Oklahoma Agent Announces Candidacy for Insurance Commissioner

Copyright 2010 A.M. Best Company, Inc.All Rights Reserved BestWire

February 24, 2010 Wednesday 04:39 PM EST

273 words

Oklahoma Agent Announces Candidacy for Insurance Commissioner

Sean P Carr

SAND SPRINGS, Okla.

A State Farm agent announced his candidacy for Oklahoma insurance commissioner. John Doak, a Republican, intends to oppose incumbent Democrat Kim Holland in the general election.

Doak claims an array of industry experience, including as a former managing director of Aon Risk Services of Oklahoma, a former Marsh USA vice president, a former senior vice president of Ascension Insurance and a former Farmers insurance agent. Doak said he wants to be an advocate for consumers while "being fair" to business.

"Oklahoma needs conservative leaders at all levels of government, especially regulatory positions that affect the lives of virtually every citizen in our state," Doak said in a statement.

Oklahoma's insurance commissioner should oppose federal health care reform efforts and "socialized" government mandates, Doak said. "Politicians in Washington, D.C., have no business forcing Oklahomans to buy insurance, and they have no business taking money from Oklahoma taxpayers to fund health insurance for people in California or anywhere else," he said.

Doak is currently the only candidate for the Republican nomination. The filing deadline is June 9 for the July 27 primary.

Holland recently launched her campaign for re-election to a second full term. Appointed insurance commissioner in 2005 to serve an unexpired term, Holland became the first woman in her state to be elected to the post one year later. In December 2009, her counterparts in other jurisdictions elected her secretary-treasurer of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (BestWire, Feb. 2, 2010).

(By Sean P. Carr, Washington Correspondent: sean.carr@ambest.com)

February 25, 2010

Copyright © 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms and Conditions Privacy Policy