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News item: BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Co. has begun paying commissions on policies to insurance agents across the state. The commissions could total $20 million annually.Brickstreet, you'll recall, was simply the West Virginia Workers Compensation agency before Gov. Joe Manchin and the Legislature waved a magic wand over it and deemed it a private company with all sorts of great new perks, including no competition until 2008.Even the former Workers Comp director, Greg Burton, was named Brickstreet CEO, after what was undoubtedly a comprehensive nationwide search. In the meantime, Brickstreet has enjoyed a monopoly status generally deemed illegal in most cases, but hey, this is West Virginia under Democrat control. Mojo handpicked a board of directors who get paid an undisclosed amount of money for rubber stamping anything Burton or Manchin want, and the "private company" continues making up its rules as it goes along, raising the ire of countless companies, many of whom had their policies canceled for no reasons they could discern. Brickstreet also announced plans for a new multi-million dollar headquarters, and generally behaves like every day is Christmas.But now comes the best news of all. Brickstreet, the Charleston Daily Mail reported Monday, is paying four percent commissions to agents who represent its clients. That's right. As an agent, you can make a four percent commission by representing clients who do their workers comp business with Brickstreet Mutual -- when in fact they have no choice but to do business with Brickstreet!Many years ago, taking a break from the daily 8-5 grind, I quit a newspaper job and spent about six months selling Electrolux vacuum cleaners door to door. I actually enjoyed it, but I noticed I kept running into the same unexpected problem house after house: most people already had vacuum cleaners!Looking back, I consider this a completely unfair impediment to my ability to make a living. Like a Brickstreet agent, I was working on commission, but unlike Brickstreet, companies like Hoover and Oreck and Kirby were also allowed to make and sell vacuum cleaners, severely impeding my ability to make unlimited commissions.If I had known then what I know now, I would have petitioned the government to declare Electrolux the only legal vacuum cleaner. That, apparently, is the way to get ahead.The comparison is by no means a stretch. For years, many advocates of privatizing workers comp, especially Republicans, understood that only by allowing private comp providers to compete for business would rates come down and the government be rescued from the workers comp mess.But instead of throwing open the doors and inviting underwriters to come in, Manchin and the Legislature did nothing but rip the front cover off the West Virginia Workers Compensation Bureau handbook and replace it with one that read "Brickstreet Mutual Insurance Company," declaring that no one could compete with Brickstreet for three years.Wouldn't every private company on earth love to have a three year jump on the competition, with the ability to use premium dollars that previously were the property of the state but now belonged entirely to them to do with as they pleased?Yes, they would.Life has been sweet for Brickstreet ever since. Before, when workers comp was a government agency, reporters could demand answers to questions on every aspect of the agency's dealings. Now, if they get asked a question they don't particularly like, Brickstreet officials simply reply that it's their policy not to discuss that issue. Brickstreet's mascot should be an image of Jackie Gleason declaring, "How sweet it is!" Every time Brickstreet makes an adjustment in its policies, it claims those adjustments are necessary to prepare for the competition that will arrive in mid-2008. Really? How nice. Why should anyone -- especially those who are forced to do business only with Brickstreet and no one else -- care that Brickstreet is in a prime position to head off the competition?Could the plan all along have been to create an environment and a set of rules that will keep the competition at bay well past 2008? If Brickstreet is permitted to spend three years tinkering around with its policies and its infrastructure, with no fear of the reaction from any rivals, it will likely create a playing field completely unattractive to any erstwhile competitors, allowing the Gov to claim, hey, we're open for competition, but no one wants to come in.Mojo's cherished welcome signs should read, "West Virginia -- Open for Business" with small print under those words reading, "Please see Chapter Four, Section II, Subsection XI -- certain restrictions may apply."The Republican Gazette welcomes Emails to the Editor and press releases. All submitted items must include the name and contact information for the author of the article, and all articles will only be published with the author's name included. Thank you for reading and participating in The Republican Gazette, another of West Virginia's most biased publications.The Legislature narrowly ducked an opportunity to cut taxes this week, declining to phase out the excise tax on pop. Instead -- and this is what we really need -- there will be a "study" on the subject. Whoa -- that was a close one......After a Wall Street bond rating agency bumped up West Virginia's grade, primarily because it is changing its rating criteria, Gov. Joe Manchin called a press conference and gushed, "This is tremendous news. Wall Street is recognizing what we’ve been trying to do.” Don't you get a kick out of it when Mojo says things like that......Another incisive quote from our favorite governor, demonstrating how little he seems to care about what's going on during this legislative session: Commenting to the Charleston Gazette on the Legislature likely giving more money to state workers than he proposed, Mojo said, "Everybody deserves everything we can possibly do... We’ve got a lot of people we have to help." This guy is like a rock......Along with being a prolific scorer, Jerry West was also one of the top assist men ever to play basketball. His continuing endowments to West Virginia University demonstrate he hasn't lost his touch. The statue unveiled last week in his honor was long overdue......There were many foreign winners at this year's Academy Awards. Some were from Spain, others from Mexico, another from Italy. There there was Al Gore, from another planet, where he watches over Earth's climate......AP reporter Larry Messina recently reported on his blog that Mojo was a guest speaker at a Washington D.C. event honoring New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Manchin said, "I think the people of West Virginia need to be introduced to Bill Richardson," leading to the question, why? Also, Mojo gave his buddy Bill a boxing glove autographed by Muhammed Ali, leading to the question, why? Apparently, the Gov had an old autographed boxing glove he didn't need anymore. Ain't re-gifting wonderful?