John Morrison is a Montana attorney, businessman, and political leader. He served as the elected Montana State Auditor, Insurance Commissioner and Securities Commissioner from 2001-2009. In 2006, he was a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Since returning to the private sector in 2009, Morrison has resumed his law practice and consults nationally and internationally on insurance related issues.

Biography

John Morrison grew up in the railroad and timber town of Whitefish, Montana

Whitefish, Montana

Whitefish is a city in Flathead County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,032 at the 2000 census. It is home to a ski resort on Big Mountain called Whitefish Mountain Resort. Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer hails from Whitefish....

. His father was a small town lawyer and his mother, a substitute teacher and speech therapist. His grandfather was Frank B. Morrison

Frank B. Morrison

Frank Brenner Morrison served as the 31st Governor of the U.S. state of Nebraska from 1961 to 1967, representing the Democratic Party. He also ran for United States Senate in 1958, 1966 and 1970 but lost all three elections. He lost to Roman L. Hruska in 1958 and 1970 while in 1966 he lost to Carl...

, Governor

Governor of Nebraska

The Governor of Nebraska holds the "supreme executive power" of the State of Nebraska as provided by the fourth article of the Nebraska Constitution. The current Governor is Dave Heineman, a Republican, who assumed office on January 20, 2005 upon the resignation of Mike Johanns . He won a full...

 of Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

 (1961–67).
When Morrison was in high school, his family moved to Missoula

Missoula, Montana

Missoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...

 and he graduated from Hellgate High School

Hellgate High School

Hellgate High School is located in Missoula, Montana. It is the largest high school in the Missoula County Public School's District of Montana in terms of student body population...

. Morrison received his bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 from Whitman College

Whitman College

Whitman College is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian, residential undergraduate liberal arts college located in Walla Walla, Washington. Initially founded as a seminary by a territorial legislative charter in 1859, the school became a four year degree granting institution in 1883...

 in Walla Walla, Washington

Walla Walla, Washington

Walla Walla is the largest city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. The population was 31,731 at the 2010 census...

, where he excelled in academics and debate. During college, he worked as a construction laborer and radio announcer and had his own landscaping business. After graduating in 1983, Morrison entered the University of Denver

University of Denver

The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....

 Law School, where he served as an associate law review

Law review

A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...

 editor and was a finalist at the National Trial Competition.

Legal career

From 1987-1988, Morrison worked in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 as a legislative aide and legal counsel to Montana's Senator John Melcher

John Melcher

John Melcher is an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented Montana as a member of the United States House of Representatives, and as a United States Senator from 1977 until 1989.-Early life:...

 and the Senate Agriculture Committee, helping write the Farm Credit Act of 1987, signed into law by President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

.

Returning to Montana, Morrison spent the next thirteen years practicing law in Helena

Helena, Montana

Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...

. He represented the state in its Medicaid reimbursement case against tobacco companies

Tobacco industry

The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...

, represented The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 and other media organizations in the Unabomber case, and handled scores of complex civil cases in both state and federal trial and appellate courts, including Montana's first medical monitoring class action on behalf of hundreds of fen/Phen victims. Morrison was a partner in a small law firm and he taught widely at legal seminars and as a guest lecturer at the University of Montana Law School.

While still in his thirties, Morrison received an “AV” rating from Martindale-Hubbel (the highest peer rating for legal ability and ethical standards) and became a certified Civil Trial Advocate through the National Board of trial Advocacy. He was elected and served as president of the Montana Trial Lawyers Association where he began a program to provide hundreds of bicycle helmets each year to underprivileged Montana school children. Morrison authored numerous legal articles and a book, "Mavericks, The Lives and Battles of Montana Political Legends." Morrison created two private endowments: the Montana Endowment for Public Health and Safety and the Mohamed Nasir Kahn Scholarship Endowment.

Auditor’s Office

As Montana State Auditor and Commissioner of Insurance and Securities, Morrison proposed, designed and implemented "Insure Montana," a small business health care program that uses tax credits, premium assistance and pooling to cover thousands of uninsured workers and their family members. (Great Falls Tribune 3/11/05, article on business page and editorial); (Missoulian 12/21/05.) His proposal, passed in 2005 and funded by a special tobacco tax, also included funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and a prescription drug program. (Missoulian 1/6/03; Great Falls Tribune 1/28/03) He also created a premium assistance program for Montana’s high risk health insurance program that covers the chronically ill, and successfully rehabilitated a Montana Health Insurer. (Daily Interlake 9/8/02).

Morrison secured passage of sweeping new privacy laws restricting unauthorized use of personal medical and financial information and credit scores. (Billings Gazette 5/8/01 (privacy)); (Great Falls Tribune. 1/29/05 (credit scoring)).

