I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Former Insurance Superintendent Don Letherer presented his case to replace Thomas R. Rushton as interim state Insurance Superintendent, at a Public Regulation Commission (PRC) meeting Tuesday morning in Santa Fe.
Letherer’s contentious relationship with previous PRC commissioners, including his 2001 firing as Insurance Superintendent and 2002 civil rights lawsuit against the PRC, were not discussed, spokesman Gerald Garner said.
“Commissioners asked him to provide some background and what he’d anticipate his priorities to be,” Garner said. “No official action was taken.”
Other candidates for the interim superintendent position include former superintendent Chris Krahling, Craig Dunbar and Deputy Insurance Superintendent Darlene Gomez, Garner said.
Gomez has been assigned as hearing officer for the Division’s reconsideration of the Blue Cross Blue Shield rate hike settlement.
“If anyone else is interested they should contact the Commission as soon as possible, as the commission will entertain short presentations on Thursday, May 20 and Tuesday, May 25,” Garner said.
An interim superintendent probably will be selected by next Friday, May 28, Garner said.
PRC commissioners are selecting candidates for a 17-member search committee that will help select a permanent superintendent by late summer. The interim superintendent will oversee the Insurance Division until then.
Rushton played key behind-scenes role
Rushton has been a key behind-the-scenes player at the Insurance Division, commissioners told The Independent.
“He’s been outstanding,” PRC Chairman David King said Monday. “He makes up his mind and he’s very independent, and that’s part of why he’s been so valuable.”
Rushton, a deputy superintendent at the Insurance Division, had served as acting Insurance Superintendent three times during his 22 years with the Division.
In 1998, he was named acting superintendent after Chris Krahling resigned to take manage Saint Paul Companies, a private insurance company.
In 2006, Rushton took the helm again, between Eric Serna’s departure and Morris “Mo” Chavez’s appointment to the position.
Then just this month, Rushton was named interim superintendent yet again, when Chavez resigned in the face of public and PRC commissioners’ outrage over his approval of a 21.3 percent rate hike settlement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico.
Rushton had helped negotiate the rate hike settlement, and stood by the procedures leading up to the settlement when PRC commissioners directed him last Thursday to reverse the Division’s approval of the settlement.
Rushton made headlines in 2006, when reporters learned he had signed a 2004 waiver allowing businessman David Judd Disiere, who had been convicted of insurance fraud in Louisiana, to do business in New Mexico. Disiere’s wife Teresa’s Southern Management Services oil company subsequently donated $20,000 to Con Alma Health Foundation, a New Mexico charity founded by then-Insurance Superintendent Eric Serna.
Rushton said at the time that Serna had approved the waiver.
Rushton announced his resignation, effective June 15, last Friday in a letter to King, The Independent reported Monday.
According to King, part of Rushton’s motivation for retiring may have been a request last week by Commissioner Jason Marks for the PRC to consider replacing Rushton with Letherer as interim superintendent.
Rushton had not responded to The Independent’s requests for comment by noon Tuesday.
Letherer a controversial figure
Letherer is a controversial figure at the PRC.
Marks has asked commissioners at their May 13 meeting to consider replacing Rushton with former superintendent Don Letherer, who was fired in 2001. PRC commissioners had accused Letherer of “negligence, inefficiency, misconduct, insubordination, incompetence and performance which continues to be unsatisfactory.”
In 2002, Letherer filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against then-PRC Chairman Tony Schaefer and former commissioner Jerome Block Sr. (who is current commissioner Jerome Block Jr.’s father), former commissioner Bill Pope, and former commission chief of staff Jack Hiatt.
Letherer accused Hiatt of misappropriating Division funds. Commissioners acknowledged in 2001 that they had used $150,000 in Division fraud investigation funds on office renovations.
Letherer’s lawsuit was settled later that year for an undisclosed sum.
Letherer’s contentious past relationship with previous PRC commissioners did not come up at Tuesday’s meeting, Garner said.
King has said he does not support Letherer for the interim position.
