As part of MTPR’s primary election coverage, reporters are profiling every statewide office. Corin Cates-Carney spoke with John Hooks about the candidates for State Auditor:
Corin: John, you've been following this race and speaking with candidates. But first I think it would be a good idea to briefly explain what the office is and what its responsibilities are.
John: Yeah that’s a great idea. The office is called State Auditor, but its full formal title is Commissioner of Securities and Insurance. And the commissioner/auditor is responsible for regulating the financial securities and insurance industries here in Montana.
Corin: give me a bit more detail on what that regulatory duty looks like.
John: Sure, so there are two parts to that– the first is the administrative business side. So if you’re trying to get a broker’s or insurance provider’s license, you’ve got to go through the auditor’s office.
The second part of that is a consumer protection and advocacy duty, which involves policing bad actors in those spaces and advocating for Montanans who get into disputes with their insurance companies. In a recent example of that from earlier this year, the Auditor’s office negotiated a $2 million settlement with State Farm, after finding the company had underpaid drivers’ insurance claims.
Corin: Ok great that’s some helpful detail. So who’s running for that office this year?
John: So the only contested primary this year is on the Republican side. The two candidates in that contest are John Willoughby – a businessman in Helena who owns his own insurance agency and James Brown – the current president of the Public Service Commission, which regulates utility companies.
Willoughby has worked in insurance for around 25 years. He says the office has too often been used as a political stepping stone for politicians aspiring to bigger jobs.
Willoughby: The 25 years I've been here, whether it's been a Democrat or a Republican in that office they've all used it as a political stepping stone for another career launch down the road.. So I think it's about high time in Montana we put somebody who's been in the insurance business in the office that controls it.
Willoughby is in his 60’s, and told me the Auditor’s office is his sole political aspiration. And he directly contrasted that with his primary opponent, James Brown. Brown is a lawyer who has been on the PSC since 2020 and ran in a high-profile supreme court race two years ago.
Brown told me he’s actually met and spoken with Willoughby about this,
Brown: I did sit down with Mister Willoughby, And he was very frank and candid that he thought I would be using this office if I was victorious, as a jumping point, sort of, as in the vein of Matt Rosendale and, Troy Downing, who both served one terms as the auditor and then ran for Congress. I can honestly tell your listenership there is no way I am running for Congress right now. Frankly, that would be the least desirable public service job in the country. I told, my primary opponent that if I were to prevail, in this race, I would serve, both terms.
While Brown didn’t rule out running for another officer after holding the state Auditor job, he did say there he would run for a second term if elected.
I asked Brown why he’s running for Auditor with PSC and Supreme Court seats open this year and he told me he’d been intending to run for reelection at the PSC before incumbent Auditor Troy Downing decided to run for the eastern congressional seat.
Corin: I’m hearing both of those candidates stressing their commitment to the office, but it sounds like the core of their split is really about whose background better qualifies them for the office.
John: I think you’re exactly right. Willoughby is really touting his professional experience, working inside the industry and bringing that inside knowledge to benefit Montanans:
Willoughby: You can only surround yourself with so many good people that understand insurance, but if you don't know the workings or inner mechanisms of it yourself, how are you going to negotiate to get a new company to come to Montana? And how are you going to negotiate what you feel are fair rates for the consumers, but yet still fair to the insurance carrier? It's a fine line in there that you have to balance. I think I've got the skills to negotiate that.
Brown puts more emphasis on his political experience. He says serving on the PSC– which regulates monopoly utilities in Montana– gives him a better perspective to regulate those industries under the auditor’s purview from a more neutral standpoint:
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Brown: I actually think the fact that, you know, I'm not in the insurance industry or the securities industry is actually a net positive because what you don't want, for example, as I've seen on the Public Service Commission, is, is you don't want anybody that has a predisposition to a particular industry to go into an office because it's, it's literally the, you know, fox in the henhouse thing. One of the reasons I think I'm a really good fit for this office is because I don't bring a preconceived bias into the auditor’s position.
Corin: so that’s the Republican contest in the primary– what’s going on with the Democrats?
John: Whoever wins the Republican primary will face John Repke in the general, who is the only Democrat in the race. Repke may be known to folks in northwest Montana for a Public Service Commission campaign he ran and lost two years ago. He comes from the world of corporate America, where he worked for decades as a financial officer:
Repke: I understand insurance, I understand securities, I've had some, you know, very in-depth experience with both, and I think I can bring some expertise in those areas. I also have managed organizations, professional organizations, with, you know, made up of staff members similar to what's in the state auditor's office. And I believe I can effectively manage those I have in the past.
Corin: So now we’ve got a handle on who’s running, can you tell me about the key issues facing Montanans that fall under the auditor’s authority?
John: Absolutely, so there’s really one key issue that’s at the top of everyone’s mind in this race– and that is the rising cost of all kinds of insurance- from homeowners to medical to car insurance. I asked the candidates to give me examples of specific policy actions within the auditors power that could help address this.
James Brown said he’d be focused on bringing more providers into the state to try and increase competition in the market.
Brown: And so the solution to that is and the auditor's office certainly has a role in this, is to go out and and to have conversations with those who would like to do business in Montana and say, this is a great regulatory environment. You can do business here. The way that you're going to lower premiums is through competition, right? I mean, that's just true from any sector of the economy.
John Willougby suggested a transparency bill that would require more clear, advance notice of rate increases from companies to consumers:
Willoughby: I think some of that responsibility needs to fall back on the companies making those rates available to the public for public knowledge. If you're in front of it, you can do something about it. When you're reactionary, it's hard for people to put money back into their account. That's already gone.
And John Repke suggested more robust state funding of reinsurance programs, where the government pays a portion of really high insurance claims in an effort to stabilize the market.
Repke: There are, you know, some limitations on what the department can do, but I think we could find creative solutions. And I think we need to. I think we need to look at, you know, what can be done in some of the reinsurance markets. I know there's at the national level, they're talking about, you know, opportunities for states to come in and backstop some of the reinsurance programs.
Corin: Anything else listeners should know about this race, John?
John: One more thing to mention is the Auditor is one of the five offices that make up the state Land Board, which is the government commission that manages state trust lands. Natural resources on those lands are used to raise money for Montana’s public school system. We had each candidate describe what their approach to that land board seat would be, and listeners can find that, and other information from written candidate questionnaires, over on our website, mtpr.org.
Corin: thanks for diving into this and sharing the candidates’ thoughts with us John
John: my pleasure.
