Letter From Jimmy Alsup To The Newspaper

This is the letter from Mr. Alsup to the newspaper responding to recent revelations about Giles County Insurance Activities. I was requested to post this as a separate thread.

Wilburn; Newspaper Owe Apology

To the Editor:

I have hesitated for a long time to respond to the various allegation and comments in your paper because I have always believed you are to ignore foolish people. The articles and editorial in last week’s paper, dated April 13, 2010, have caused me to reconsider my previous position. The public needs to know the truth.

Mr. Wilburn writes insurance for a fine mutual fire insurance company in Giles County. He does not write property and casualty insurance for any city in the county or the county of Giles. His company writes hard to place homeowners and fire policies. I do not know who set him up as an expert on county insurance needs, but he clearly shows that he does not know how an independent agency works or what is involved in evaluating the total needs and cost of insurance for a county.

How many independent agencies has Mr. Wilburn worked for and does he understand that independent agencies routinely have both agency billed policies and direct billed policies? Clearly from his statements he does not know the difference. Agency billed policies are billed to the agent; the agent bills the client and pays the company the net amount. Maybe Mr. Wilburn and his life insurance sidekick have never heard of the American Independent Agency System.

Mr. Wilburn clearly knows what Giles County pays for all their property and casualty insurance. He has the invoices to prove it. His legs have already been cut out from under him (to use his own quote), but he clearly does not understand this. What Mr. Wilburn wants to know and can’t find out is what the companies pay our agency. This is none of his business. Giles County does not ask any other vendor of any type what they make on any product. Why should our agency be treated differently? Is Mr. Wilburn going to request this information from every vendor, including building contractors, bus companies or product suppliers, or is Alsup and Associates being discriminated against?

Giles County wants their policies billed by our agency and broken down as we have done for 30-plus years and will continue to do. Our agency has served Giles County and the Board of Education through the leadership of Mr. Holley, Mr. Abernathy, Mr. Collins, Mr. Little, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Jackson as director of schools. We have served under Mr. Wakefield, Mr. Miller, Mr. Collier, and Mrs. Vanzant as county executives and Mrs. Garner as finance manager. Does Mr. Wilburn wish to infer that we over-charged all these leaders, and they did not say anything?

Now let’s get to the comparisons that were in last week’s paper. Does the premium for Marshall County include occupational accident or workers’ compensation premium? Does it include work comp coverage for the schools? Does it include auto, liability and property and crime for the school system? The answer is NO. How does Marshall County’s insurance experience in all lines compare to that of Giles County? How many employees, vehicles and all enforcement personnel does Marshall County have and how do the property values compare? What are the deductibles on the various policies?

Wayne County’s scenario is much the same. Mr. Wilburn took only part of their premium and compared it to the entire premium of Giles County. You must look at all the other factors as well.

Lawrence County has a $25,000 deductible per claim on their occupational accident policy, and the deductible for Giles County is $2,500. This is a huge difference when figuring the premium on this policy. What is their claim experience?

Either Mr. Wilburn does not understand all of the above, or he willfully chooses to ignore these details. Either way, he is not qualified to pass judgment on me. No two counties’ exposure and experience are alike.

Now let’s talk about my relationship with my companies. Neither my agency nor any of my companies are subject to the open records law. We are not public governmental entities. The companies will not give Mr. Wilburn or Mr. Morris any information on our dealing with the county. The invoices from the companies to Alsup and Associates have not been sent to Mrs. Garner, and, thus, Mrs. Garner cannot provide such invoices to anyone. The policies written by Alsup and Associates have been audited by and cleared by the state of Tennessee auditors.

As for the newspaper printing and cheering for all of the allegations without questioning the validity of them and doing a little investigative work on your own, shame on you. Do a little work and stop printing all the garbage without question.

I challenge Mr. Wilburn, Mr. Morris, and anyone else to prove that I have done anything wrong or unethical, or have overcharged for any policy (the company sets all rates) – or issue a public apology. The same goes for the “jaw-dropping” paper. Mr. Wilburn, Mr. Morris, and the newspaper owe an apology to Mrs. Vanzant and Mrs. Garner for accusing them of failure to give you documents they clearly do not have.

Many fine citizens in Giles County decline to run for county commission or school board offices because of an agitator within the school board and county commission and the agitators among the letter writers which are given credence the newspaper not challenging outrageous accusations. These agitators are against anyone who supports Mr. Jackson, Mrs. Vanzant, or Mrs. Garner in anyway, and these agitators stand for nothing positive. Giles County has few citizens who have moved into the county and want to change everything about the county and its government and are happy with nothing. I implore the good people of Giles County to vote against these troublemakers who seek personal power and do not have the best interest of Giles County at heart, and also against those who give unchallenged voice in the local paper. Freedom of speech and press are precious rights but with them come the responsibility of honesty and due diligence.

I realize this is a lengthy response. Given all the space allocated to Mr. Wilburn, Mr. Morris, and their cheerleaders over the past two years, proper space is merited for rebuttal. If you do not print my response in full, do not print anything. I will pay for the space.

Jimmy Alsup, President Alsup and Associates Insurance Inc. P O Box 488, Pulaski, TN 38478