JIM DONELON

"He is a wholly owned by the insurance interests he is charged to regulate. He presides over the most expensive insurance market in the country while doing little to change it." 

Click below to find out who the 280 insurance companies are who are bidding to purchase a Commissioner of Insurance through campaign contributions to Jim Donelon. $940,000 and counting..

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                       THE FACTS ON JIM DONELON AS WE KNOW THEM:

1. Jim Donelon enabled a culture of corruption at the Department of Insurance for the past ten years, the last 5 of which he served as Commissioner. During this time he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from insurance companies as he regulated them, approved their rate increases and approved their licenses. See Campaign finance reports here: http://www.ethics.state.la.us/CampaignFinanceSearch/ViewEFiler.aspx?FilerID=CAN990862

2. Jim Donelon as Commissioner oversaw Louisiana home and auto insurance rates skyrocket to number one in the nation: http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2010/04/louisianas_auto_insurance_rate.html
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/buzz/latest-buzz/215439-louisiana-auto-property-insurance-rates-highest-in-us 

3. Jim Donelon sued to stop this commercial from airing which accused him of trading insurance licenses in exchange for campaign contributions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFt44qulaOU 

4. Jim Donelon sued the Legislative Auditor to prevent the release of records for an audit, costing the state $692,000 in legal fees: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2009/08/26/103298.htm

5. Jim Donelon enabled the bureaucracy known as Citizen's Insurance which has cost the state taxpayers over $95 million which would add $100 per year to property insurance premiums in Louisiana: http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/trial-procedure-decisions-rulings/12695836-1.html

6. Jim Donelon was commissioner during the time that Steve Theriot, the Legislative Auditor, told a Senate Insurance Committee that he believed that state backed Citizen's Insurance illegally lowered rates in a price-fixing scheme to benefit private companies:  http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2008/01/30/86846.htm

7. Citizen's Insurance CEO Terry Lissota went to federal prison because of improperly spending money on lavish trips, sporting events, his daughter's prom while Donelon enabled this environment at the Department of Insurance: http://www.badfaithinsurance.org/reference/General/1578a.htm

8. Jim Donelon gave a Tulane Scholarship to his own child while a State Legislator: http://www.tulanelink.com/tulanelink/tulanegateb_box.htm

9. The legislative auditor found that the December 2008 rate filing for Citizen's Insurance didn't comply with state law while Donelon was commissioner: http://app1.lla.state.la.us/PublicReports.nsf/C23386801DFEDCEB862575B5005191C6/$FILE/0000F8EB.pdf

10. The legislative auditor found proper controls weren't in place in hiring attorneys for Citizen's Insurance, costing the state millions, while Donelon was Commissioner: http://app1.lla.state.la.us/PublicReports.nsf/B651479A6EE33279862573A9006A8525/$FILE/000036B4.pdf

11. Jim Donelon sat by while the Attorney General aggressively pursued a possible price-fixing scheme by private companies in setting Louisiana insurance rates as well as not paying out for hurricane claims: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/08/business/08lawsuit.html 

12. "Interim Commissioner Jim Donelon, {has} been embarrassing. {He has} a political past that has perpetuated our poor image. {He has} been self-serving instead of public servants."--Rolfe McCollister of the Baton Rouge Business Report: http://www.brac.org/site.php?pageID=199&newsID=23

13. Jim Donelon oversaw approval of massive rate increases for State Farm: 2009 saw an increase of 8.3%; 2010 saw an increase of 9.9% and 2011 they have come back for a 8.5% increase: http://www.programbusiness.com/News/State-Farm-Requests-Approval-for-An-85-percent-Homeowners-Increase-in-Louisiana 

14. Jim Donelon has sat by while 886,000 Louisianians are priced out of health insurance because of having some of the highest rates in the nation:http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/09/no_health_insurance_for_886000.html


15. "Jim Donelon continues to abuse tax payer money for his own personal benefit. Donelon has a history of abusing his office for his own personal gain."--James David Cain explaining Donelon's sweetheart retirement deal.http://www.jamesdavidcain.com/print.php?ID=0000025532

16. Jim Donelon collected over $93,000 in state retirement benefits in 2010 while at the same time collecting more than $123,000 in state income: http://www.ethics.state.la.us/PFDisclosure/DisclosureDetails.aspx?disclosure=James%20%22Jim%22%20J.%20Donelon


17. Jim Donelon approved a rate increase for Allstate of up to 11.6%, resulting in an average increase in premiums of $150 per year: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9HM4FBO0.htm

18. Jim Donelon approved a rate increase of 6.5% for Citizen's Insurance in 2011: http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2011/03/18/la-commissioner-lowers-last-resort-insurers-rate-h 

19. Jim Donelon approves rate increase for State Farm while allowing them to drop wind and hail damage: http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/01/state_farm_prepares_to_raise_r.html

20. Jim Donelon: "I am convinced Citizens can file more than one rate increase at a time." http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/09/jim_donelon_ok_with_reviewing.htmljim

21. Jim Donelon has sat by while the rate review system for Louisiana has been deemed to be insufficient by the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. http://www.liveinsurancenews.com/federal-officials-ready-to-debate-health-insurance-rate-increase-of-10-or-more/854009/

22. Jim Donelon failed to advance a Louisiana solution so now the federal government will come in to regulate our health insurance rates. "“I believe in competition as the best way to protect consumers from unreasonable rates. But I have no way of knowing whether they are reasonable or unreasonable because companies have not been required to file rate increases with our department," said Donelon. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/health/policy/26health.html

23. Special assessments placed on all property insurance to finance Citizen's Insurance payouts go unclaimed, costing Louisiana citizens over $100 million. http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/blog/2010/08/28/property-insurance-assessments-sitting-unclaimed/