testifying under oath?
Because having a faulty memory or a different characterization of something becomes grounds for a perjury charge by an overzealous prosecutor or grandstanding by a partisan hack.

Why avoid testifying? Partly because contrary to popular belief, most executives have hectic schedules and tons of work to do. It is a major ordeal to drop what they are doing and go play along with political grandstanding which serves NO purpose other than to make otherwise insignificant legislators (or Governors) feel like big shots by pounding the table and yelling out threats. Secondly, as 6:07 so aptly pointed out, testifying under oath becomes a problem because politicians have a tendancy of confusing facts they don't want to hear with lies which they then pursue as perjury. Why give the little twerps the opportunity?

Unlike the rank and file of most companies who work 8 hour days, executives typically put in 12-14 hours or more. If there were a purpose to the "hearings" it might be different, but clearly the politicians have already made up their minds. They only want the execs there so they can play "tough-guy" in front of the cameras.

WELCOME TO THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF FLORIDA....

[terminator]

yeah right......

"Boss" Geller demands hearings from insurance executives while pocketing insurance industry money at the same time.

Check his new CCE or brother Joe's campaign accounts. Wonder how much he brought in from insurance and gambling interests?

Geller, Gelber and Crist are full of it.

It's their plan that failed terribly. Try digging yourself out of this one boys.

[Paul D. Harvill]

Let the dance under oath begin.

There is no one in the legislature or T-town govt. smart enough to ask the right questions and that includes the three stooges (Crist/Geller/Gelber).

The insurance industry execs will put them to shame with their legal and economic presentations. That's why they are business execs. making bunches of money and not a bunch of tit sucking bureaucrats in T-town.

So stick that in your pipe Mr. Harvill and smoke it!!!

[Mary]

While we are at it, lets swear in Charlie and go back over his promises to the people of 20-30% drops in rates. He talks about "conspiracies" among the companies. Last I checked, Charlie was the highest ranking law enforcement official in this state prior to becoming governor. Too bad he was worrying more about his next campaign than doing his job back then. The man is intellectually challenged. All PR and talk..

Geller, the "chief architect" of the failed insurance plan wants to put insurance under oath? Fine, but will Geller be put under oath too?

“Sen. Steve Geller urged Florida residents to 'hold on a little longer' after many of them complained that spiraling rates to cover their homes against wind damage have threatened to force them to move out of state. 'We know the fort is surrounded, but the cavalry is on the way,' Geller, a Democrat and chief architect of the plan, said Sunday after lawmakers triumphantly ended negotiations on the issue.”

Insurance reform a win for Crist
By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published January 23, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Charlie Crist didn't get all he wanted on insurance relief from the Legislature, but he says he got enough to keep his promise of lower rates.

The question is whether most policyholders will agree.

In his first days as governor this month, Crist challenged lawmakers on the biggest pocketbook issue to hit Florida in decades with two words: reduce rates.

He called for rate relief that was substantial, broad-based and immediate. Whether he got it is subject to broad interpretation, depending on where people live and where they buy insurance.

"People are going to get a reduction. It will vary. There's no question about that," Crist said when the session ended. "I'm going to be straightforward with the people because they're my boss. But really, not long ago people said this could not happen, and it is."
---

The "Boss" has a message for you Charlie: "You're fired!"

[Paul D. Harvill]

Posted by: | August 02, 2007 at 07:34 PM
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Then you sorely underestimate legislators, the Governor, the Cabinet, their staff, and other experts interested in matter.

Paul has become quite the Crist cheerleader.

I don't underestimate anyone Mr. Harvill. I repeat, they are all tit sucking idiots just like you.

[Paul D. Harvill]

Posted by: | August 02, 2007 at 08:33 PM
.............................

Isn't that special.

By the way, my spouse has died in 1996. And I have barely been sexually active, so describing me as a "tit sucking idiot" is not even nearly accurate.

Paul D. Harvill:

The Governor, the Cabinet, legislators, etc. enacted insurance "reform" in January. Fat lot of good it did. What has changed?

[Paul D. Harvill]

Posted by: | August 02, 2007 at 08:35 PM
.............................

How frequently does such complicated legislation change things rapidly?

Paul D. Harvill (8:42):

Um, it doesn't. And your point is....

Legislators, the Governor, etc. "reformed" the property insurance market in January. What are they going to do this time?

They messed it up then and put all of us on the hook for assessments from CPIC, Cat Fund, FIGA, etc. Are they going to keep tinkering until they get it "right"? I guess getting it right would be to force the private market out of the state, huh? Government run insurance?

Ick! Paul, please don't put personal stuff like that on the blog. Nobody wants to know about your personal life.

