My Interview With Karen Weldin Stewart Post-Hearing
I ask KWS about the resignation of her controller yesterday. I also ask about contractors v. state employees. I probably shouldn’t have helped her find the answers, but let me know what you think.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWFqoJXlukw[/youtube]
Good job, Geek, given the limitations. I have made a living interviewing people for a long time, so I know that when you ask questions in a setting like this sometimes the answers seem a bit stilted and incomplete. However, I think you exposed KWS for what she is when she doesn’t have her talking points or exact answers laid out for her.
When you asked her about contract employees as opposed to state employees, her answer was total BS. Outside actuaries are more on top of the business than in-house actuaries could be because they go to “marketing opportunities” and have access to other stuff? That makes no sense at all. Why wouldn’t any state employee be expected to keep up with trends and standards in his or her field?
I haven’t watched the meeting from earlier today (having trouble viewing video), but when she told you she was “way under budget” for the year, I would have asked if that included the money-losing Captive Insurance Bureau. She should also be forced to answer (and maybe she did) how long she expected to keep her highly paid consultants around if they weren’t turning a profit. Maybe the bureau wasn’t “conceptualized” as having state employees, but I’m quite certain it wasn’t conceptualized to be a financial black hole, either.
She said she doesn’t believe the press has been that bad. I wonder if she reads the news. Those aren’t bouquets Lee Williams has been throwing her way.
And this may seem frivolous, but given her mouthpiece’s rants about transparency and openness, I think a question about why every media outlet and blog use such an old photo of her in its stories would not have been out of line.
is that a trash bag around her neck?
She should be wearing that bag over her face with a large fastener around the neck.EEEEWWWW-That picture is a LIE!!!
Totally uncalled for skippertee, and it makes this blog look immature and chauvinistic. Geek has done an amazing job of covering this story and there are things of substance to comment on without going on a personal attack. That’s just hurtful. Sorry to preach but I know you are smarter than that.
Good job, LG! Sorry I missed the fun again.
Another Mike is right that the answer about the actuaries is pretty much BS. I was stunned that you had to remind her about her Comptroller leaving.
Would be interested to hear what you think what may come out of this hearing.
Rebecca,your picture should represent what you are.I can’t help the fact that UI already used the icon I wanted which best represents me.It sorta looks like a butthole.No offense UI.So I went with the generic bent colon until I can come up with something better or figure out how to actually put one in there.Hell,I can’t even type.I’m a huntin’pecker.And that’s not me confessin’ to being a hillbillie homo.
Give it a rest. S. Good job LG, I will even post a link to the interview. It should pop up in a couple of hours. Don’t harass the conservative readers who will be visiting too much.
Great work LG–but really, outside contractors since the early 1900’s? Wow. Are there flush toilets in that office space?
As I predicted, in a room full of lawmakers, no violation of law was found. All these things the lawmakers found questionable, were all permitted by law. So far the lawmakers are all too wimpy to suggest changing the law. And I didn’t hear anyone question the basic premise of insurance company money flowing unaccountably through OIC outside of normal state controls.
There was quibbling over first-year ROI on captives.
There was griping about whether contractors live in Delaware.
There was moaning about whether preference was given to Delaware bidders.
There was complaining about RFPs not being public.
There was faux outrage over contractor salaries.
None of these things was a violation of law.
The only thing that might be a violation of law was issuing contracts without following the bidding process. Title 29 says there is a minimal process for professional services (you have to take out an ad in the paper 2 weeks in advance, and then you can still hire anybody you want). Apparently KWS didn’t even follow that.
But, then KWS cited a different portion of the code that may indicate she doesn’t have to follow it. A thin argument, but one that has yet to be refuted.
Revelations:
About those RFPs? According to the News Journal, those were written at the request of OMB, after the contract had been signed, and nobody responded to them. In other words, those RFPs we were calling “wired,” were beyond wired.
