Oklahoma’s top insurance official made a pointed suggestion to the state attorney general: Mind your business.
Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready (R) this week accused Attorney General Gentner Drummond (R) of bullying his office as it conducts its regulatory duties. Drummond, who is running for governor, has repeatedly criticized Mulready for what he says is a sluggish response to address rising home insurance prices as extreme weather pelts the state with damaging hailstorms.
The intraparty squabble reflects the fallout of soaring prices in an election year that’s being shaped by the economic effects of the Iran war. Oklahoma has some of the highest home insurance rates in the country, driven by storms and a hands-off approach to regulating insurers.
Drummond, who’s locked in a tight Republican runoff next month with Mike Mazzei, a former state senator who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, turned up the pressure this week when he ripped Mulready for what he described as slow-walking an investigation into whether large insurers are mishandling customer claims after extreme-weather events.
