TriLines • A TriCounty Online Publication

Editor's Corner
Richard Longueira, AAI
Tri County Secretary
Tri-Lines Editor

My article for this issue is not so much as editorial as it is a report of your Association’s activities during the first quarter of 2010. Sometimes, even the editor needs a break from being opinionated…

The January Joint Meeting with CIB was absolutely terrific. The topic being Producer Compensation. The panel of CIB Lobbyist Tom Faist, PIA Lobbyist Matthew Guilbault and IIABNY Lobbyist Michael Barrett was informative and engaging. Michael was particularly passionate about the Department having the authority to promulgate a Regulation that requires agents and brokers to disclose their commission and other forms of compensation to their prospects and clients at their asking. The audience could sense his anger at what we all feel is an unnecessary and burdensome attempt by the Department to over-regulate the producer community. We have the mega-brokers to thank for this.

My only disappointment was the room was not as full as it should have been. There should have been a “standing room only” audience. To those who did not attend, I’m sure you had a good reason but really, did you need to pass this meeting up? And, by the time you read this, the Superintendent of Insurance will have spoken in front of the joint membership of IIAA Tri County and Suffolk; guaranteed to be an interesting meeting. Will you be there?

February brought us the IIABNY Capital Event in Albany, which was well attended and terrific. Kudos to the IIABNY staff for a job well done. Congratulations to ‘my uncle Vinny” Alba for being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award aptly named the Vincent A. Alba Award. The award honors an individual who makes an outstanding contribution to the political effectiveness of IIABNY. Nobody has done more in this area than Vinny. He virtually resurrected InsurPAC himself!

Part two of the Capital Event was Legislative Day, which takes place the next day. There was so much going on that our agenda seemed to have gotten lost in the dysfunctional inertia that is our State Capital. With an Economic Crisis, a Budgetary Crisis and an Ethical Crisis, I got the feeling that many legislators were embarrassed to be associated with our State Government. With the Governor’s ethics at issue and the Senator Monserrate expulsion front and center, what I found comical was the State Ethics Committee telling IIABNY that instead of having breakfast with the Legislators, we can only have coffee with them. I didn’t realize that bacon and eggs would constitute a bribe on our part.

Alright, so I would up getting opinionated after all. I guess I can’t help myself.

Happy Spring Folks!
Richard Longueira, AAI
Tri-Lines Editor