The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), which purports to regulate insurance, banking, real estate and other industries, has a long illustrious history of being politicized and compromised by the legislature and Governor’s office.
The recent dustup at DORA’s real estate division, where the beleaguered director has filed a whistle blower complaint, is only symptomatic of a larger problem. Historically, there has been no significant distinction between DORA’s effectiveness under Democratic or Republican governors, or legislatures. Sadly, the department has been marginally effective.
In 1997, having served as a public information officer for the Colorado Division of Insurance for 6 years, I resigned and asked the Colorado General Assembly to audit the insurance division and establish a reasonable benchmark for that agency’s enforcement record. You’d think it would be a no-brainer. Seven thousand consumer complaints a year should have resulted in a fair number of fines and enforcement actions against insurance companies. Right?
The Colorado General Assembly and state auditor’s office in its collective wisdom awarded the contract for the audit to the insurance industry lobbying firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. This esteemed firm was recently in the news last year for its not so subtle lobbying efforts in Washington on behalf of bio-tech and health care clients. The firm distributed ghost written identical statements that were then issued by lawmakers before the House passed a related health care bill.
The New York Times reported that in an “e-mail message to fellow lobbyists on Nov. 5, two days before the House vote, Todd M. Weiss, senior managing director of Sonnenschein, said, ‘We are trying to secure as many House R’s and D’s to offer this/these statements for the record as humanly possible.'”
Indeed, many congressmen, 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats, did as they were told.
In 1999 in Colorado, several years before the national health care fiasco, Sonnenschein completed its audit of the state insurance division and concluded that, eureka, there’s nothing really wrong with the division’s enforcement record. State insurance departments across the country are ineffective; why should Colorado be any different? This leaves all of us pretty much in the hands of trial lawyers, those allegedly valiant consumer advocates we pay to protect us from the big bad insurance or banking or real estate companies whenever regulation falls short.
In other words, you’re on your own.
In the meantime, we continue to fund the Department of Regulatory Agencies with tax dollars while the governor and legislature refuse to establish reasonable expectations for the department’s enforcement record. And yet we continue to believe elected officials when they tell us they will fight for fair and effective business regulation.
The unvarnished and unofficial statement drafted by lobbyists and issued by recent legislators and governors in Colorado might read something like this:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
*If you get sick and can’t afford the new mandatory health insurance premiums, please take a page from former Governor Dick Lamm’s playbook and have the common courtesy to go off someplace quietly and die. Seriously.
*If you feel you’ve been cheated by your mortgage company, send them the keys to your house and go rent a 4rd floor studio walk up in that neighborhood you always loved but could never afford.
*If your real estate agent low balled the price of your home and left you with no equity after the sale, you’re an idiot. Join the Tea Party.
*We understand you’re upset about the excessive interest rates on your credit card and the excessive fees on your checking account. Next.
*The State of Colorado does not prosecute consumer complaints against insurance companies. Insurance companies are a partner in the regulatory process, and you are a moron for not comprehending this.
*If you have an issue with any of the above bullet points in our statement, feel free to take it up with your local media. Knock yourself out.
*And don’t forget, we’re here to help.
Jake Gaffigan is a home builder. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
