Insurance Comissioner-elect Mike Chaney of Vicksburg will take office early and with no plans to pressure legislators to make the job an appointive post.

Outgoing incumbent George Dale, a Democrat whose term does not officially expire until Jan. 10, has resigned from the post effective Monday, and Gov. Haley Barbour announced Wednesday that he would appoint Chaney, a Republican, to the job on New Year’s Day.

To take over as insurance commissioner, Chaney will also resign on Monday from the state Senate seat he has held since 2000. Vicksburg attorney W. Briggs Hopson III, a Republican who won the seat after Chaney decided not to seek re-election, will take the seat when the Legislature convenes Jan 7.

Chaney, 63, said that today he was “excited” about becoming insurance commissioner, stating that his main goal is to ensure predictability and stability in the insurance market for underwriters and customers.

At the start of his campaign for the statewide post, Chaney, who has operated several businesses and been a developer in Vicksburg, said his priority for the office would include its transformation to one filled by gubernatorial appointment.

“What I said was that it was my personal opinion that the job should be an appointed job,” Chaney said today. “All these things about ‘I promised to do this’ or ‘I said that I would do that’ are wrong.”

The Associated Press reported in August that Chaney had said in a speech at the Neshoba County Fair that he would ask legislators to remove insurance commissioner from one of the eight statewide elective posts.

Today, Chaney said that that was merely one option that legislators may study as part of broader attempts to lower rates for state policyholders. He added that he may ask the upcoming session of the Legislature to study the appointed-or-elected question but that “it will depend upon who is appointed chairman” of the Insurance committees in the state House and Senate.

“A lot of people are just opposed to appointing anything unless they have their governor in place,” Chaney said. “It should not be about politics. This should be about lowering rates for the people of the state of Mississippi.”

Under a scenario outlined by Chaney, the commissioner would be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. He would serve a five-year term, overlapping those of governors, “to try to take some politics out of the appointment process.” Experience in the insurance industry or in regulation would be criteria governing the selection of a commissioner, Chaney said.

Most states already appoint insurance commissioners. It is a regulatory post. Their role, in essence, is to keep the state an attractive place for private insurance companies to sell profitable policies and balance that against the interests of consumers in having reputable companies set reasonable rates and pay claims quickly and fully.

Mississippi’s insurance commissioner is charged with executing all laws related to insurance companies, corporations, associations and fraternal orders. He also serves as state fire marshal and administers the Mississippi Fire Prevention Code.

The annual salary for the state’s elected insurance commissioner is $90,000.