Lawmaker
says nothing improper in helping partner with regulators |
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A Tennessee lawmaker said he
wasn't seeking any special favours when he asked top state insurance officials
to reinstate his business partner's revoked license to sell policies. |
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State Rep. Jim Vincent,
R-Soddy-Daisy, met with a top official to help James Tague four months after
Tague was barred from selling insurance in 2002 for intentionally overcharging
customers. |
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Tennessee Department of
Commerce and Insurance records reviewed by the Chattanooga Times Free Press
show Vincent met with the department's commissioner in April 2003 about Tague's
insurance license, which was reinstated two months later. |
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Vincent, who is not seeking
re-election this year, said he never requested any special favours for Tague,
with whom he owns real estate. |
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Hamilton County records show a
real estate deal that Vincent and Tague made together netted them more than
$500,000. |
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Tague, who was once married to
Vincent's sister, did not return a telephone message seeking comment. |
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"I asked (state officials)
to give him an interview, and that is all," Vincent told the newspaper.
"I didn't do anything that I shouldn't have done. He wanted to tell them
his story, and that is what he did. I had absolutely nothing to do with him
getting his license back." |
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Records show the state in
September 2002 barred Tague from selling insurance after an audit showed he
overcharged or sold nonexistent policies totaling $14,950 to 11 Hamilton County
businesses over a three-year period. |
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Insurance officials formally
revoked Tague's license on Sept. 5, 2002, after he signed a consent order
admitting his actions. |
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Vincent on Jan. 6, 2003,
requested a meeting with Brenda Sechler, the state's director of insurance
agent licensing. Sechler met Vincent and Tague two weeks later, and the license
revocation was upheld, records show. |
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At Vincent's request, he met
with Department of Commerce and Insurance Commissioner Paula Flowers on April
16, 2003, in the legislative office of state Senate Majority Leader Ward
Crutchfield, D-Chattanooga. |
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Tague did not attend. |
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Crutchfield said he could not
recall much of the discussion. |
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"Jim said (Tague) was kin
and that he had made restitution," Crutchfield told the newspaper. "I
just told the commissioner what Jim said. I don't know anything about him. I
never met him." |
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Flowers said the two lawmakers
asked her to relicense Tague. |
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"They said that Mr. Tague
had made it right, had paid the money back, and that he was having financial
difficulties and couldn't pay his child support," Flowers said. |
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Flowers said the request by
Vincent and Crutchfield had no bearing on her decision to relicense Tague. |
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"(Legislators) bring
constituent issues to me all the time, on a daily basis, in every area of
regulation that we have in the department, and it doesn't have any
bearing," she said. |
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In an April 17, 2003, memo to
Flowers, Sechler said the decision three months earlier to deny Tague's
licensing request "was based on Mr. Tague's previous activities as an
agent plus information (that) ... complaints were still being filed on Mr.
Tague." |
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Flowers approved the June 5,
2003, reinstatement of Tague's license, with quarterly reporting requirements
and only after she received assurances that he had made full restitution to his
clients, records show. |
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Tague was an officer with
Tennessee Valley Insurance Services when company documents show clients were
reimbursed. |
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Vincent, who now runs the
company, did not return telephone messages seeking comment Tuesday. |
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Paula Wade, a spokeswoman for
the insurance department, said Tennessee Valley Insurance Services last week
showed the reimbursements were made. |
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Some of Tague's customers
contend they still are waiting to get paid. |
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After the Times Free Press
started making inquiries about Tague, officials reopened the investigation. |
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Flowers said she was unsure why
criminal charges weren't pursued against Tague. His license was revoked by Anne
Pope, who served as insurance commissioner under former Gov. Don Sundquist. |
Hamilton County District
Attorney Bill Cox said his office received no related referral from state
insurance officials.
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