Health Insurance Industry Looks to Senior Lobbyists

Ignagni, 53, learned the power of grass-roots lobbying when she worked, of all places, at the AFL-CIO for 11 years. She left the labor federation in 1993 to join a predecessor to America's Health Insurance Plans, the American Association of Health Plans.

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Labor unions "are the masters of grass-roots campaigns," she said. "I learned a great deal from people who do this very well."

Fire of the Week

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) last week fired its longtime executive director, Lynne M. Ross, and ignited, well, a firestorm.

Ross declined to comment, and the organization said only that it wanted "a new direction." But several current and former attorneys general said the dismissal was a terrible idea and lacked, of all things, due process.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff (R) called the termination "ridiculous." Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett (R) said Ross's work for the organization had been "without equal." And former Connecticut attorney general Clarine Nardi Riddle (D), who is now chief of staff to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), said of Ross: "Her life was meeting the concerns of NAAG members and the association. I do hope the entire NAAG board reviews the process that brought this about."

Ross, 60, first joined NAAG in 1976, taking a four-year break during the Clinton administration to lobby for the Environmental Protection Agency. She returned to the group in 1997 as deputy director and became executive director in 2000. According to e-mails that flew among her supporters last week, Ross was given a new four-year contract last year after a thorough management review.

Nonetheless, a delegation of three attorneys general asked Ross to resign on Sept. 7; she refused, saying that she had been unaware of any problems she might be having with her performance. "I do not get the sense that there is broad membership support for terminating my employment and, without details of any performance failures, I am not prepared to resign," Ross wrote in a letter circulated among NAAG members.

Ross's contract was terminated by an 8 to 4 vote of NAAG's executive committee after what participants described as a contentious, nearly two-hour conference call last Wednesday. During the call, Ross's detractors cited what they said was her inability to manage her staff as a reason for her firing.

"There are a lot of people unhappy with this," said one attorney general who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Slade Gorton, the former Republican senator and attorney general from Washington state, said of Ross in an e-mail to colleagues, "For me, she is NAAG."

Hire of the Week

Tony Blankley is leaving as the editorial page editor of the Washington Times to become an executive vice president of Edelman, the public relations firm.

But don't expect the former Newt Gingrich spokesman -- and former Ronald Reagan speechwriter -- to disappear from public view as he counsels the firm's clients worldwide. In this age of blurred journalistic lines, Blankley, 59, said he will continue to write his syndicated column and will also continue to appear on the political yell-fest "The McLaughlin Group."

Oh and one more. The London-born Blankley, who was a childhood actor in Hollywood (including on "Lassie" and "Sky King"), will serve as a visiting fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. Maybe he can be elected to Congress as well.

Please send e-mail tokstreet@washpost.com.