Thursday, February 02, 2006
WOOLEY ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley will not seek re-election as the chief regulator of companies that write insurance policies in the state.
Wooley said in a written statement Thursday that he will step down on Feb. 15 to work in the private sector. His chief deputy, Jim Donelon, will take over until voters can pick Wooley's elected successor, the statement said.
Wooley took over the insurance commissioner's job in 2000, after his predecessor, third-term incumbent Jim Brown, was convicted of lying to the FBI and served a six-month prison term.
Brown was the third consecutive insurance commissioner convicted of federal crimes. Doug Green received a 25-year sentence for his role in the Champion Insurance scandal of the late 1980s. Sherman Bernard, his predecessor, served a sentence for taking bribes disguised as campaign contributions.
Wooley faced unwelcome attention last year when he used state money to acquire a $40,000 Harley Davidson-edition pickup, loaded with extras. It was his second state vehicle in two years.
He later gave up the vehicle.
In response to the controversy, the Legislature passed a new law requiring statewide elected officials - such as the insurance commissioner, agriculture commissioner and state treasurer - to get permission from the Legislature's joint budget committee before using state cash to buy luxury vehicles.
