To be, or not be Florida’s governor

Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith, of Alachua, Fla., has suggested a four-point plan he believes will fix Florida’s insurance woes. He has to be applauded for publicly acknowledging the state’s insurance problems and developing such a detailed plan (see page 110).

Smith is a dark-horse candidate, however, who does not have the financial backing of the other candidates. He has a long road to travel to the Governor’s Mansion, and one with numerous potholes. First, Smith has to overcome his party’s other candidate, Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, who has a lot of political clout and financial backing. Davis has a well-known name and lots of backing–but doesn’t seem to have much knowledge about the insurance industry. He has suggested his own plan but it doesn’t seem very well focused.

When Insurance Journal covered the initial gubernatorial debates early this summer Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, Davis, Florida’s CFO Tom Gallagher and Smith were highlighted. The speaker who stood out as the brightest, well-informed and most forthright, was Smith.

During the last few weeks, the candidates have begun an extensive and expensive prime-time television advertising bombardment. Interestingly, the advertisements focus on few issues and instead are soft-well, showing CFO Gallagher shaking hands with citizens and photos of he and his family at home–the glad-handing looks very similar to what the insurance industry saw during 2004 and 2005 when the CFO held his ongoing “town hall meetings” around Florida.

Only a few Floridians, however, have ever even heard of Smith. He hasn’t been running any television advertising, or at least none I’ve seen on Orlando, Tampa and St. Petersburg stations.

Everyone knows CFO Gallagher, who is a former Florida Insurance Commissioner. He knows the insurance industry but seems unable to depart from the plan he developed in 1991 after Hurricane Andrew. While the CFO’s plan worked well a dozen years ago, when there wasn’t ANY plan, in a totally different decade, and after the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, it needs to be updated to reflect the latest hurricane developments and legislation.

It’s only fair that everyone takes a close look at Smith’s plan, which seems to closely resemble or be a revision of the plan submitted this spring to the Florida Legislature, and speedily tabled.

There isn’t ANY question that the legislation which passed this year in Florida was only a temporary band-aid approach.

As recently as eight months ago, if you asked any insurance agents in Florida, they said they supported Gallagher. Today, however, his popularity seems to have faded.

Then there’s GENERAL Crist. During the early debate he wasn’t at all convincing–and attendees at recent insurance conferences I attended, said the thought of an Attorney General as governor brought them chills. They cringed and suggested that IF Crist were elected governor, there could and probably would be an immediate replay of what had happened in New York and California.

The insurance industry in Florida seems to be caught in a very questionable situation–whom to vote for? Instead of asking who is the most qualified, and who will best represent the insurance industry, which would be the logical way to vote–the question seems to be who is the lesser evil?

Topics Florida Market A.J. Gallagher