Donelon is a political veteran with three decades in public office and over $300,000 in his campaign fund.
His opponents face long odds, but see the race as a referendum on the free-market ideas Donelon has backed during 20 months in office. One opponent, Covington lawyer Robert Lansden, said Donelon sides too much with the industry and not enough with homeowners.
"The commissioner is not there to work for the insurance industry. He's there to work for the people of this state," Lansden said.
Donelon said his policies are aimed at persuading more insurers to do business in Louisiana, where government regulation of insurance has a long history of public corruption.
"I'm hopeful that we're making it clear: we're no longer doing business like we have been known to do for decades in t! his state," he said.
Donelon defends his policies as the best path to heighten competition and keep policy rates stable. This year he successfully backed creation of $100 million in new financial incentives for insurance companies. The Legislature approved his plan to eliminate the Insurance Rating Commission, the body of political appointees seen by insurance companies as Louisiana politics interfering in the marketplace.
Donelon was appointed to the post by his predecessor, Robert Wooley, when Wooley resigned in 2006. Donelon had an outright win in a 2006 primary election to serve the rest of Wooley's term. He's now running for a full, four-year term.
Donelon, a Metairie Republican, served on the Jefferson Parish Council, then spent 19 years in the Legislature, where he chaired the House Insurance Committee.
Two of his opponents, Lansden and Jim Crowley, criticized Donelon for accepting campaign contributions from the insurance industry - at least $72,! 000 so far this year, according to Donelon's financial dis! closure forms.
"I'm not taking any campaign donations from the insurance industry, but I know Donelon is up to his hair follicles in it," Crowley said.
Crowley, a Shreveport Democrat, said he's running because he believes he can bring rates down - a promise Donelon refuses to make.
"I just don't want to promise things to people that I'm not certain of," Donelon said.
Crowley is a former Caddo Parish police juror who has a long history of running for office, with failed runs for governor, the Public Service Commission, state elections commissioner and secretary of state.
Crowley said he supports a one-time auction of all the policies now written by the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp., a proposal that was vetoed this year by Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Donelon supported a rival measure that will offer insurers the chance to bid on hundreds of those policies at a time - a bill Blanco signed into law.
Lansden, a Republican, wants to eliminate t! he mandatory 10 percent markup that Citizens must charge its policyholders - a legal provision aimed at preventing the state firm from competing with the private firms. Lansden said he prefers the version of Citizens in Florida, where the taxpayer-backed company competes directly with the private sector and is now the biggest insurer in that state.
"If we truly reform Citizens and make it compete, the entire marketplace will get more competitive," he said.
Jerilyn Schneider-Kneale, a former human resources officer at Tulane University Medical Center, said she decided to run partly because she was concerned that Donelon would be re-elected without opposition.
Schneider-Kneale is a former St. Bernard Parish resident whose home was flattened in Hurricane Katrina's floods. Now living in Slidell, she is in an ongoing legal battle with her insurance company over her claim.
Schneider-Kneale, a Republican, said she's interested in both state and federal insuranc! e reform and wants to investigate the investment products, iss! ued by i nsurance companies, known as catastrophe bonds. She said she's convinced that a thorough investigation of insurers in Louisiana would uncover foul play in the way they set rates.
"There's collusion and there's conspiracy. If you think they haven't done it, you have another thought coming," she said.
Donelon's opponents acknowledge they've done little fundraising and will have to work hard to win votes in the Oct. 20 primary.
Crowley said he intends to do much of his campaigning on foot - the sort of miles-long walks he's done in previous campaigns.
Lansden said his campaigning has left him hopeful.
"Everyone I meet," he said, "is ready to vote for me."
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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