Shoreline residents about to get soaked over storm shutters:

September 28, 2006

- Gov. Rell refuses to help

DeStefano stands with lawmakers from across SE Connecticut: demands Gov. Rell fire Insurance Commissioner and stand up to insurance industry over storm shutter decision

New Haven: Democratic gubernatorial nominee John DeStefano today joined Democratic lawmakers from across SE Connecticut, including State Sen. Andrea Stillman, State Rep. Ernie Hewett, State Rep, Betsy Ritter, State Rep, Ted Moukawsher, and New London Mayor Beth Sabilia at a news conference in New London to call for Gov. Rell to replace Insurance Commissioner Susan Cogswell.

DeStefano and the group say Cogswell should have never approved insurance company plans to cancel policies of shoreline homes located within 3/4 of a mile of the water if owners failed to install costly protective shutters over windows and doors. Cogswell's decision was put on hold for 90 days after State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal started an anti-trust investigation.

"Being prepared for storms is smart," said DeStefano, mayor of a shoreline city. "But requiring Connecticut homeowners to install shutters that can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 is outrageous. People may lose their home because they can't afford these new mandates It's incredible, thousands of homeowners across the shoreline are about to get soaked and Gov. Rell is nowhere to be found. It is more evidence that you can't afford to live in Connecticut."

Cogswell is a former insurance company executive and an appointee of former Governor John Rowland, who has been retained by Governor Rell. According to the department's own website:

"It is the mission of the Insurance Department to protect the consumer by administering and enforcing the insurance laws in the most responsive and cost effective manner to ensure the financial reliability and responsibility of all regulated entities."

"Commissioner Cogswell is hardly protecting the consumer," DeStefano said. "But ultimately this isn't about Commissioner Cogswell, this is about Gov. Rell's lack of leadership and unwillingness to take responsibility for what happens on her watch."

State Representative Ed Jutila (D-East Lyme), an outspoken critic of the Commissioner's decision allowing the Andover Insurance company to require policy holders living near the Sound to install hurricane shutters or lose their coverage, reiterated his call for its immediate reversal. "This unnecessary, unreasonable and costly burden must be lifted from the backs of shoreline homeowners immediately, never to resurface again in the state of Connecticut," Jutila said.