Morrison proposed the Montana Captive Insurance Act and helped launch the niche industry that has brought Montana more than 40 new domestic insurers. (Billings Gazette 3/2/02. )

As securities commissioner, Morrison started "InvestSmart Montana" that provides investor protection education in communities across the state.http://www.investsmartmt.org. Through InvestSmart, Morrison produced "Fraud Under the Big Sky," a feature length documentary film narrated by J.K. Simmons (Law and Order, The Closer, Spider-Man, Astronaut Farmer, Rendition, Juno). (Missoulian 9/18/07).

Morrison and his staff prosecuted the largest insurance and securities cases in the state’s history, recovering millions for victims and helping to put corrupt agents and brokers in prison. (Montana Standard 10/31/03 (O'Neill); Gazette 12/21/06 (Davison)).

As a member of Montana’s Board of Land Commissioners, Morrison led creation of the "State Land Bank" that has acquired thousands of acres of publicly accessible land for the state school trust to enhance revenue and recreational opportunities. (Billings Gazette, 8/26/01).

In 2008, Morrison wrote and led the campaign to pass I-155, a ballot initiative that creates the "Healthy Montana Kids Plan," which will provide insurance coverage for nearly all of Montana's 35,000 uninsured children. (Independent Record 10/28/07). The initiative passed with 70 percent of the vote and is now being implemented. Morrison created and is Chairman of Healthy Montana Kids, a non-profit organization that promoted I-155 and now monitors its implementation.

National leadership

Morrison has chaired two major standing committees of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners: Market Regulation and Consumer Affairs and Health Insurance and Managed Care. Morrison led creation of a nationwide system that collects, aggregates and analyzes information relating to the conduct of insurance companies toward consumers in the marketplace, as well the first internet portal for insurance consumers, http://www.naic.org/cis. He led passage of a model law banning discretionary clauses in insured ERISA plans that now confers broad claims handling rights on millions of Americans. Morrison chaired the committee that kept terrorism coverage in place after September 11 (Great Falls Tribune 9/8/02; Daily Interlake 1/31/02), and led a national crackdown on fake Insurance and medical discount schemes (Consumer Reports 7/3/03, 6/6/04). He was one of a three member delegation that began the relationship between U.S. and Chinese insurance regulators in 2003. As NAIC’s International Vice-Chair for Asia, he represented U.S. insurance regulators in the 2007 U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogues and at the 2008 U.S.-China Insurance Dialogues in Hangzhou, China.

Morrison has written numerous op/eds, including "The Climate Change Peril that Insurers See," Washington Post 9/27/07 (reprinted widely by newspapers and blogs). He has been covered by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

, Money, Forbes, Smart Money, Consumer Reports, Best’s Review, and other national publications.

2006 U.S. Senate candidacy

Morrison started off strong in the race for the Democratic nomination for Senator, collecting $1.05 million as of the start of 2006, including $409,241 in the last three months of 2005.[1] Although incumbent Conrad Burns led Morrison in early polling by 15 points, Burns was hurt by stories about his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Polls in March 2006 showed Morrison narrowly leading Burns while Burns narrowly led Morrison’s primary opponent, Jon Tester. (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/senate_races/montana_senate2.) In April 2006, two months before the primary election, several Montana newspapers published articles about an affair Morrison had in the late 1990s, and a later case that was handled by the securities department in Morrison's office. The case involved complaints against a Kalispell businessman who became engaged to the woman with whom Morrison had the relationship years earlier. Morrison hired an outside counsel to handle the contested administrative proceeding, which was settled. The federal case, using evidence provided and presented by Morrison's office, resulted in conviction and sentencing of the businessman.

Tester questioned Morrison’s effectiveness to challenge Burns on Burns' weakest point, ethics, although May polling showed Morrison’s lead over Burns growing. (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/senate_races/montana_senate) (Helena Independent Record, 5/28/06] [3] In late May, the Morrison-Tester race was called a "deadlock,"[4] but Jon Tester continued to gather momentum. On May 31, 2006, Paul Richards, citing the closeness of the race, and his own position (third) in the polls, withdrew from the race and threw his support to Tester.[5]
Tester won the June 6, 2006 primary with 65,531 votes (61%) compared to Morrison's 38,246 (35%).

Current activity

In 2009, Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Joel Ario appointed Morrison to replace Surgeon General C. Everett Koop on the boards of directors of the Senior Health Care Oversight Trust and the Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania(SHIP). The entities are charged with managing $3.2 billion in assets to provide long term care coverage for 150,000 Americans. Morrison is Chairman-Elect of both boards. Morrison also serves on the Board of Presidio Reinsurance Corporation, Montana's largest captive insurance company. Morrison provides insurance consulting services across the United States and internationally and has resumed his law practice as a Montana attorney. Morrison is President-Elect of CASA of Montana, a non-profit organization that advocates in court proceedings for the best interest of abused and neglected children. http://www.johnmorrison.us http://www.healthymontanakids.org http://www.johmmorrisonlawfirm.com.
Morrison is currently working with a group of investors to set up a health insurance cooperative in Montana, as provided for by the Affordable Care Act. http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/article_0af0260c-905b-11e0-9055-001cc4c03286.html