WASHINGTON--George Dale, Mississippi's outgoing insurancecommissioner said he believes partisan politics in the U.S. Senatewill derail House legislation passed last week adding wind coverageto the National Flood Insurance Program.

In an interview, Mr. Dale also said until Hurricane Katrina in2005 he had not known that homeowners policies in Mississippicontained so-called "anti-concurrent" language, specifying that ifany part of a loss stems from a source that is not covered by thepolicy, like flood, then the insurer is not liable for any part ofthe loss.

He said he issued an order barring the language from being used,but said that since federal courts have said use of the language isappropriate, the state will have to re-examine its policy.

Mr. Dale also touched on what he regarded as the "unfair"political system which allows third parties to raise money used forattack ads against candidates who don't use what he termed such"unethical" tactics, as well as describing the tactics as"money-laundering."

"The bottom line is that it allowed one person (Richard Scruggs)to buy a 'down ticket' office in Mississippi for an individual hewanted," he said. "Down ticket" is a lower level position, such asinsurance commissioner, state auditor and state agriculturalcommissioner, in Mississippi, Mr. Dale explained.

Mr. Scruggs was a big supporter of Gary Anderson, who defeatedMr. Dale in the Democratic primary in August by promising not totake money from the insurance industry. Mr. Dale has served asinsurance commissioner since 1976.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment fromMr. Scruggs.

Mr. Scruggs has acted as the lawyer for many people who havesued insurance companies for their failure to pay claims resultingfrom Hurricane Katrina based on the anti-concurrent language.

Mr. Scruggs is also the brother-in-law of Sen. Trent Lott,R-Miss., who lost his vacation home when Hurricane Katrina hit, butwho has had difficulty in getting what he believed was adequatepayment on his claim from State Farm. The case was settled inJune.

Sen. Lott has railed against the insurance industry for itsdelays in paying claims, as well as its alleged decision, in hisview, to improperly pass off damage from wind as flooding losscovered by the NFIP.

He said the lessons he learned from the election is that "don'toverreact to pressure and don't commit to do things you can'tdo."

Regarding Sen. Lott, he said, "Some of the positions he hastaken have not been well-received in Mississippi. But I think he isa great guy."

Mr. Anderson depicted Mr. Dale as too friendly with theinsurance industry and unresponsive to the needs of homeowners hurtby the 2005 hurricane.

He made his comments while attending the fall meeting of theNational Association of Insurance Commissioners, which endstoday.

Regarding the all-perils bill passed by the House on Thursday,he said, "It's evident that the federal government is going to haveto help people in disaster-prone areas or they are not going to beable to afford to live there."

But, he added, the legislation drafted by Rep. Gene Taylor,D-Mississippi, is unlikely to pass the Senate because while thebill says the program must be actuarially sound, it does notaddress the area of cost. "If it is actuarially sound, it will beunaffordable," he explained. "And partisan politics will winout."

"I predict it will be defeated in the Senate, and Democrats willthen blame it on the Republicans and President Bush," he said

"When Hurricane Katrina hit, the NFIP had to go to Congresstwice to borrow money to pay the claims resulting from thehurricane," Mr. Dale said. "But, since Rep. Taylor's NFIP bill doesnot address the issue of cost, what have you accomplished?"

At the same time, he said Congress "would be well-served to dealwith this affordability issue on a bipartisan basis."

He added, "Personally, I don't like rolling out ideas withouttalking about all sides of an idea, both good and bad."

The commissioner said that after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, hecalled insurance companies in and asked them not to rely on theanti-concurrent language, and to pay claims promptly.

He explained that the problems of flood and water had not comeup between Hurricane Camille in 1969 and Hurricane Katrina, in2005. The commissioner in office when Hurricane Camille hit did notrun for re-election, he said.

Moreover, he said, the Federal Emergency Management Agencyturned down his request for a grant to have outside adjusters auditinsurance companies to ensure "that our bulletin outlawing use ofanti-concurrent language was abided by."

"Hundreds of policies are filed with the department by hundredsof companies, and there is no way the commissioner can know all theverbiage in them," he said. "We rely on the staff for that, andthey apparently didn't see a problem with the language."