KHOU takes a look at State Rep. Larry Taylor.
In four years, the co-chairman of oversight of a state insurance agency made more than $300,000 off the company he is supposed to oversee on behalf of consumers in Texas.
State Rep. Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), a veteran member of the House Insurance Committee and the co-chair of a subcommittee that oversees Texas Windstorm, is also an insurance salesman who receives commissions for selling insurance policies from the company. Windstorm is the state’s insurer of last resort.
“It raises the specter of a conflict of interest,” said Dave Levinthal, of the non-partisan Center For Responsive Politics in Washington D.C. “It strikes to the question as to whether he’s putting on his insurance agent hat or his public official hat.”
It’s a long story – must have been at least three minutes of air time – and it doesn’t make Taylor look especially good. The argument he has with TWIA over whether or not they accept new insurance applications via email is bizarre. Check it out and see what you think. Coby and Back to Basics have more.