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May 4, 2006

Beacon board members ask judge to stop Carcieri

PROVIDENCE – Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. announced in court this morning that he will reconvene a hearing at 2 p.m. today for further arguments on whether Governor Carcieri can remove Beacon Mutual Insurance Co. board members George H. Nee and Henry R. Boeniger from their posts.

In a half-hour hearing before Fortunato this morning, discussion centered on what laws regulate Beacon and whether the governor has the authority to remove members of the Beacon board.

Fortunato asked several times if he could have more time to read over what he called a “voluminous” amount of court documents in the matter that he received this morning after they were filed yesterday afternoon.

Nee and Boeniger, both Democrats who work for labor unions, are requesting a temporary restraining order against the governor.

Carcieri is seeking to purge the leadership of the state’s dominant workers’ compensation insurer, which has come under fire since the scathing report issued last month by outside consultants revealed that Beacon gave preferential rates to some companies and maintained "inappropriate relationships" with certain insurance agents.

As Nee and Boeniger accuse the Republican governor of discriminating against them because of their union affiliations, a Republican Beacon board member resigned yesterday. John A. Holmes Jr. said in his resignation letter to the governor that he wanted to put an end to accusations by fellow board members of “discrimination for not removing me from the Board because of our political affiliation.”

May 4, 2006

Beacon board members ask judge to stop Carcieri

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