Donelon Wins Re-Election in La.; Kipper Returns to Head Nev. Insurance

NU Online News Service, Oct. 25, 9:46 a.m. EDT

Jim Donelon, incumbent Louisiana Insurance Commissioner, was re-elected last weekend.

Meanwhile Scott Kipper, who had been serving in Louisiana as deputy commissioner of the Office of Health, returns to his role as head insurance regulator in Nevada.

Donelon, a Republican, beat challenger Donald Hodge by a wide margin—about two-to-one—to win his third election for insurance commissioner.

Donelon was appointed commissioner in 2006 after Robert Wooley resigned, and won an election to continue the term. He was re-elected in 2007.

Hodge promised to make the insurance commissioner post in Louisiana an appointed position after criticizing Donelon during the weeks leading up to the election for accepting campaign donations from insurance companies.

Donelon is vice president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)—an organization that saw many changes last November.

In Nevada, Kipper, who resigned from the same position in June 2010 before heading to Louisiana, comes back to once again serve as insurance commissioner.

He succeeds Brett J. Barratt, who was named insurance commissioner in July 2010 after Kipper left. Barratt resigned in August to become deputy insurance commissioner in Utah.

Kipper's first term as insurance commissioner for Nevada started in December 2008, when he replaced Acting Commissioner Betty Baker, who served after longtime Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman retired.