Capitol Press Corps, John Locke Foundation Make June an Interesting Month for Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin

June has been quite the month.

Personally, I may have transcended to a new level in state politics: For the first time I was the subject of one of the annual press skits performed by the North Carolina Capitol Press Corps ... and was the beneficiary of positive press and analysis by both the Heartland Institute and John Hood of the John Locke Foundation, a somewhat rare feat for a Democrat.

In the skit, one Capitol press reporter portrayed me as a wrestler tangling with fellow political grappler Marc Basnight played by another journalist, with yet a third member of the Fourth Estate serving as the ringside announcer. The premise is that the State of North Carolina is in desperate need of money for the budget hole, and decided that a "main event" between the Dare County Senator and me, as a result of a recent coastal insurance brouhaha, would raise ample funds to help the State's budget.

As for the unexpected praise from both Heartland and Hood's Carolina Journal, it, too, was a result of my focus during the first 18 months of my term on reforming the State's "Beach Plan" coastal insurance problem. John Hood, creatively entitling his column "Good Win for Insurance Reform", cites Eli Lehrer of Heartland who, in turn, writes:

"North Carolina has showed marked improvement over the three years we've calculated this report card. ... [T]here have been real changes thanks, in large part, to insurance commissioner Wayne Goodwin.

North Carolina's state legislature, with the leadership of newly elected Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, enacted major reforms to the state's troubled wind-damage insurance pool. ... its fiscal risks to the state and its insurance industry have been significantly lessened."

And that tops what I learned in May: that a New York Times bestseller references me by name for work I'd done in the legislature.

What would have truly made June a triple-threat? Appearing in a newspaper editorial cartoon! (Or having Ric Flair play me in a sequel to the wrestling skit.)