Shultz campaigns for commissioner of insurance

July 27--Seeking the Republican nomination for Kansas commissioner of insurance, Clark Shultz, of Lindsborg, addressed the crowd at the Dickinson County Republican Party picnic last Saturday.

Shultz, along with Vicki Schmidt, of Topeka, are on the Aug. 2 primary ballot.

Shultz, the assistant Kansas insurance commissioner, said he is running because current Commissioner Ken Selzer is running for the Republican nomination for governor.

He said the office is the consumer protection division of the state government.

"The state law says the insurance commissioner shall be well versed and experienced in the insurance industry," he said. "I think that is wise state law. We want somebody that knows the insurance industry."

He said he received his insurance license in 1999. He ran several offices for several years and was an auditor for a title insurance national underwriter for 10 years.

"Auditing so companies were following state law, protecting consumers like you," he said.

He was also in the Legislature, elected to the House and Senate and was chairman of the insurance committee. He said he teaches an insurance course at Washburn University.

"I love serving the citizens of Kansas," he said.

The office responded to 21,000 phone calls and chat messages last year.

He said an outside group called every single insurance department in the country and Kansas was first in getting the information to them in only seven minutes.

"I am proud of that. If you call, you don't get a message that says, 'Please hold the line. Your phone call is very important to us.' It is important to us and we actually talk to you," he said. "The reason we do that, because whether it is a hail damaged roof you need help with or something more serious, or you have a loved one that has a life threatening illness, we want to be there. We take action. We will drop everything. We take about 10 to 12 of those calls each month.

"We get phone calls back that say, 'My wife died but thank you so much for giving her hope for the last few months of her life.' Sometimes insurance companies try to get out of paying. They don't want to pay for experimental treatments. We are there for that."

He said he has been endorsed by Kansans for Life and the Kansas State Rifle Association.

Contact Tim Horan at [email protected].

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