LOOKING IN ON: CARSON CITY

Monday, Oct. 30, 2006 | 7:28 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Merritt (Ike) Yochum, a perennial candidate for elective office who has never won, says he has been humiliated by his own apparent mistake in signing up to run in the wrong state Senate district.

Now he wants the Nevada secretary of state to refund the $100 filing fee he paid to get on the ballot in a district in which he doesn't live.

In a letter to the secretary of state and County Clerk Alan Glover, Yochum demands the return of his filing fee and a public apology.

Yochum, who lives in Carson City, signed his candidacy forms in the secretary of state's office to run on the Independent American ticket for the state Senate seat now held by Republican Mark Amodei.

But when Yochum got his sample ballot, his name wasn't on it.

The reason: Yochum lives in a section of Carson City represented by Republican Randolph Townsend. That means Yochum can't even vote for himself, even though his name is on the ballot in Amodei's district.

Ellick Hsu, election chief in the secretary of state's office, said it's up to a candidate to know what district he lives in for purposes of running for election.

Consequently, Yochum won't get his $100 back.

Yochum, 80, says he has been on the ballot every election for different offices since 1970 but has never won. And this time he won't even get his own vote.

If he won, Yochum could not be seated in the state Senate because he doesn't live in the district in which he's a candidate.

Yochum, though, is not giving up the fight - for his $100.

In his letter, he warns the secretary of state's office and the Carson City clerk's office that unless they refund his filing fee and issue a public apology "for your incompetence and neglect in not informing myself of the fact that I was filing in the wrong Senate District," he intends to file either a criminal complaint or a civil suit.

That's assuming, of course, that he does so in the proper court.

A payout of $554 million or more awaits the 6,600 private companies and local governments that have workers' compensation policies with Employers Insurance Company of Nevada.

The firm's parent company, EIG Mutual Holding Co., wants to buy out policyholders and then issue public stock.

Employers Insurance, the largest company in terms of policyholders in Nevada, collected $82.4 million in premiums in 2005.

Douglas Dirks, the company's president and chief executive, told state Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman that the companies and governments still would be covered by their policies.

Molasky-Arman will accept comments about the possible conversion until Wednesday, and then decide within 30 days whether to permit the change. Policyholders also must vote to approve the switch.

Insurance policies to cover workers injured on the job were issued by the state for 86 years under the names of the Nevada Industrial Commission and the State Industrial Insurance System.

But after an audit showed that the system faced a $2.2 billion deficit, the firm was converted to a private company.

Company officials said that 20 percent of the $554 million would be divided equally among policyholders. Forty-five percent would be distributed to companies and local governments based on their longevity with the firm, and the remaining 35 percent would be distributed based on what the companies paid in premiums from 2001 until this year.