Geller is large and wishes he was in charge.

Paul,

I think the tit that was being refered to is us TAXPAYERS!!

paul is the daddy of this blog

he has you all eating out of his hand

[csbrudy]

I like the guy who calls Harvill an idiot, and then won't sign his sad personal attack. Sounds like a typical neo-con loser to me.

Charley can testify under oath without fear. If you know any facts, and misrepresent them, you can go to jail for perjury. Charley doesn't know any facts, therefore he is free.

Anyone else has to worry, because while they know some facts, they might be asked about facts they don't know, and when they offer their opinion, someone might classify that as a fact and prosecute them for perjury.

Ergo, anyone who knows anything doesn't want to testify because you can be accused of lying. Charley is home free because he knows NOTHING.

It was pretty obvious during the campaign during the debates that Charley only parroted lines he was given to say since so many of his responses were non-responsive to the question.

Who could have imagined that a person with a law degree, who was elected to the Attorney General position could be such an idiot? I guess I'm the idiot since I voted for him, but I'd even take Jim Davis now and that is really a push for my political beliefs.

10:46, Exactly right.

csbrudy, Can you define the word, "neo-con?"

10:58, I'm with you, brother. I voted for him too, and now I'm wishing that I hadn't. I think Crist hates Republicans even more than Davis does!

[Paul D. Harvill]

Thank you for your loving comments and support.

Paul - your loving friend

quit stealing our money paul. Do the "ethical" thing and quit your plum job

Swear 'em in, and watch 'em squirm. It worked with Med Mal and it will work now.

Where's that empty chair when you need it?

[Liberty or Death]

Yes, put them "under the gun", then put a gun to their heads and force them to lower their prices.

Sounds like the American way to me.

As Tom Gallagher used to say, Insurance must be affordable, reliable and available. State regulation can only help in the area of reliability, ie. sufficient funds are reserved to pay claims. The only solution to affordability and availability is a free and open competitive marketplace. Government intrusion into pricing and underwriting practices drives out smart money. Pandering politicians have created a environment of grandiose entitlement, in that everyone has a right to insurance at a price less that the actual cost. Charlie Crist motivates through playing on public fear and greed. Sooner or later, people will come to their senses and realize that they have been duped. The nation knows that Florida is a haven for con artists. It has been about 40 years since we had the last one as governor.

csbrudy,

Don't you mean not signing your name like all the neo-libs who post on here and go on and on and on and on about "ripiglicans", "repukes", and how every poster on here should feel ashamed for not volunteering to go to Iraq. Me thinks you live in a glass house.

[div]

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Havill stated, "I have barely been sexually active, so describing me as a "tit sucking idiot" is not even nearly accurate."

Maybe that is part of his problem.

There are striking similarities between the way Crist and Geller view free enterprise and the way Hugo Chavez views free enterprise.

Sounds like one (or more) people have something very personal against Harvill.

Are you (or you in the plural) someone whose love was spurned by him?

Geller just wants to play the heavy.

Oh pleeeeze give me a break. Is this the same Geller who did not support the bill to place industry lobbyist under oath when they testified before the legislature just last session? Didn't he speak against that bill? Sure, now that he knows people are furious about the legislators doing nothing for the insurance crisis, he steals another legislators idea that he did not support when he had a chance to. As a matter of fact it was noted that he cut so many deals with Republicans for himdself and did nothing to help the people on the insurance issue. He is a fat blow hard and people should call him on th carpet on this one. What a blatant crock of doo doo.

[Chris W]

Late to the party or not, Geller has the right idea. I expect that the insurance industry honchos will, under oath, confirm what we all know - that insurance companies are in business *to make a profit*, and in the pursuit of that profit they will do whatever they think they have to.

It doesn't make them evil. But it doesn't excuse our "leaders" either. Rattlesnakes and jellyfish aren't evil; they're just trying to survive. But that doesn't mean we don't try our best to keep them contained and under control. It's the same with real estate developers and nutgrass - the nutgrass is just trying to survive, but we still tear it out of our lawns when we find it because if we don't it'll crowd out all the grass we *do* want, as well as cracking our sidewalks or poking holes in our swimming pools.

Chris W You miss the point. Geller will tell you what you want, only when his back is to the wall or he needs cover. He fought against these measures when he thought no one would take note. Now he pander so no one will know how hw sold out.

Go, Geller, Go ... home!

Posted by: | August 03, 2007 at 12:48 PM

When was there true free enterprise?

Perjury - felony - lot of charges and convictions coming soon.

Perjury - felony - lot of charges and convictions coming soon.