What does being MAGA have to do with being Kansas Insurance Commissioner? | Opinion

Just how Trumpy does an insurance commissioner have to be?

Looks like we’re about to find out. Dan Hawkins, currently the speaker of the Kansas House, this week announced his bid to become Kansas insurance commissioner. Make no mistake: He clearly intends to be the most MAGA-fied candidate for the job.

Here’s the first message that greets you at his campaign website:

Pro-Life

Pro-Gun

Pro-Trump

Conservative Republican

Dan Hawkins for Insurance Commissioner

You might be asking yourself what does being pro-life, pro-gun or pro-Trump have to do with the regulation of the insurance industry in Kansas? Believe me, you’re not the only one.

This isn’t to belittle the job of insurance commissioner. It’s just hard to imagine that it requires a hard-core ideologue.

Kansas statutes say the position entails administering “all laws relating to insurance, insurance companies and fraternal benefit societies doing business in this state.” In practice, that largely means making sure the companies that operate here aren’t fraudsters who disappear when you file a claim after your house burns down.

Important stuff. But pretty dry. Or it should be anyway. Guns and abortion have nothing to do with it.

Hawkins, it would appear, actually has some relevant experience for the job. His day job — when he’s not running the legislature — is as an insurance agent. The Kansas Reflector reported this week that he receives commissions from six insurance companies and is on the payroll of two more, including his own Hawkins Group.

He’s not leading with that. Instead, the first item in the “Visions & Priorities” section of Hawkins’ campaign website declares his loyalty to Donald Trump.

“Dan has been a strong supporter of President Trump and will serve as a vocal ally for his agenda,” the site says.

Great. Fine. Also: So what?

Why an elected position?

Let’s back up here and ask a question: Isn’t it pretty silly that Kansas’ insurance commissioner is an elected position?

It’s a job that requires technical expertise. And yes, it definitely matters if the commissioner prefers a heavier or lighter regulatory touch. Hawkins, unsurprisingly, prefers the latter.

But most voters aren’t and couldn’t possibly be familiar with the fine details of how insurance regulation is done in Kansas. They mostly give their vote to the Republican candidate.

The one time they didn’t was because of scandal: Democrat Kathleen Sebelius became insurance commissioner in the 1990s after a predecessor, Fletcher Bell, generated headlines after collecting a $94,000 check for hurting his back while picking up a briefcase.

Thankfully, such scandals have been rare. But the obscurity of the office means that candidates — like Hawkins — have to do something to attract support from voters who don’t really know what they’re voting for.

Thus: “Pro-Life. Pro-Guns. Pro-Tump.” It’s nonsense. Possibly understandable nonsense in a Republican-dominated state, but still.

Next: Kansas Supreme Court

Thanks to Hawkins and his fellow GOP legislators, Kansas voters next year will decide if they want to start electing members of the Kansas Supreme Court instead of leaving that decision to the governor and a small panel of experts.

The court is admittedly more prominent than the insurance commissioner’s office. But politicizing the court is likely to incentivize prospective judges into the sort of “Pro-Trump” silliness that is more about in-group signaling to primary voters than in demonstrating any real knowledge of or mastery of the job.

It’s a recipe for demagoguery, in other words, which is a bad way to get good judges.

And maybe not a great way to get an insurance commissioner. Hawkins could end up doing perfectly well in the job. Who knows? If he is, though, it’ll have nothing to do with abortions, guns or Trump.