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Industry Strategies
Insurance professionals learn how to run for public office at their own political boot camp.
In campaigning for the presidency, Bill Clinton hired James Carville, George Bush relied on Mary Matalin, and Ronald Reagan turned to Lee Atwater. When agents and other insurance professionals run for elected office, they, too, can have the benefit of expert advice, courtesy of a unique program aimed at increasing the industry's representation in Congress, state legislatures and local governing bodies.
This boot camp for political novices is the Insurance Campaign Institute, sponsored by the Independent Insurance Agents of America and Future One, a cooperative effort between IIAA and more than 25 insurance companies that work with independent agencies.
Speakers at the two-day institute are top campaign strategists from both political parties, who have worked with presidential candidates and other national political figures. The roster has included Rich Bond, former Republican National Committee chairman, and the late Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., who served as House Rules Committee chairman. They have been willing to discuss every"thing from raising funds, public speaking and assembling a volunteer organization to advertising, media relations and using support from the insurance community.
The idea for the institute came from Bud Wilson, a past IIAA president, said Timothy Tucker, director of state government affairs for the IIAA. "His vision was to plant political acorns, so they will eventually grow into oak trees," Tucker said. "People who understand insurance issues will get involved in the political process, and eventually, they will get into the political system. And then when we're working with legislators, if they have an understanding of insurance issues, they are more likely to make better public policy."
Because of term limits, the institute has become more valuable than ever, Tucker pointed out. Many people who have expertise in insurance will have to leave office in a given number of years, "and then you'll lose that knowledge," he said.
Currently, about 50 insurance professionals serve in Congress and more than 300 others are lawmakers in state legislatures, the IIAA estimates.
The biennial campaign school has graduated close to 100 people since its inception in 1998. As many as 60% have gone on to win elected office, Tucker said. One of the institute's...