With gritted teeth, I cast my vote last week for the insurance industry's nemesis, Eliot Spitzer, to become the next governor of New York. How could I do such a thing?

There is no doubt Mr. Spitzer is a bully. (Which prosecutor isn't?) There is no doubt he abused his authority and used the media shamelessly as a club to browbeat targets into settlements.

However, there is also no doubt that as the state's crusading attorney general, he uncovered serious wrongdoing–not only in the insurance industry (catching big brokers and carriers red-handed in bid-rigging and contingency fee abuse), but earlier on exposing outrageous anti-consumer behavior by the mutual fund business and the investment banking community.

Mr. Spitzer claims his idol is Theodore Roosevelt–a Republican who earned the wrath of the powerful industrial community with his trust-busting ways.

Teddy believed that if big business failed to play by the rules–if they were allowed to take advantage of the public–support for the free market would be undermined and voters would demand more radical change than merely stronger regulations. He wanted to establish the credibility of the government in guaranteeing a level playing field. If that's how he runs his office, I can support that.

I also am counting on him to shake up the moribund political system in Albany and make the state government a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. It won't be easy, since as a prosecutor he had a lot more dictatorial power at his disposal, and didn't have to compromise often to get what he wanted, as he'll have to do in Albany.

I hope he follows the example of two Republicans I voted for in the past for mayor of New York–fellow former prosecutor Rudy Giuliani and current Mayor Mike Bloomberg–in reshaping a very self-interested, self-perpetuating political system into an efficient, effective government.

Mr. Spitzer certainly will make life interesting for the insurance community, since he will be the one picking New York's next insurance superintendent–someone no doubt far less friendly to the industry than its current occupant. But if insurers and producers run their business honestly, they shouldn't have anything to fear.

Nationally, the Democrats managed to gain control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 12 long years–and, as of this writing, might take over the Senate as well. But even with just the House going to Democrats, the entire political calculus changes in Washington.

There are bound to be implications for the fate of TRIA (which actually may get more sympathetic treatment from Democrats), federal regulation (is there an industry Democrats don't want Uncle Sam to oversee?), flood insurance, credit scoring, the industry's federal anti-trust exemption, and other critical issues facing insurers and producers.

Fasten your seatbelts, folks, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

Special Reports /

Spitzer Got My Vote

Related Stories

Recommended For You