I still haven’t figured out what the authority of OMB is in this case. That is something that still needs to be untangled.
How many of these outside “investigators” actually found fraud and abuse? She still appears to know very little about the insurance commissioners job? Stumbling, fumbling for answers one would assume she would know off the top of her little head.
I thought there was a law that RFP’s had to submitted for any contract over $10,000? Why would’nt that apply to her office?
I thought there was a law that RFP’s had to submitted for any contract over $10,000?
You would think. But I can’t find that law. I don’t think it exists.
Everytime I see her, it makes my heart stop. really. well, flutter a bit, then stop.
You probably need one of those nuclear stress tests.
Re. Rebecca’s comment to skippertee: It’s only about the difference in her looks between the 20-year-old picture and reality. He’s right, the picture is a lie, and that was the main point especially since that lie is only one among many. Whatever ugliness there is comes from her artificial and affected manner and the fact that her defective and evil character has now, at age 62, imprinted itself on her face.
Every time someone attacks KWS on her photo or her looks it weakens their argument – whatever that is.
LG took time to attend the meeting and get an interview. You’d think that would be the point of this discussion.
Using a 20-year-old-photo probably isn’t a sign of good judgement, although it is widely practiced — go look at the photos on the legislative website. ;o) Anon2, it sounds like you are describing the Portrait of Dorian Grey — great, scary movie.
I guess my point was that KWS has enough real stuff going on that we don’t need to pile-on over her photo or her current appearance. It might be fun and funny, but it also looks like bullying. And I can’t imagine it being an issue if we were talking about a man.
One thing I’m taking away from all of this is that the laws governing the conduct of business by the Insurance Commissioner’s office are really, really weak. That doesn’t excuse KWS, but it certainly high-lights something the General Assembly needs to address.
Yes, LG did an outstanding job. His questions were much tougher than those the legislators asked, and he was fortunate to catch her out when she was unprepared and showed her total ignorance as she has before every time Jacobson didn’t make her memorize a script. Even more fortunately, the weak laws governing her office are not going to save her. There are others in place that supersede them. She might as well start packing because it’s becoming obvious that her days in her fraudulently-obtained position are numbered because she and her cronies so thoroughly abused it.
I didn’t think her answers to LG were that bad.
The only real question for KWS is whether she followed procurement law or not in hiring her people. She didn’t follow Title 29 rules, but she claimed another law allowed her to do the no-bid contracts. She is almost certainly wrong, but that is where it stands, and it can only be resolved in court.
You know who looks really bad in all of this are the legislators. Even after hauling KWS in and grilling her, they have proposed no reforms to add more oversight and close the loopholes KWS is legally walking through.
And the Title 29 rules are too light, even if she had followed them. All it requires is that you take out an ad in the paper, and then you can still hire anybody you want. Ripe for reform.
Gotta give her credit for hanging in so politely. The ones I worry about are the ones who think questions are scary. She seemed to actually be into it. Not as bad as I thought.
Pandora, not sure you were referring to my comment, but I never attacked her appearance, only her judgment in using such an old photo as her official portrait. It damages her credibility. I don’t think that’s out of line.
I just watched the video again. What a clueless and utterly offensive moron. You can see her struggling to function without her usual Jacobson-composed script. The one about outside actuaries being more in tune with the market than in house actuaries was especially bizarre. First it’s not true at all and an insult to actuaries generally, kind of like her campaign slogan “…to set a higher standard…etc.” was a slam on Denn. Second, how the hell would this fraud even know whether or to what extent in house actuaries are in tune with the market since she’s never worked for a corporation in her life, other than at minimum wage retail jobs, and that includes her invented “Weldin Group,” the paper incorporation. If she had really worked in the insurance industry as she claimed in the campaign and continues to claim, she would know that there are few if any independent actuaries. The great majority of them are in house for insurers. Lovely to see such a lowlife loser in this important position.
Another Mike, I was not referring to you at all.