Eastern North Carolina Supporting Wayne Goodwin

With endorsements from newspapers in Elizabeth City, Greenville and Wilmington -- and with his not approving two insurance rates hikes that would have disproportionately affected the coast -- it would appear that Eastern North Carolina will lean toward re-electing Wayne Goodwin as the state's Insurance Commissioner.

Goodwin Message Reaches TV Audiences Statewide During Six-Week Run

This week incumbent North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin's third TV ad entered the rotation as the two-week countdown to Election Day began. In total, Goodwin's ads will have run over a six week period.

His first ad is a direct conversation by the candidate, looking straight into the camera to discuss the highlights of his term in office.

Goodwin's second ad features Buncombe County's Van Duncan, the popular Sheriff there. The sheriff, speaking on his behalf and for other law enforcement officers, heralds the state insurance commissioner's highly successful fraud-fighting efforts.

The third ad again includes Goodwin. This time the viewer is peeking in on a kitchen conversation between the state official and a coastal/eastern North Carolina resident. Insurance Commissioner Goodwin pledges to always fight for eastern North Carolina, just as valiantly and intensely as he did immediately after Hurricane Irene struck in 2011.

Meanwhile, the Council of State member has had ongoing short spots on NCSPIN, on social media, and on statewide radio.

To date, it appears that Goodwin's Republican challenger, Mike Causey, has gone on radio and purchased a small buy on NCSPIN but no broadcast or cable TV advertising that could be found.

Regardless of whomever the winner is on Election Night, it is fair to say that the candidates will have spent the largest sum of money ever spent on TV in a North Carolina insurance commissioner race. And it is also very fair - and accurate - to say that Wayne Goodwin is the only candidate for state Insurance Commissioner with a proven record of fighting for consumers.

Commissioner Goodwin Fights for Coastal NC to Rebuild, Recover Post-Hurricane Irene

Starting days before Hurricane Irene made landfall in eastern and coastal North Carolina and for four months thereafter, Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin has been personally and very directly involved with fighting for the rebuilding and recovery of of the Tar Heel state.

For examples of his work on Hurricane Irene matters from August through December 2011, go to here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

As you can see at the above links, Insurance Commissioner Goodwin - who also serves as the State Fire Marshal - first deployed his team into the field before the storm, helping fire departments and communities in advance of the storm. He sent out his investigators to go after scam artists, and activated the propery mediation program and prescription drug assistance program. Goodwin flew by helicopter over 15 stricken counties, touching down and touring three of them, all within 14 hours of Hurricane Irene departing the state.

Commissioner Goodwin has made no fewer than eleven personal trips to eastern and coastal North Carolina to view damage or to assist consumers and local governments with post-Irene issues.

During those visits, he has met with homeowners, business leaders, and locally-elected officials.

The Department and the Insurance Commissioner have also been dismayed - angered - by the acts of commission or omission perpetrated by private and public insurance adjusters, and third parties post-Irene. The Commissioner pledges further action in the near future on this topic once all investigations and analyses are completed.

Among the additional issues tackled by the Department of Insurance and Goodwin: Successfully encouraging FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to improve its services and be on the ground with homeowners at special Insurance Assistance Centers and to extend the period of time for proof of losses -- and addressing various, significant vacation travel insurance matters.

Insurance Commissioner Goodwin Criss-Crosses North Carolina

Though Not on Ballot in 2010, Statewide Elected Official Barnstorms All Over

Wayne Goodwin says he doesn't just meet consumers and voters during his election year, but each and every day.

To that end, he has picked up the pace of criss-crossing North Carolina from east to west, back and forth over the last several months.

Sometimes he's speaking to a group of 15 members of a civic club.

Another day he's bringing down the house in front of 1,000 senior citizens or small business owners at a conference.

Then there are the political events where he gets hundreds of people to respond back and engage with him as if they were in church.

And all in-between Goodwin informs, implores, cajoles, and makes his audiences laugh while proving each time that what makes him tick is good government, common sense leadership, consumer protection, transparency, doing what's right, and 21st century populism.

In the months of September and October alone, some of the Tar Heel places Insurance Commissioner Goodwin will have visited are:

*Carteret County Underwriters, Morehead City
*IIANC of Charlotte/Mecklenburg
*Roanoke Rapids Valley Chamber of Commerce
*Southeast Raleigh
*Anson County Democratic Party, Wadesboro
*Piedmont Triad 2010 Aging Conference, Greensboro
*Pharmacy Leaders' Forum, Greensboro
*Ashe Co. Democratic Party, West Jefferson
*Ashe County Homebuilders Association, Jefferson
*Gibson Fire Dept, Scotland County
*Employee Benefits Brokers Seminar, Charlotte
*NC Retail Pharmacists Annual Mtg, Raleigh
*Statewide Fire Drill/Fire Prevention Month, Cleveland Co. Fair, Shelby
*Tri-Community Fire Dept., New Bern
*Independent Insurance Agents of NC (IIANC) Annual Convention, Asheville
*Western NC Fire Training Center, Woodfin
*NC Assn of Health Underwriters - WNC (NCAHU), Asheville
*Governor's Aging Conference, Research Triangle Park
*NC State Fair (multiple times)
*Morrison-Deane-Goodman Annual Dinner, Hamlet
*East Carolina University (ECU), Greenville

Even more appearances and opportunities for citizens to meet him are slated in the coming months for coastal and eastern Carolina, as well as throughout the state.

And then there is all the activity he does actually in his office: ordering hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance refunds and rate reductions, fighting insurance fraud, protecting consumers, penalizing insurance companies for violations of the law, being a watchdog for insurance company solvency, approving and delivering grant funds to fire departments, keeping North Carolina ahead of the curve in many ways, and generally keeping a close eye on the work of his administration.

Suffice it to say, this state insurance commissioner - heralded as the best insurance commissioner in the country in Hamlet last night by Lt. Governor Walter Dalton and one of the best state insurance regulators in the nation by the President of the United States last month - is one of the hardest working, most accessible, highest octane state officials you'll ever find.