Declarations

Driver’s License Smear

“This is just an ill-informed and incorrect attempt to smear the governor’s initiative to end the dangerous practice of issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.”

—Ben Cloutier, a spokesman for New Mexico’s Taxation and Revenue Department, slammed new complaints about revisions to the state’s immigrant driver’s license law supported by Gov. Susana Martinez.

He Would Have Known

“If there were $17 million dollars of damage, we sure as hell would have known about that. I would have known if there was anything in the magnitude of $100,000.”

—Tim Frank, the Palm Beach, Fla., planning administrator after 2005’s Hurricane Wilma, discussing the $17 million payout Donald Trump received from his insurance company to fix damage to his private Mar-a-Lago Club caused by the storm. Frank says permits for repairs of that magnitude were never ordered.

A Life Saver

“Like any measure, your first inclination is to vote no. If I wouldn’t have seen it with my own eyes, I would have been in the same boat probably.”

—Linda Kersten, a staunch supporter of North Dakota’s medical marijuana ballot initiative, Measure 5. Kerstan says marijuana successfully countered the side-effects of her daughter’s surgeries and chemotherapy treatment for stage 4 colon cancer. “It was pretty much a life saver,” said the 70-year-old retired teacher.

Clearer Flood Disaster Data

“Our data on housing damages is getting more and more clear. Impacts to small businesses are starting to come into view, and we are just beginning to gather critical data relative to infrastructure damages … Our needs are still great.”

—Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards in a letter to President Obama bumped up his request for federal flood disaster aid to more than $4 billion to repair south Louisiana’s flood damage. The Democratic governor’s earlier request totaled $2.8 billion for the flooding in August.

Workers’ Comp Gaps

“We need to be asking ourselves what we need to do to mitigate some of these holes and gaps in workers’ compensation. It doesn’t appear as though a community of the industry is coming together to have that discussion, and we believe this is something that we should all be partaking in and have a voice.”

—Kimberly George, senior vice president at Sedgwick, speaking at the American Society of Workers’ Compensation Professionals (AMCOMP) Fall Meeting in New York. She and panelist Mark Walls, vice president of communications and strategic analysis at Safety National, discussed a lack of uniformity around state workers’ compensation programs that has become an increasing source of concern for the industry.