Elect Lindeen auditor to protect consumers
We need to elect Monica Lindeen our Montana state auditor. Lindeen will work to protect Montana consumers, unlike her opponent, Duane Grimes, who has a long legislative history of voting against Montana consumers.
Grimes' legislative history is replete with anti-consumer votes. In 1997 he voted to deregulate Montana Power. We know what that did to our state. That vote was followed by a multitude of anti-consumer votes. That same year Grimes introduced legislation to allow insurance companies to prevent consumers from choosing their own doctors (Source: SB381). In 2001 he voted against diabetes patients on a Republican-sponsored bill intended to help diabetics by requiring insurance companies to cover basic equipment and supplies (Source: HB406).
One of the many anti-consumer votes that should put Grimes in our headlights, no pun intended, was his 2001 vote against Montana vehicle owners. There he voted to allow insurance companies to cancel us if we claimed damage from hitting deer or other large animals (Source: SB 392). In this connection, Montana is eighth in the nation for drivers most likely to collide with a deer.
The record is clear. We face a stark choice. Do we choose Grimes, who incorrectly believes insurance companies are over regulated and puts the interests of insurance companies before those of Montana consumers? I think not. We, as Montanans, cannot afford to undo the accomplishments of our present State Auditor John Morrison. Lindeen has a proven history as a consumer advocate. The only choice for Montana state auditor is Lindeen.
Terry J. Hanson---------
Lindeen will stand up for consumers
Deregulation has its place, but it did not work for consumers relative to the savings-and-loan industry (remember the scandal of the early 1990s), the Montana Power debacle and the current Wall Street downturn.
Monica Lindeen is a supporter of the existing regulations that protect Montana consumers. Please choose Lindeen to be the next Montana state auditor.
Stan Taylor--------
Lindeen has shown she cares for Montanans
When I first met Monica Lindeen, it was easy to see that she cares about Montanans. Her priorities have always included providing the best for consumers. Whether as a small businesswoman or legislative leader, her focus has been on protecting those who are most vulnerable. She managed an incredibly successful, family-run startup internet business for a number of years and proved her business skills and understanding of payrolls, insurance, taxes, budgets and red tape.
As state auditor, her focus will be to continue the consumer assistance and protection programs already in place to serve Montanans. Unraveling insurance and securities "speak" can be confusing. The state auditor's office receives hundreds of phone calls every week from people asking for help in understanding the benefits provided by their insurance.
The focus of the office is to protect Montana citizens from insurance and investment schemes - that means that the Montana state auditor needs a proven record of fighting for consumers. There is only one candidate in the race for auditor who has such a record - that candidate is Lindeen.
Lindeen has my unwavering support, I will vote for her and I urge you to do the same.
Bob Ream
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Lindeen will protect seniors as state auditor
Preparing for retirement for many folks means using the services of financial advisors. In Montana, financial advisors are licensed and regulated by the state. The state auditor serves as the securities commissioner, and the office licenses financial advisors and monitors their activities. If you are concerned and want to check up on potential financial advisors and brokerage houses in Montana, that's the place to go. As such, who becomes our next state auditor is vitally important to Montanans of, or approaching, retirement age.
One candidate, Monica Lindeen, feels strongly that helping Montanans protect their hard-earned savings is an important job that as state auditor she will take seriously. She will be committed to rooting out investment fraud and will vigorously pursue enforcement where fraud has occurred.
As auditor, Lindeen will serve as Montana consumers' first line of defense against fraud and scams, and her record at the Legislature on consumer protection legislation from education policies to prescription medications for seniors and the disabled is proof of her commitment.
Regulating the insurance and securities industries requires Montana's state auditor to maintain a balance between overly-burdensome regulation and strong consumer protection, and Lindeen knows how to keep that balance.
I've worked with Lindeen through her legislative career and believe Lindeen is the best possible choice for Montana state auditor. As Montanans, we will be well served by electing Lindeen in that office.
Don Judge
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Good track record
I am voting for Monica Lindeen for state auditor because she will oversee appropriate regulation of the insurance industry and the marketing of securities in Montana.
The last thing we want in our state is taking our eyes off the ball in the area of consumer protection.
A strong, well-regulated market place is the best protection for our citizens.
Regulation of businesses that take care of our money must be balanced, open, and fair. But protection of consumers must come first.
Montana's state auditor is our insurance commissioner and the official who oversees the sale of investments in the state.
This is not the time to support a candidate for state auditor who believes in less regulation, as Lindeen's opponent advocates.
