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By Laura McCallum
July 27, 1999
Second of two parts.
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In his first seven months on the job, Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch is living up to his campaign rhetoric as an aggressive consumer advocate, taking on insurance companies, HMOs and banks. Some say Hatch's focus proves he's a fearless populist fighting for the voters, others say he's a reckless crusader driven by his own political ambitions.
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Hatch: This is why the phrase "equal justice under the law" is etched on the entrance of the Supreme Court. It means that the government is charged with building a system of justice that treats all of us alike - rich and poor, big and little, black and white, the government as well as the governed.Hatch's supporters say the attorney general tends to stick up for the underdog, battling powerful interests. Hatch's chief deputy, former Hennepin County judge John Stanoch, says his boss is continuing the fight he started in private practice, when he represented women with breast cancer who were denied bone-marrow transplants by their health insurers.
Stanoch: The reason he's here is because he saw terrible things happening in health care. He saw people being told to go home and die, that there's nothing anybody can do, or there's nothing that we'll pay for. And there are women across this state that are alive today because Mike was willing to go to court and to fight for them.Hatch has continued to push for HMO reform as attorney general, proposing a bill that would allow patients to sue their health plans for damages, and prohibit doctors from taking kickbacks from HMOs. The bill didn't get very far in the 1999 session, but Hatch says he'll try again next year.
His agenda goes beyond health care. He's asked the U.S. Justice Department to oppose the merger of ag giants Cargill and Continental, sued American Family Insurance over storm-damage claims from homeowners, successfully pushed legislation to prohibit the practice of mortgage flipping, and in his most high-profile case to date, sued U.S. Bank Corporation over the privacy of bank customers' records. Hatch's office ultimately settled the case, but critics say it showed Hatch's penchant to sue first and negotiate later.
Bill Blazar, senior vice president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, says the business community wonders who's next. He says Hatch should consider first sitting down and talking to companies he believes are violating the law.
Hatch: And then, you know, you can always pull out the sledgehammer and beat them over the head. But I think the way the attorney general seems to go is he beats them over the head first and says "now, let's talk." Why would they? And if there is a problem, then all that he's done is delayed the resolution, and that's not good consumer protection.Hatch defends his decision to sue U.S. Bank Corp. He says the focus should be on the bank's selling of customers' data to telemarketers, not the way his office responded.
Hatch: I am willing to take a lawsuit against a bank or an HMO, regardless of their size, if they are violating the law. And all too often in our society, if you are big enough and powerful enough, no action is taken. You get called in, you're said "don't do it again," you shake hands with the regulator, you shake hands with the attorneys, and they promise not to do it again They walk away unscathed.Supporters applaud Hatch's willingness to battle corporations regardless of their political and financial clout, while critics say he picks easy targets. In the case of the vulnerable cancer patient versus the giant HMO, it's hard to find much sympathy for the financial limitations of the insurer. Some observers speculate that Hatch will parlay his knack for finding hot-button issues into another bid for governor. He's run twice unsuccessfully. The Minnesota Chamber's Bill Blazar points out that Hatch held a fundraiser during his first few months in office, and says he seems to pick targets guaranteed to put him in the public spotlight.
Hatch: If there are problems, I want him to focus on solving the problems in the shortest amount of time and the least expense, and I'm not sure that we need all the publicity frankly. Now if you're running for governor, well, maybe that creates a whole different set of considerations where you want to get your name in the paper as much and as often as you can.But Kip Sullivan, research director for Minnesota COACT; which, like Hatch, has railed against HMO policies, says it's ludicrous to think the attorney general picks issues for political advantage.
Sullivan: To even think for a moment that this is somehow opportunistic is ridiculous. I mean, if you listen to Mike talk, you can tell it makes him angry, you can tell he's having a good time taking these issues on. And when you think about the risk to his political career, I think it's nuts to say it's somehow opportunism.The insurance industry is clearly troubled by Hatch's interest in scrutinizing their practices, stemming back to his days as commerce commissioner. Industry representatives refused to comment for this story, but Hatch admits he's starting to feel the heat for his aggressive approach.
Hatch: You just don't go out and get involved in this type of litigation without getting some consequences, and that's what we pay the price for. But that's why we ran for office. We didn't think it was going to be a Sunday-school picnic.Hatch's agenda gets mixed reviews from Minnesota lawmakers. Republican State Representative Rich Stanek, a Minneapolis police officer who chairs the House Crime Prevention Committee, says Hatch failed to introduce an overall crime package this year, unlike his predecessor, 16-year Attorney General Skip Humphrey.
Stanek: Humphrey focused a lot on crime. He was a good friend of cops. Hatch has been non-existent, and that concerns me. I mean, again, I'm looking at it from my very parochial view, but then again, there's 9,000 police officers in this state and public safety always ranks as one of the top three concerns of the citizens.Hatch points out that he did lobby for several crime initiatives such as funding for the state's gang strike task force, and his office recently obtained two homicide convictions. And some lawmakers say it may not be necessary to pass a comprehensive crime package every year to increase sentences.
Veteran DFL Senator Allan Spear of Minneapolis, who chairs the Senate Crime Prevention Committee, says Hatch is doing better than he expected with his focus on consumer protection.
Spear: I'll be honest with you, I was critical of Mike a year ago for not talking enough about crime. But now watching how it's played out, and watching how the Legislature has, I think, been able to focus rationally on crime without a lot of pressure to do this or that or another thing in the penalty and punishment area, I think it's okay that he's focused on those issues.Spear notes that Hatch was the only attorney general candidate who didn't campaign on crime prevention, and he handily beat his opponents. One of them was DFL Senator Ember Reichgott Junge of New Hope, who says although she would have run the office differently, voters clearly knew who they were electing.
Junge: There was no question what Mike Hatch's priorities were, and the people elected him because he talked about health care, and he talked about consumer protection, and I believe he feels he has a mandate, and I think he does. He won fairly convincingly both the primary and the general election and he never pretended that his priorities were any different than that.
Even Hatch's critics admit there have been few surprises now that Hatch is in office. He's doing exactly what they expected him to do. He seems determined to continue in a similar vein, and his next target might be the federal government over Medicare reimbursements.
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