TALLAHASSEE — In a new TV ad for his congressional campaign, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis touts that he’s “the one person fighting for homeowners.”
In fact, the ad states, “he oversaw the largest fine in history against an insurance company.” The video included a Tampa Bay Times headline from last year about state regulators fining Tampa-based Heritage Insurance $1 million for how it treated homeowners after Hurricane Ian.
Except, Patronis never explicitly came out in support of that fine when it was issued (and it wasn’t the largest).
The ad, “Fighting for Homeowners‚” was for Patronis’ race for Congressional District 1 in the western Panhandle. He faces a Democrat in the April 1 special election, which he’s expected to easily win.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, not Patronis’ Department of Financial Services, levied the fine against Heritage Insurance. The office found that the company was slow to respond to claims, slow to pay claims, used improperly licensed adjusters and kept poor records.
The governor and the Florida Cabinet — of which the chief financial officer is a part — oversee the Office of Insurance Regulation.
When the fine was announced, the Times/Herald asked Patronis’ office for comment. His spokesperson had nothing to say about Heritage’s behavior.
Instead, he appeared critical the company was fined in the first place.
“Rather than sending more cash to state coffers, if there are more of these types of penalties, the CFO is interested in exploring legislative solutions where money goes back to policyholders through additional rate relief,” his spokesperson, Devin Galetta, said at the time.
(The fine would have amounted to a refund of $6.66 for each of Heritage’s 150,000 customers.)
In 2013, state regulators fined Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Co. $1.3 million for wrongfully denying claims and shifting profits to affiliate companies.
Heritage has been a major political donor in Florida, giving at least $2.3 million to Florida politicians and political committees since 2013. It also was a sponsor of DeSantis’ reelection inauguration. Its lobbyist, Fred Karlinsky, is reportedly among Patronis’ top advisers.
At the time, Heritage CEO Ernie Garateix responded to the fine in a statement — sent by Patronis’ longtime campaign manager, Melissa Stone.
“Our message to our policyholders is simple: We are committed to excellence and will never stop striving to improve,” Garateix said in the statement sent by Stone.
Stone, representing Patronis on Tuesday, couldn’t answer why Patronis’ office was dismissive of the fine, yet appeared to support it in his television ad.
She referred to the closing line of his ad: “I’m Jimmy Patronis, and I approved this message.”
Lawrence Mower is a Tallahassee correspondent, covering politics and the state capitol. Reach him at lmower@tampabay.com.
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