A strong regulatory environment benefits the insurance industry, the securities industry and consumers.
Lindeen's experience in business and in the Legislature demonstrates that she will work hard for Montanans and that she has what it takes to do a great job as state auditor.
Ellen Feaver
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Vote for Lindeen
Monica Lindeen has my support as Montana’s next auditor, because throughout her legislative career, she consistently has been a consumer advocate.
Her opponent has pledged to remove insurance mandates, which would lower rates for young, single men, shifting the cost to the rest of us. The reason we have mandates is because health insurance tends to cover male medical conditions and leave women uninsured or with expensive riders.
We do not require insurance to cover prostate problems or a minimum standard of care for testicular cancer, because insurance companies generally do the right thing and include it in coverage. We all pay for it. We should all pay for it because it is part of necessary health care.
We have had to require health insurance companies to include a number of conditions that primarily affect women and our families — mammograms, contraception, newborn care and maternity benefits.
To be able to opt out of mandates puts that coverage on the smaller group of people who need it, raising the cost of health insurance for young women and their families.
I urge all Montanans to cast their vote for a proven consumer advocate, Monica Lindeen for state auditor.
Linda Gryczan
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Against insurance deregulation
If you like what deregulation has done for the utility companies in Montana, you’ll love deregulation of the insurance industry! That’s why I’m voting for Monica Lindeen for state auditor.
Sandy Goodwin
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Support Lindeen for auditor
I support Monica Lindeen for state auditor. I’ve watched both Monica and her opponent in the Montana Legislature. Monica is a tough-minded legislator and an information-age business person. She has vision and leadership skills to anticipate problems and deal with them decisively.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Lehman Brothers are teaching us (again) that those running large corporations cannot be trusted to guide our economy or protect our interests. Like Monica’s opponent, they claim: “Let us regulate ourselves, free markets are best.” Now our taxes are bailing out huge corporations to prevent a worldwide financial collapse.
Insurance companies like to claim: “Regulations cause rates to rise.” But these companies make record profits by increasing rates and stiffing policy holders on losses. Individuals cannot fight these companies. Montana needs a state auditor to keep insurance companies and rates in line. Monica will do this, but her opponent may do for insurance companies what he did for Montana Power — deregulate.
Monica Lindeen, state auditor, will protect your interest! She will also promote the reliability and financial stability of insurance companies with regulations efficiently administered. She can balance consumer interest with corporate needs using fairness, common sense, and open communication.
Mark Mackin
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Lindeen cares about health-care consumers
Monica Lindeen is my choice for State Auditor. As a physician, I have become very concerned about the high cost of medical care - the high cost of drugs, of medical insurance - and the large numbers of medically uninsured, particularly children and young adults.
Monica will be no miracle worker, but she is a strong consumer advocate, and cares about these things, too. She will try to represent the interests of ordinary Montanans and not large out-of-state businesses; and I believe she will work with the medical community to help improve our state’s health. I encourage all those who are concerned about these issues to vote for Monica Lindeen for State Auditor.
Richard Belgrad
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Insurance mandates needed
On Sept. 25, the IR published a story detailing state auditor candidate Duane Grimes’ 5-point plan for controlling health insurance costs. Point two of Grimes’ plan specifically states that as state auditor he would “(Analyze) how health-insurance mandates drive up costs, and possibly (push) to eliminate mandates...” Planned Parenthood of Montana objects to this point because many of the state’s insurance mandates provide critical health care for women and children. Eliminating these mandates leaves women and children without a health care safety net.
In past legislative sessions and as recently as this summer, legislators have proposed bills that would eliminate critical insurance coverage for prenatal care, maternity care, mammogram screening, and coverage for adoptive children. When legislators and state auditors propose eliminating mandates to cut costs, in reality they eliminate healthcare for the populations of Montanans who need it most; families and children.
Health insurance mandates exist for a reason — they prevent the health insurance industry and/or employers from limiting their costs at the expense of vulnerable populations. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana urges citizens to put prevention first and endorses Monica Lindeen for state auditor. She is the candidate who understands providing maternal and child healthcare is critical for all Montana families.
Stacey Anderson
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Leadership Shaped by Compassion
I first heard about Monica Lindeen in 1995 while searching for an Internet Service Provider. Her company, the Montana Communications Network (MCN), was one of the first and only Internet companies in the state. Having the vision, intelligence and courage to start such a company in Montana at that time told me, without a doubt, that Monica is a person of outstanding leadership ability. Later meeting her in person, I also saw that these leadership qualities had been shaped by compassion.
