I was shocked yesterday to hear Property Casualty InsurersAssociation of America President Ernie Csiszar abruptly announcehis resignation. The move comes shortly after PCI reversed courseand pulled out of ProtectingAmerica.org–the Allstate-backed grouppushing for a federal mega-catastrophe fund–which PCI joined withmuch fanfare days before defecting.

While everyone directly involved is making nice and declining tocomment on Ernie's motivations, this most probably is a directresult of the tug of war PCI found itself in over its position oncatastrophe coverage. As I noted in yesterday's post, “An IndustryDivided,” PCI was in a tough spot because Liberty Mutual andAllstate–two mega-members–took exactly opposite stances on whatrole, if any, Uncle Sam should play in disaster insurance.

Ernie and I don't always see eye to eye, but I respect the factthat he's a straight shooter and says what's on his mind. Perhapsin his current situation, caught in the crossfire between twopowerful members, it was either 'let me lead, or let me go.' In anycase, with all his connections in the business, he should land onhis feet pretty quickly. I look forward to dueling with him againwherever he ends up.