Mike Causey is a serial campaigner. He's lost three times for state insurance commissioner and lost for state senate, and now in 2012 is running for a fourth time to be the person who sets our insurance rates as state commissioner here in North Carolina.
Besides being a paid lobbyist for insurance matters and an insurance company executive for thirty years, Mike Causey also purports to be a local farmer.
But, on information and belief and according to Greensboro news media, he's had serious run-ins with officials about his allegedly selling farm products under-the-table and in violation of other rules. For example, here are statements from a Guilford County newspaper (Yes Weekly) about the matter involving Mike Causey:
"The vast majority of the complaints — as attested by knowledgeable sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, and corroborated by a sampling of enforcement letters obtained from the parks and recreation department —center on Mike Causey, who operates Dodge Lodge Farm in southeastern Guilford County.
“It was noticed on Saturday (May 30), that you were selling blueberries,” Leonard wrote to Causey on June 10. She noted that an application for a variance filed by Causey a year earlier to resell blueberries from Johnston and other North Carolina counties had been denied “due to the fact that we currently have local vendors who grow their own blueberries selling at the market.”
An investigation led to Causey also getting charged with a second violation and receiving a suspension.
According to the newspaper account, Causey even admitted that he "knowingly violated the rules."
A local Guilford County official said, “In my opinion if someone continues to flaunt the rules, they shouldn’t be there.”
Further, Causey's suspension and penalties were lessened and then waived. However, those changes were due to "political pressure" applied by Mike Causey and others, say observers.
In a later article published by Greensboro's "Yes Weekly", this appeared:
"Causey’s business practices have not been without controversy. His new business launch comes on the heel of a decision by the Greensboro Parks & Recreation Department to suspend him from the city’s farmers market. Causey ran afoul of the city by selling produce that he had not personally grown on his farm, bypassing guidelines meant to give preference for locally produced goods and ensure that customers have accurate information about the source of food products."
If Mike Causey has done things to hurt local farmers and violated rules for his own personal gain and special interest, do you believe insurance man/lobbyist Mike Causey will stand up for us and fight special interests who want to raise our insurance rates even higher?
If Mike Causey believes it is alright to hide from customers accurate information about food products, then is he going to make sure we know what we're getting when we buy an insurance product?
Not just "no," but "Hell, no."
If a man allegedly can't deal in good faith on matters of fruits and vegetables, then you can't trust him to deal on matters in good faith as Insurance Commissioner.
Yours truly,
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment