Jim Donelon - As Insurance Commissioner

As Insurance Commissioner

Donelon served in the Louisiana State House while he maintained his private law practice. In the legislature, he was chairman of the Committee on Insurance and Co-Chairman of the Republican legislative delegation. On June 5, 2006, then Commissioner Donelon issued Advisory Letter 06-04 to the approximately one hundred companies with homeowners insurance policies in Louisiana. The letter requests their cooperation in extending from one to two years the prescriptive period for policyholders with Hurricane Katrina and/or Rita claims. In most cases, a Louisiana policyholder's right to file suit on a homeowners insurance claim is limited to twelve months.

"Given the unprecedented number of claims following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, one year is simply not going to be enough time for many policyholders and insurance companies to work out a settlement that is in the best interest of both", Donelon said. He asked insurers to file with his department on or before August 1, the necessary paperwork to put the extension into effect. Donelon conducted a month-long, statewide storm awareness tour: "As I talked to policyholders and insurance industry representatives throughout the state, I became certain that extending the prescriptive period is the right thing to do", Donelon said.

Wooley said that he had planned to resign prior to the hurricanes, " when Katrina hit, we decided we had to try to get through at least the crisis part of it". Wooley said that he had accomplished most of his goals as commissioner prior to the hurricane, the most important of which was restoring the public image of the Department of Insurance.

Wooley joined the department in 1999 as then-Commissioner James H. "Jim" Brown's chief deputy. In the fall of 2000, Brown, a Democrat, was convicted of lying to an FBI agent, and Wooley moved up to the commissioner's position. Wooley was the first commissioner to leave office without a streak of scandal. His predecessors went to prison. Brown served a six-month sentence in the facility in Oakdale in Allen Parish. Democrat Douglas D. "Doug" Green of Baton Rouge received 25 years for his part in the Champion Insurance scandal of the late 1980s. Sherman A. Bernard, who is also remembered for having opposed the Democratic nomination of Senator Russell Long in 1974, served time for taking bribes.

Commissioner Donelon clashed with former Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot, one of Donelon's former legislative colleagues who had also obtained Tulane scholarships for a family member. As part of an investigation, Theriot demanded department records from Donelon regarding the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Theriot's probe led to the indictment of the corporation's former president, Terry Lisotta. Ultimately, Theriot had to obtain a court order to inspect the records, which Donelon originally said were off limits.