Ellington

Anonymous opponents of Insurance Commissioner George Dale are circulating annual lobbyist's reports that show Dale's attorney, Greg Copeland, is a well-paid lobbyist for the insurance industry.

Copeland received more than $100,000 as a lobbyist for the American Insurance Association in 2007. He was also Dale's personal attorney in an April hearing in Calhoun County Circuit Court, where the state Democratic Party sought to bar Dale from the Democratic primary this year, complaining that he had endorsed George W. Bush for president over Democratic challenger John Kerry during the 2004 election.

Copeland did not return calls.

Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey ordered the party to put Dale on its August primary ballot.

Dale has had his share of triumphs. His office uncovered a multi-million dollar insurance scam by mob-connected mega-financier Martin Frankel in 1999, and Frankel pleaded guilty to stealing $208 million in several states in 2002. Dale's office also uncovered Frankel's ties to a money-laundering scheme involving the Catholic Church in the Vatican City. But Dale has hit a polling low in Mississippi, with many coastal residents claiming he is too beholden to the insurance companies, and makes a poor job of watchdogging them.