A New Jersey lawmaker said yesterday he plans to introducelegislation in response to a complaint by insurance agents thatGEICO has made an improper arrangement with the state turnpikeauthority to mail out advertisements.

“I'm drafting a bill to bar this type of practice. I want it tostop immediately,” said Assemblyman Neil Cohen, D-Union, who chairsthe Assembly Insurance Committee.

His requests to the Turnpike Authority and Gov. Jon Corzine'soffice for a halt of the mailings have been unsuccessful, hesaid.

If GEICO wants to reach drivers with its message, “they can bidon the billboards on the turnpike,” he said. GEICO did not respondto a request for comment.

Under the authority's pilot program with a Connecticut marketingfirm, mailings of advertisements from GEICO, Citibank, The New YorkTimes and Bose are going to 500,000 motorists who are billedthrough the mail for their use of E-ZPass to go through turnpiketoll booths.

The Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey objected in astatement to the mailing of “junk mail from GEICO.” John A.Latimer, PIANJ president, said the group believes that “sendingadvertisements for any for-profit enterprise is wrong. The impliedendorsement of state government should not be for sale to thehighest bidder.”

“We applaud Assemblyman Cohen's recognition that a stateauthority should not support any single company over another inours, or any, industry, and we appreciate his taking action.”

PIA said affiliates in other states have addressed this practicewith some success. In Ohio, PIA persuaded Gov. Bob Taft tointervene and halt the distribution of fliers from any singleinsurance company–and specifically Allstate Auto Insurance–insidemailers for vehicle registration reminders.

As of this month, these types of advertisements will not be putinto the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles notices. PIA noted that Gov.Taft had requested that no ads be sent that may be viewed as aconflict of interest, or that may encourage drivers to think theymust use a particular product related to their vehicles included inthe mailers.

PIA said since the request, auto insurance companies havecomplied willingly and have not submitted any bids for placement inOhio, and that success has encouraged PIA of New York to renew itscriticisms of the same practice by the New York Department of MotorVehicles.

Mr. Cohen said the turnpike's program allowed only certain ads.“The problem is it's not open to everybody,” and that it “lendsitself to misleading advertising,” he added.

The arrangement, which gave GEICO access to 500,000 drivers, hasso far only netted the state $20,000, he said. Mr. Cohen said itwas the PIANJ that alerted him to the problem.

A turnpike spokesman did not return e-mail and phone callrequests for comment.