Perry: Now this is the Pinnacol of grumps and greed
BY DAVE PERRY
The Aurora Sentinel
Published: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/articles/2010/05/26/opinion/columnists/doc4bfca4cebd10a253572950.txtThe state couldn't have picked a better name than Pinnacol Assurance for a company that has guaranteed itself a reputation of being the height of boorish arrogance and wolfish greed.
If you haven't seen Channel 7's latest expose on the so-called quasi-public, workers-compensation insurance behemoth, you're missing the best reality show on TV.
Reporters there got a tip from Pinnacol employees that the ever abrasive Pinnacol CEO Ken Ross was going to take three of his board of directors and a load of other favored employees on the junket of a lifetime to an outrageously expensive Pebble Beach golf sanctuary. So the even more abrasive Channel 7 investigative reporter Tony Kovaleski packed up his hidden camera and headed to California to catch the pinnacles of Pinnacol having tens of thousands of dollars worth of fun. And he did.
If you're looking for a reason to care here, you either didn't know or forgot that Pinnacol was the agency created by the state eons ago to officer state-mandated worker compensation insurance for businesses that simply couldn't get it. The government agency struggled for decades until it was spun off about 10 years ago as public-private worker compensation insurance company. Since then, it's become wildly successful. In fact it's so successful that it has amassed not only the state-required billion dollars or so in holdings against possible claims, but several extra hundred millions of dollars as well. It's the same agency that has been under fire previously for paying Ross and some others oh-so handsomely, and spending scandalous amounts of money on shameful excursions across the country.
One reason it's been able to collect so much cash is because it runs as a “non-profit” and pays no corporate or business or property taxes, helping the agency rack up about $5 million a year. In addition, employees there get to belong to the enviable Public Employee Retirement Association.
Despite all the clear signals of being a state agency, including that the board of directors is appointed by the governor, Ross and his allies have insisted, nay, they have demanded that Pinnacol is a private insurance company and should get to act like one. Defending them with bared teeth and clenched fists are chambers of commerce across the state and many of their members. For good reason, the chambers help sign up new accounts and get hefty kickbacks in exchange, creating a substantial revenue stream at a time when revenue is hard to come by for everyone.
So when it became clear that there was funny business going on at this government agency that wanted to be left alone like a private company but wasn't about to give up its tax and retirement benefits, the local business community came quickly to Ross' defense. When state Sen. Morgan Carroll, an Aurora Democrat, headed a interim committee charged with digging through the sullied closets of Pinnacol, and started turning up some alarming skeletons, she became Pinnacol Enemy Number One and was vilified for having the temerity to question a company that offers cheap insurance, no matter what went on behind closed doors.
Somewhere along the line, supporters seemed to forget that this is supposed to be about injured workers, who are not ever invited to take part in the Carmel region wine tours or tony cocktail parties.
Carroll and others carried bills during this most recent session trying to get an injured worker and a physician on the Pinnacol board, but she was beat back by the powerful chamber-Pinnacol lobbies. She and others tried to limit the way Pinnacol hounds injured workers they suspect are gaming the system, but she was turned back on that, too. Spying cameras, it seems, should be pointed only at injured workers, not Pinnacol executives.
So what did the company accused of greedily spending beaucoup bucks on lavish parties while keeping deep, dark secrets do when they were able to snuff legislation that would shine a light on their activities? They ran off to Pebble Beach, Calif. for an indecent celebration, spending thousands on 28 swank rooms and $500 each to play a single round of golf. Tips were extra.
No one outside of Pinnacol knows just how much they paid for this little Animal Farm-ish soiree because they say they don't have to tell, and they're going to court to try and keep the public from finding out.
And when Kovaleski showed up at the golf course and started asking questions, Ross had a melt down and started pushing Kovaleski around saying the trip had nothing to do with Pinnacol.
What?
This has gone far enough. While there are no tax dollars going directly into the pockets of these imperious people, there are plenty of tax dollars being kept from Colorado coffers on Pinnacol's behalf. This company sells mandatory insurance to businesses that must buy it from them. The public has every right to know just how much money these people spend on snacks and shacks.
State lawmakers need to send the interim Pinnacol committee back into action, this time, with the help of the state's attorney general and go through this agency with a bright light, a warrant and fine-tooth comb, telling premium payers, injured workers and the public just how much money is really being wasted with a rewards system that even Caligula would envy.
In the mean time, Ross and the three board members who thought this nauseating California fun-fest was a good idea, need to resign immediately. Besides having less credibility than they do common sense, their brutish and impudent act is just plain bad for business.
Unless their focus is monkey business, in which case, they appear to be the tops.
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