Doug Green (Louisiana politician)
Douglas D. Green, known as Doug Green (born c. 1950), is the former Louisiana insurance commissioner who held the office from 1988 to 1991, when he received a 25-year federal sentence for taking $2 million in illegal campaign contributions from owners of insurance companies doing business with the state. Green's predecessor and fellow Democrat Sherman A. Bernard, whom he unseated in the 1987 nonpartisan blanket primary, pleaded guilty to extorting bribes disguised as campaign contributions and served forty-one months during the middle 1990s in a federal prison in Alabama.
Election in 1987
The 37-year-old Green, a candidate previously unknown, was described by one publication as having "looked like the boy next door". Green nevertheless upset Bernard in the 1987 primary, 773,026 votes (55.3 percent) to 456,539 (32.6 percent). Green had run on a platform calling for reform in the department - he even called himself "Mr. Clean". However, Green was subsequently heavily implicated in the Champion insurance scandal and received a far greater sentence than had Bernard for similar offenses but involving much less money. Champion wrote high-risk automobile policies for premium coverage at a lower price than was offered by its competition. In exchange for regulatory favors, Champion made more than $2 million in campaign contributions to Green. The failed Champion companly left $150 million in unpaid claims covered by taxpayers.