Every sentence of today's report from Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux on the City of New Orleans employee life insurance system is a potential news lede.I might point out that the part where benefit claims were not filed for six of 21 City employees who died during a 2 year stretch is pretty staggering.
I've read about companies like Wal-Mart who take out secret life insurance policies on their employees and collect the benefits themselves. We know that from time to time the city discusses ways to turn its public resources, like its water system, into profit centers but, for now anyway, we'll assume they aren't planning to take this route where it regards their employees.
No, this looks like it's probably more stupid than it is sinister. Although, in this town, it is pretty difficult to know the difference since these factors so often combine to form... you know... tradition.
In the wake of the report, Hartford has also agreed to stop paying commissions to two agents, who each raked in more than $125,000 through the life insurance policies over the past eight years. Though the report does not name them, Quatrevaux identified them as Lionel Smith and L-Force Management Group, whose principal is Noah Lewis.
The two men, both of them contributors to Mayor Ray Nagin's political campaigns, were named by Nagin to insurance "committees," comprised of agents, that advised City Hall on insurance matters and shared in commissions. Both men were on an 11-member health insurance committee that city officials said in June 2005, after an unfavorable ruling from the state's Ethics Board, that they planned to disband.
The committees were a traditional source of patronage, and the members were reliable contributors to political campaigns. Observers said the system was antiquated and offered little of value to the city, and the ethics opinion of June 2005 said the committees violated state law.
No comments:
Post a Comment