The race for insurance commissioner features two relative fresh faces to North Dakota politics: Republican Adam Hamm and Democrat Jasper Schneider.

Both are young. Both are well-known Fargo lawyers. And their respective parties tout them as energetic up-and-comers with North Dakota roots.

Hamm took over as insurance commissioner last year after Gov. John Hoeven tapped him to replace Jim Poolman, who resigned from the post in August 2007.

Schneider is a first-term representative from Fargo, whose family has ties to North Dakota politics.

The latest polling, conducted by the Fargo Forum, suggests the race will be tight with 43 percent of voters still undecided.

University of North Dakota political science professor Dana Harsell agrees the race between Hamm and Schneider will be a close one.

"I think there's some incumbency advantage going on (for Hamm)," Harsell said. "But Schneider was a well-liked lawmaker. I think that some of that will probably elevate both of them."

The issues

Hamm and Schneider both want to focus on consumer protection, health care and Workforce Safety and Insurance.

But both candidates make it clear that they have differences, and at times a prickly relationship that was evident at last Wednesday's debate in Bismarck.

Hamm wants more competition in the state's health insurance industry. Schneider wants accountability on behalf of insurance companies.

In recent months, Hamm has denied Blue Cross Blue Shield two rate increase requests. He calls the state's largest insurance provider monopolistic and said he would watch it like a "hawk" if re-elected.

When the Blues asked for 17.3 percent last fall, Hamm ultimately gave them a 9.9 percent increase.

Schneider has hammered Hamm on it ever since, accusing the insurance commissioner of playing politics with the rate increases.

"It was 9.9 percent because it isn't 10," Schneider said. "You have to be a regulator first, and a politician second."

Hamm said that's a bogus charge, saying Schneider is the one injecting politics into the issue.

"If the lowest possible was 10.1 percent or 10.3 percent, that's what I would have done," Hamm said.

Schneider and Hamm also want more oversight over WSI, but argue over who would be a better fit to tackle the issue. Both candidates said they support Measure 4, which would give the governor the power to oversee the department.

Schneider touts his experience on the Human Services Committee during the 2007 legislative session, where he helped draft bills to reform WSI as well as his experience representing injured workers in the courtroom.

"I stood up and represented injured workers and called for reform and called for more political accountability last session," Schneider said.

He also takes credit for making WSI a campaign issue when he introduced it as part of his platform when he announced in November 2007 that he was going to run for insurance commissioner.

Hamm also drafted a WSI plan of his own, which he made public in February. He said his bill draft is more thoughtful, and that he would have a better chance of influencing a GOP-controlled Legislature because he is a Republican.

Schneider called that idea "hogwash."

"Adam Hamm is citing partisanship strengths to get things done," Schneider said at the debate.

Hamm said his plan would treat WSI like any other insurance company the commissioner regulates.

"To me, my focus is always on the future, not to belabor what happened in the last 10 to 12 years," Hamm said. "Is there something that my department can add?"

Schneider also is quick to criticize Hamm for a public service announcement that Hamm debuted in July, informing North Dakotans about a prescription drug benefits gap.

The public service announcement begins with a shot of Hamm standing in front of the state Capitol and goes on to explain how people who lose prescription drug benefits can get help through the insurance department.

Schneider called the TV spot "blatantly, in-your-face political" because it aired about 100 days before the election.

Hamm said his opponent is resorting to negative campaigning, adding he was doing his job to inform people about prescription drug benefits.

"That ad was a success story," Hamm said, adding the number of people who applied to get help from the department shot up more than 300 percent after the ad ran in July.

The candidates

Schneider said his biggest influence comes from his father, John Schneider.

His father served as North Dakota's House minority leader in the 51st and 52nd sessions and later served as a U.S. attorney until 2001, when he died of a brain tumor at 55.

"I came out of that situation with a better perspective on life," Schneider said, who was 19 at the time of his father's death. "You only have so much time on this Earth, and you have to make the best of it."

Rep. Steve Zaiser, D-Fargo, said Schneider is following in his father's footsteps.

"I think he learned a lot from his father," said Zaiser, a House member from District 21. "He's got an amazing political instinct for somebody his age."

Schneider, who lives in Fargo with his wife and son, also works at his family's Fargo law firm, Schneider, Schneider and Schneider. He said they should just call it Schneider Law Firm.

Hamm, a Jamestown native, left North Dakota to go school. He wanted to become a law enforcement officer while attending Sam Houston State in Texas, but ultimately decided to return to North Dakota to become a lawyer.

"Big-city life was not for me," Hamm said.

He started his legal career as a Cass County prosecutor. In 1999 he helped convict Kyle Bell of the 1993 murder of an 11-year-old Fargo girl.

After spending about three years as a prosecutor, Hamm was hired by the Fargo law firm, Anderson, Bottrell, Sanden and Thompson. Attorney Lowell Bottrell interviewed Hamm in 2002 for the job.

Bottrell said he was impressed by Hamm: "Good courtroom skills, confident and very capable."

Hamm also served as the Cass County Republican Party chairman - a move he said put him on the radar for his move into politics.

Since taking over for Poolman, Hamm has moved to Bismarck, gotten married, bought a new home and started a new job. In the meantime, he's been busy campaigning.

Wednesday will mark Hamm's one-year anniversary since taking over as the state's insurance commissioner. He adds it hasn't been easy.

"It's taken some time to get used to the slings and arrows," Hamm said. "You develop a thick skin and move on."

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@bismarcktribune.com.)