Gary Cohen -- who as the top lawyer with the California Department of Insurance was an architect of a proposal to cap title insurance rates and escrow fees in the state -- is leaving next month to take a job in the insurance industry. Appointed as the Department of Insurance's general counsel in 2003 by Democrat John Garamendi, Cohen was retained by Garamendi's succesor, Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Poizner.

Like "Governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger, Poizner is a Republican who's been able to woo Democrats and independent voters. After trouncing his Democratic opponent in November (California elects its Insurance Commissioner), Poizner made a point of naming Democrats and Republicans to his executive team.

At the time, Poizner said the "balanced team" reflected his philosophy "that consumer protection is neither a Democratic nor Republican issue."  The new Insurance Commissioner had already taken some fire, however, for naming former insurance industry lobbyist William Gausewitz as his special counsel.

Apparently, the revolving door between government and the corporate world is also bipartisan, with Cohen leaving July 13 to take a position as deputy general council of Allianz of America and chief counsel of Fireman's Fund Insurance Company.

Poizner has pushed implementation of Garamendi's proposed title insurance rate cap -- which at one time was envisioned as taking place as early as March of this year -- back to 2011 (see Inman News story).

Minorities are the fastest growing segment of the home buying population in 320 of 388 metro areas, according to a ComplianceTech study of 2005 loan data.

Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. is after their business, launching Web sites in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.

The sites explain the real estate, escrow and title insurance industries and terms and definitions used, with sections dedicated to homebuyers and sellers.

Fidelity, citing 2004 Census Bureau numbers, estimates Spanish is the primary language of 30.5 million U.S. residents, and that another 7.6 million are most comfortable using an Asian or Pacific Islander language including Chinese (2.3 million) Vietnamese (1 million) and Korean (894,000).

The sites are an initiative by FNF's Multicultural Marketing Division, which the company said is working to increase home ownership among Latino, Asian-American and African-American populations (And, it goes without saying, FNF's share of the title insurance business among said populations).
--Matt Carter, Inman News

California's new Insurance Commissioner, Steve Poizner, apparently wants to surround himself with advisors with a wide range of views. After getting some flak for appointing a former insurance industry lobbyist, William Gausewitz, as his special counsel, Poizner today announced the rest of his executive staff. The lineup includes Gary Cohen, a Democrat who helped draft a proposed $1 billion title insurance rate rollback and cap last year, as general counsel (Poizner backs the plan to cap rates). The California Escrow Institute last week blasted Cohen in a press release, saying he, Poizner's predecessor John Garamendi, and economist Birny Birnbaum "completely failed to understand the fiercely competitive nature of the escrow industry in California." Birnbaum is the author of a study commissioned by Garamendi that alleged a lack of competition in the title insurance and escrow business. (And yes, that's former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld standing in for Poizner in the picture, and it's up to you to decide whether to cast Gausewitz and Cohen as the devil or the angel).
--Matt Carter, Inman News