CEI Analysts Blast New York Insurance Head

By Richard Morrison [1]

April 20, 2009

Contacts:

Eli
Lehrer, 202-615-0586

Richard Morrison, 202-331-2273

CEI Analysts Blast New York Insurance Head

Attack on
Allstate Is Blatant Retaliation, May Be Illegal

Washington,
D.C., April 20, 2009—Two analysts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a
free market think tank, today harshly attacked New York State Insurance
Superintendent Eric Dinallo’s decision to investigate the Allstate Corporation
following the company’s CEO’s outspoken support for a federal regulator. In a
letter [2] to New York State Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo, the
analysts contend that the call for an investigation into Allstate’s activities
is simply a cover for illegal efforts to chill the company’s speech.

In a
letter, CEI Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer [3]
and CEI Counsel Hans Bader [4] argue
that Dinallo’s activities are very likely illegal and suggest that companies he
has attempted to intimidate sue the New York State Insurance Department.

“What
Superintendent Dinallo did is outrageous,” says CEI Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer.
“I disagree with a lot of things that Allstate has said and done but this is a
blatant effort at intimidation."

CEI is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group
dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more
information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org [5].