In TV ad, Florida CFO touts ‘largest' insurance fine that he didn't support
TALLAHASSEE — In a new TV ad for his congressional campaign, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis touts that he's 'the one person fighting for homeowners.'
In fact, the ad states, 'he oversaw the largest fine in history against an insurance company.' The video included a Tampa Bay Times headline from last year about state regulators fining Tampa-based Heritage Insurance $1 million for how it treated homeowners after Hurricane Ian.
Except, Patronis never explicitly came out in support of that fine when it was issued (and it wasn't the largest).
The ad, 'Fighting for Homeowners‚' was for Patronis' race for Congressional District 1 in the western Panhandle. He faces a Democrat in the April 1 special election, which he's expected to easily win.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, not Patronis' Department of Financial Services, levied the fine against Heritage Insurance. The office found that the company was slow to respond to claims, slow to pay claims, used improperly licensed adjusters and kept poor records.
The governor and the Florida Cabinet — of which the chief financial officer is a part — oversee the Office of Insurance Regulation.
When the fine was announced, the Times/Herald asked Patronis' office for comment. His spokesperson had nothing to say about Heritage's behavior.
Instead, he appeared critical the company was fined in the first place.
'Rather than sending more cash to state coffers, if there are more of these types of penalties, the CFO is interested in exploring legislative solutions where money goes back to policyholders through additional rate relief,' his spokesperson, Devin Galetta, said at the time.
(The fine would have amounted to a refund of $6.66 for each of Heritage's 150,000 customers.)
In 2013, state regulators fined Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co. $1.3 million for wrongfully denying claims and shifting profits to affiliate companies.
Heritage has been a major political donor in Florida, giving at least $2.3 million to Florida politicians and political committees since 2013. It also was a sponsor of DeSantis' reelection inauguration. Its lobbyist, Fred Karlinsky, is reportedly among Patronis' top advisers.
At the time, Heritage CEO Ernie Garateix responded to the fine in a statement — sent by Patronis' longtime campaign manager, Melissa Stone.
'Our message to our policyholders is simple: We are committed to excellence and will never stop striving to improve,' Garateix said in the statement sent by Stone.
Stone, representing Patronis on Tuesday, couldn't answer why Patronis' office was dismissive of the fine, yet appeared to support it in his television ad.
She referred to the closing line of his ad: 'I'm Jimmy Patronis, and I approved this message.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Boss of London ad champion quits after losing crown to French rival
The boss of WPP is to step down months after the British advertising behemoth lost its crown to a French rival. Mark Read will leave after more than three decades at WPP, including seven years as chief executive. He will continue in the role until the end of the year while the board searches for his successor. Mr Read's departure, though long-expected in the industry, comes at a turbulent time for WPP. The London-based group, which employs around 110,000 people worldwide, last year lost its title as the world's largest ad company by revenues to French rival Publicis. Meanwhile, its two other largest rivals – Omnicom and Interpublic – have agreed to merge in a $30bn (£22bn) deal that will further erode WPP's dominance. The British company is also grappling with industry-wide turmoil sparked by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), which threatens to upend the work of ad agencies. This has compounded the challenge posed by tech giant such as Google and Meta, which have grown their share of the advertising market in a direct threat to traditional holding groups. Mr Read's tenure has been dominated by efforts to simplify WPP, which had ballooned into a sprawling network of companies under his predecessor Sir Martin Sorrell, who left the company he founded following allegations of misconduct, which he has always denied. As chief executive, Mr Read oversaw the merging of a number of agencies while selling off some non-core businesses, including the £2.5bn sale of a 60pc stake in market research group Kantar. More recently, the ad boss has also vowed to invest heavily in AI, pumping £300m into the technology this year and investing in generative AI startup Stability AI. However, WPP's growth has ground to a halt in recent years and the company's share price has more than halved during Mr Read's tenure, pushing its market value below £6bn. Shares fell a further 2pc after his departure was announced. Alex DeGroote, a media analyst, said: 'The company is much simpler today than it was when he came on board as chief executive.' But he added: 'There's just a feeling of the company having lost a lot of ground to the likes of Publicis, so I can't honestly say that he will be remembered as having delivered immense shareholder value.' Mr Read's future has been in doubt since Philip Jansen, the former BT boss, was appointed as WPP chairman at the beginning of the year. Mr Jansen said Mr Read had 'played a central role in transforming the company into a world leader in modern marketing services'. Mr Read said: 'After seven years in the role, and with the foundations in place for WPP's continued success, I feel it is the right time to hand over the leadership of this amazing company. 'I am excited to explore the next chapter in my life and can only thank all the brilliant people I have been lucky enough to work with over the last 30 years, and who have made possible the enormous progress we have achieved together.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Chicago Tribune
40 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago Bears CEO Kevin Warren pays nearly $2.3M for Lake Forest mansion
In a move sure to lend further credence to the view that the Chicago Bears will build a new stadium in Arlington Heights, Kevin Warren, the team's president and CEO, in May paid $2.25 million for a five-bedroom, 8,725-square-foot shingle-style mansion in Lake Forest. Warren, 61, became the Bears' president and CEO in January 2023 after serving for more than three years as the commissioner of the Rosemont-based Big Ten conference. During his time overseeing the Big Ten, Warren first rented a 21st-floor condo in a building on Lake Shore Drive in Streeterville, and then in 2023, he and his wife, Greta, paid $1.75 million for a three-bedroom, 2,547-square-foot condominium on the 13th floor of the same high-rise. Since June 2021, the Bears have been known to be considering locations for a new stadium, including building a new arena in Arlington Heights on the 326-acre site of the former Arlington Park racetrack — land that the team purchased in 2023. Warren soon emerged as an enthusiastic proponent of the idea of a new stadium on Chicago's lakefront. In April, Warren told reporters that the team had shifted from solely pursuing building a new stadium downtown to considering both downtown and Arlington Heights. 'The focus now is both downtown and Arlington Heights,' Warren said in April. 'One thing I have said before is that these are not linear processes or projects. They take time.' Then, in May, the Tribune broke the news that the team's focus had moved once again, this time to Arlington Heights exclusively. Warren's decision to buy a suburban home is sure to spark speculation that the team now is near-certain to build in Arlington Heights, although Warren's new house also is close to the Bears' Halas Hall headquarters and training complex in Lake Forest. The house Warren purchased has a wraparound deck, a new cedar shake roof, a great room with a 19-foot alder wood ceiling and a Lannon stone fireplace, and a kitchen with high-end appliances, a center island and a breakfast bar. Other features include a private office with a fireplace and and a first-floor primary bedroom suite with a bathroom that has dual vanities and heated stone floors. Downstairs, the lower level has a family room opening to a stone patio, a guest bedroom suite and an exercise room. With Warren now having purchased a place in the northern suburbs, he joins several of his colleagues, including Bears general manager Ryan Poles, who paid $2.077 million in 2023 for a 5,200-square-foot house in Lincolnshire. Recently hired head coach Ben Johnson is not known to have bought a house here yet. The sellers lost money on the Lake Forest mansion. They paid $2.39 million for it in 2015, and they first listed it in 2023 for $2.495 million. They cut their asking price in April 2024 to $2.4 million, and they signed a deal in April with Warren, who closed on the purchase in May through an opaque land trust that masks his identity. The mansion had a $35,839 property tax bill in the 2024 tax year. It also has $295-a-month homeowners association dues. Real estate agent Annie Royster Lenzke, who represented Warren in his purchase, did not respond to a request for comment. Her colleague Dawn McKenna also did not respond to a request for comment.
Business Journals
41 minutes ago
- Business Journals
Otto Aviation incentives approved at Jacksonville City Council
The Jacksonville City Council approved a Revenue Enhancement Value grant for up to $20 million to support the Texas-based company's planned manufacturing and production facility at Cecil Airport.
