Backroom Briefing: Carlos Beruff, unplugged

By BRANDON LARRABEE AND JIM TURNER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, April 4, 2016..........Carlos Beruff, the newest member of the Republican primary field for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat, wouldn't say during a campaign stop this week in Tallahassee who got his vote in the last month's presidential primary.

But whether he voted for Donald Trump or not, Beruff appears to be taking some cues from his fellow real-estate businessman-turned-political candidate. Take, for example, the television ad that Beruff's campaign released this week. It begins with him awkwardly reading from a TelePrompTer before setting his coffee on it and turning to another camera.

"The experts want me to read a bunch of political crap off this TelePrompTer. Here's what I have to say: Obama's a disaster, and Washington politicians are worthless. They waste our money, they make America weaker, and they refuse to secure our border," Beruff said.

And while Beruff hasn't racked up anything like the string of controversial comments that have fueled Donald Trump's rise to the top of the heap in the GOP presidential contest, he showed while talking to reporters and the Tallahassee Republican Women's Club Federated this week that his default setting is "unfiltered."

A reporter asked Beruff why the current Republican race --- which includes U.S. Reps. Ron DeSantis and David Jolly, Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera and businessman Todd Wilcox --- remains a bit undefined and has no runaway front-runner. Beruff responded that he didn't know.

"I'm the neophyte in this process," he said. "I learn every day. It's sort of like Alzheimer's. So I've got a new and exciting day every day."

Speaking to the women's club, he opened his brief bio with a description of his birth that was ever-so-slightly suggestive.

"I won the lottery because my mother in March 13, 1957, was the only woman conspirator on the failed attack on the presidential palace in Havana, Cuba," Beruff said. "And when her and my father had to go into hiding, they didn't have cable television back then, so nine months later, I was born."

What would Beruff do about health-care reform? Not just a repeal of Obamacare, but an overhaul of the entire system, with a transition to a start-from-scratch system over two or three years. Beruff conceded to reporters that he didn't know exactly what that would look like, but said he would rely on "some really bright guys that really know that business."

There was, however, one area in which Beruff distinguished himself, perhaps unintentionally, from the boisterous billionaire who is the front-runner for his party's presidential nomination. Beruff said he was about $20 million in debt in 1992, but got through it.

"I didn't file bankruptcy, personally and corporately, because I was stubborn and my father said he'd never talk to me again," Beruff said. "I like talking to my dad, two or three times a week."

So the let-it-rip approach might be the one of the few things Beruff shares with Trump. That seems to have worked so far for the businessman running for president. Time will tell if works for the businessman running for senator as well.

MCCARTY WANTS TO KEEP WORKING TO PROTECT CONSUMERS

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty doesn't officially have anything lined up for himself after his pending departure, which has been delayed until June.

But an appearance Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes" should bolster his national profile, already well-known in the industry.

The "60 Minutes" piece, titled "Not Paid," by correspondent Lesley Stahl and producer Rich Bonin, prominently featured McCarty and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater. The report highlighted that some insurance companies have neglected to pay claims to beneficiaries of policyholders who have died.

"I don't think it will help me get a job in the life industry," McCarty joked Thursday. "But I certainly think it's been an opportunity to highlight the great work that we've done, not only in Florida but working collaboratively with my colleagues around the country, and I hope to continue and work somewhere that I can help in working to protect consumers."

There has been speculation that McCarty --- the state's appointed insurance commissioner since 2003 --- could be headed to a national outfit, such as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

McCarty, who was one of three agency heads targeted for removal a year ago by Gov. Rick Scott, said the reaction to the "60 Minutes" piece has been positive.

"I've gotten several emails from consumers around the country, who have had similar situations … where they found policies and struggled with their insurance companies, expressing gratitude for the work that we did," said McCarty, who headed a national task force that investigated the industry.

McCarty said he's also received kudos from consumers groups and some insurance industry folks.

The 60 Minutes piece noted that 25 of about 60 of the national biggest life insurance companies have agreed to pay more than $7.5 billion in back death benefits after audits "uncovered a systematic, industry-wide practice of not paying significant numbers of beneficiaries."

"Many of these policies that we're talking about are like the old industrial life policies, where they used to come around once a week and collect," McCarty said. "Many of those have been paid up, stowed away … and if you're a beneficiary and you didn't know there was a policy, there is no way you're ever going to make a claim."

The report comes on the heels of legislation (SB 966), passed during the 2016 session and signed into law by Scott, aimed at ensuring that life-insurance companies pay benefits.

The bill places additional requirements on insurers about using what is known as the United States Social Security Administration Death Master File to determine whether policyholders have died --- and whether benefits should be paid.

McCarty was set to leave May 2, but on Wednesday wrote letters to Scott, Atwater, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam extending his date by 45 days.

The letter came as Scott and Atwater apparently have hit an impasse in jointly recommending McCarty's replacement, required before the governor and Cabinet can select a new commissioner.

TWEET OF THE WEEK: "Former #FloridaMan removed from $20 bill…" Bob King (@BKingDC), Politico Pro deputy editor, regarding Andrew Jackson's image being replaced by that of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.