Fact-checking Bryan Nelson
We hear a variety of claims from politicians, and it can be difficult to dissect which statements are true, or even mostly true. Representative Bryan Nelson has made a few statements that have stood out to me, and I feel obligated to discuss a few facts.
Access to quality, affordable insurance
On his website, Representative Nelson lists “access to quality, affordable insurance” as his first objective as an elected official. He uses the word “quality,” while at the same time sponsors House Bill 1447, which seeks to destroy important consumer options to protect homes from sinkholes and sinkhole activity.
I do not know whether Representative Nelson knows what causes sinkholes, but he lives in an area that is not known for the frequency of sinkhole activity found elsewhere around the state. As such, it would appear that he is more interested in protecting the premiums of his insurance contracts, as he does sell property insurance as an insurance agent.
While we acknowledge the issues with the availability of property insurance in the state, this bill is not the answer.
Pro-family
Representative Nelson was honored last October 2009 by speaking with the GFWC Apopka Woman’s Club, at the First United Methodist Church. While I am sure he touted himself as being “pro-family” and other issues important to the women attending this conference, I suspect he was not completely honest about where his loyalties were.
Specifically, he may not have mentioned that for at least many of the homeowners in Central Florida, sinkhole damage is a significant problem. Seeking now to save his insurance contacts’ money by gutting the insurance coverage probably did not come up either.
Facilitating transparency ins our government
Note, too, that Representative Nelson associates himself with freedomspeaks.com, an organization with its stated goal of “facilitating transparency in our government.”
If Representative Nelson is true to the values of Freedomspeaks.com, then he should come clean about his intentions with House Bill 1447 because, if he wants to limit coverage for sinkhole damage to only 25 percent of the insurance coverage provided, he is essentially gutting the coverage.
This is going to mislead a lot of homeowners, who will confirm the presence of sinkhole coverage, only to discover later that they paid higher premiums for worthless coverage.
Habitat for Humanity
Lastly, Representative Nelson likes to list himself among supporters of Habitat for Humanity. While he wants to support a person’s right to own their own home, he acts at the same time to imperil their property. He’d rather give support to insurance companies, who accept millions of annual premiums and on some policies he even is paid a commission as an insurance agent.
To read more about the ill-conceived bill, read my post, New Florida House Bill Seeks to Gut Sinkhole Insurance. Then, read about what you can do to speak out against Bill 1447.