I am supporting Monica because I believe that expanding Internet technology into the morass of hard-copy health insurance paperwork as it now exists in Montana is one of the most obvious and least controversial things we can do to help reduce the cost of health coverage while improving oversight here. Monica has the heart and the head to make such a conversion work for rather than against the interests of Montana’s people.
Cindy Gaffney
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Dear Editor,
I urge voters to support Monica Lindeen’s candidacy for State Auditor. State Auditor employees work hard to protect consumers in many ways, but most frequently when they experience problems with an insurance company paying a claim. The State Auditor’s office also regulates the financial condition of insurance companies to insure money is available to pay claims. However, those employees can only help consumers to the extent the law allows and the State Auditor authorizes. Monica Lindeen supports continued regulation of companies to insure consumer protection. Her opponent advocates a free market approach, less regulation and elimination of laws that require health insurers to provide “mandated benefits.” Those “mandated benefits” laws require health insurers to cover newborns, mammograms, well-child care, post-mastectomy care and minimum hospital stays after childbirth. As a former employee of the State Auditor’s Office, a consumer, a women and a mother, I urge support for Monica Lindeen for State Auditor.
Jill M. Gerdrum
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Dear Editor:
Every taxpayer in Montana should be closely watching the State Auditor’s race. The outcome could have a direct bearing on your local mill levy!
The newly-elected State Auditor will serve on the State Board of Land Commissioners (Land Board) along with the Governor, State Superintendent, Secretary of State and Attorney General. The Commissioners vote monthly on decisions that generate revenue from our state trust lands and manage the land for future generations. Revenue realized from timber sales, oil and gas leases, grazing and mineral leases directly impacts our local school budgets. Equally important, thoughtfully managing our state lands and maintaining a healthy balance will dictate our school budgets in years to come.
Only one candidate for State Auditor has demonstrated valuable long-term thinking when it comes to managing state lands, preserving our hunting and fishing access and supporting revenue generating opportunities at the same time. Monica Lindeen supports Land Banking to consolidate state land holdings, which allows access to currently land-locked state lands and increases public recreational use of state land. Land Banking generates revenue because those state lands that are less useful to the state, but more useful to neighboring land owners can be sold or swapped out for land contiguous to existing state lands.
It’s just good Montana common sense. Vote for Monica Lindeen for State Auditor and save on your property tax!
Helen Christensen
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Editor:
Monica Lindeen has my vote for State Auditor, because she’s tough, hardworking, and fair. I worked at the Auditor’s office for 5 years and saw fraud, schemes, rackets and just plain swindles enough to make me wonder how anyone can say the insurance industry in Montana is too heavily regulated. Monica knows that the Auditor’s office can and does help Montanans every day and she pledges to keep doing just that.
Industry regulation comes from one place – it comes at the request of the people who buy the product. Regulation is the framework for a competitive market place that protects not only the consumer, but also the insurer. Nothing hurts a market like fraud and scams. Insurance industry regulation is not an enemy to be battled, but partner in the fight to protect consumers.
When Monica Lindeen served in the Legislature, she listened to her constituents and responded to their need for a common sense, balanced regulatory climate for insurance. Curiously, with all this talk about a “hostile regulatory environment” insurers are still able to show a modest profit. In 2007 insurers collected $3.7 billion in premium dollars from Montanans -- $1.1 in health insurance premiums and $1.6 billion in property and casualty premiums. Pretty good market for a state with fewer than a million residents and a “hostile regulatory environment” -- the sort of market that does not need deregulation.
Please join with me in voting for Monica Lindeen – she will protect us and the marketplace.
Alicia Pichette
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To the Editor:
In less than two months, we will be voting for the presidential candidate of our choice. We also will be voting for US Senate and Gubernatorial candidates. However, one of the most important votes you will cast this November is for State Auditor.
The Office of the Montana State Auditor can protect Montanans in ways that you may not even realize until you have a problem.
Insurance company unwilling to pay a valid claim? Call the State Auditor.
Been victimized by an unscrupulous investment advisor? Call the State Auditor.
Found out that deal that sounded too good to be true actually was too good to be true? Call the State Auditor.
Paid good money for insurance that turned out to be a scam? Call the State Auditor.
The Montana State Auditor needs to protect Montana citizens from an almost unlimited number of insurance and investment schemes. That means that the Montana State Auditor needs a proven record of fighting for consumers. There is only one candidate in the race for Auditor that has such a record – that candidate is Monica Lindeen.
I give Monica Lindeen my unqualified support and I urge you to do the same.
Sara Pyfer
