‘I don’t have any choice.’ NC insurance chief to rehire fire officials he dismissed
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NC Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey
North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey cast himself as opposed to “good ol boy” politics before taking office in 2017. But exclusive News & Observer reporting has revealed multiple ways that he has accommodated friends and political allies. Read more of The N&O’s ongoing coverage here.
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Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey will reinstate top fire safety officials he dismissed last month, saying he has no choice but to comply with new legislation signed by Gov. Roy Cooper that protects the three employees.
The firings came amid a political fight between Causey and legislative leaders, who stripped him of his role as state fire marshal and made the job an independent position through language tucked into the state budget.
Brian Taylor, who was set to replace Causey as acting state fire marshal, was one of the employees fired on Oct. 31.
Causey himself offered no explanation for the firings at the time, but told The News & Observer on Tuesday that at least one of the fired employees had shared sensitive information with the legislature.
“I didn’t have to have any reason to make the change,” Causey said. “But I felt that I had sufficient reason that I’d lost the confidence and trust of some of the folks that are in leadership.”
Taylor dismissed Causey’s claim about sharing of sensitive information.
“I don’t really know why he would say that or what the purpose is,” Taylor told The N&O. “It was clear that the legislature’s intent... they were looking at protecting the current leadership and the employees.”
Republicans control the legislature, and Causey is also a Republican.
Insurance commissioners in North Carolina have also held the role of state fire marshal since the 1940s, but lawmakers filed a bill, Senate Bill 363, to change that this year. It didn’t make it through committee, but most of the changes it made were added to the 625-page state budget, which became law last month.
Causey claims that the changes to the Office of the State Fire Marshal were legislative payback for his opposition to a bill dealing with Blue Cross Blue Shield, one of the state’s largest insurance providers.
Sen. Jim Perry, a Lenoir County Republican and one of SB 363’s sponsors, pointed out that he filed the bill weeks before the Blue Cross legislation was discussed in the General Assembly.
Causey says he’d expected Cooper to veto legislation
In addition to the changes made in the budget, the legislature passed Senate Bill 409, which essentially safeguarded the jobs of the employees Causey later dismissed.
Causey went ahead with firing them, expecting the governor to veto the bill, he said. However, Cooper ended up signing the bill, which also expands cancer benefits for firefighters, last week.
“I am signing this bill because of the important changes for firefighters but I strongly disagree with the unconstitutional legislative intrusion into the executive authority of state officials by directing employment of individual state employees,” Cooper said in a statement.
With the bill now taking effect, Causey said he met with Taylor and informed him that he would be reinstated.
“We’re going to make the best of it, we’re going to make it work – I don’t have any choice,” he said.
The others employees Causey dismissed were Mike Williams, the senior deputy commissioner of fire and safety services, and Brent Heath, who is the legislative liaison for the office.
Causey said he does not plan to pursue legal action challenging the changes to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, suggesting instead that any potential lawsuit would need to come from the governor.
Taylor, contacted by The N&O on Tuesday, confirmed that he would return to work on Wednesday.
“Families have been caught up in this — innocent families,” he told the N&O earlier this week. “...I’m looking forward to get back to work and serving the citizens of North Carolina.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2023 at 2:59 PM with the headline "‘I don’t have any choice.’ NC insurance chief to rehire fire officials he dismissed."
