Superintendent Designate Eric Dinallo has made precious few appearances during the first few weeks following his nomination. We caught one at the Insurance Federation of New Yorks (IFNY) Breakfast With on March 8 at the Mutual of America headquarters on Park Avenue. About 100 professionals and members of the federation gathered to hear the superintendent kick off a series of focal areas that his administration will be targeting. The highlights ranged from the recent workers comp legislation, to broker transparency " to which he referred twice, making reference to the British system and British Law which have now found there way here across the Atlantic. He also made reference to his staff in some rather interesting ways. He stated that some individuals in the department had quit, anticipating that they would be released, when in fact they might very well have been kept. This point was made in the larger context of his affirmation that appointments were largely non-partisan; that the department was above politics, and that the appointment process did not contemplate a Democratic Party department, per se, although clearly this factor must play into many key decisions.

We were impressed by Dinallos objectivity, clarity, quickness, and clear willingness not to avoid controversy or to side step seemingly anything put before him. We believe he will be confirmed, even if he follows in the footsteps of those whose approval came nearly at the end of the session in which they were nominated.

On a lighter note, in the audience were former Superintendents Corcoran and Curiale " Curiale was the host of the gathering " who could not resist the temptation to refer to their administrations respectively under the last Democrat regime in Albany. The give and take at these IFNY functions is always delightful, and is kind of insiders experience.