Colorado, Idaho Gov.-elects appoint insurance department heads

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Colorado’s Gov.-elect Bill Ritter announced he is appointing Manitou Springs Mayor Marcy Morrison, a Republican, as insurance administrator. And Idaho Gov.-elect Butch Otter said he would appoint state Rep. Bill Deal to head the state’s Department of Insurance.

Morrison served as an El Paso County commissioner from 1984 to 1992 and as a state representative from 1992 to 2000. She was elected mayor of Manitou Springs in 2001 and re-elected in 2005. She has served on the state Board of Health, and Ritter described her as a “champion of the consumer, particularly in the area of health care.”

As insurance commissioner Morrison would be the top administrator for the Division of Insurance, which regulates the industry.

“Health care is one of my passions,” she said. “I look forward to helping the new administration and the Legislature end the crisis of the uninsured and making sure that we bring all voices together to forge a Colorado health plan for all Coloradans.”

Ritter is scheduled to be sworn in to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Bill Owens on Jan. 9. The state Senate is scheduled to vote on Ritter’s appointments in January.

Deal recently lost a bid for Idaho House speaker. An insurance salesman with a reputation as a pro-business centrist, Deal has served eight terms in the Idaho Legislature and has chaired the House State Affairs Committee. He will resign his House seat to lead the insurance department.

A local Republican committee in Canyon County will draft a list of potential replacements to fill the seat, and Otter will select from their choices, said Jon Hanian, Otter’s spokesman.