Capriles, Maduro at each other's throats in Venezuela election race

By Andrew Cawthorne and Mario Naranjo

CARACAS (Reuters) - Presidential candidates Nicolas Maduro and Henrique Capriles have begun Venezuela's election race with scathing personal attacks even as mourners still file past Hugo Chavez's coffin.

Maduro, who was sworn in as acting president after Chavez died of cancer last week, is seen as favorite to win the April 14 election, bolstered by an oil-financed state apparatus and a wave of public sympathy over Chavez's death.

"I am not Chavez, but I am his son," Maduro told thousands of cheering, red-clad supporters as he formally presented his candidacy to the election board on Monday.

"I am you, a worker. You and I are Chavez, workers and soldiers of the fatherland," the former bus driver and union activist added after the crowd's emotions were whipped up by recordings of Chavez singing the national anthem.

Thumbing his nose at detractors who scoff at his qualifications, Maduro arrived driving a white bus, waving to supporters. His rally congested downtown, and Capriles sent aides to present his papers rather than going personally.

Chavez made clear before his fourth and last cancer operation in December that he wanted Maduro, his vice president and former foreign minister, to be his Socialist Party's candidate to succeed him if he died.

Maduro has vowed to continue the radical policies of Chavez's 14-year rule in the South American OPEC nation, including the popular use of vast oil revenues for social programs. But Capriles is promising a tough fight.

"Nicolas, it is you who are the problem ... you are the voice of lies," Capriles told reporters on Monday, accusing him of minimizing Chavez's medical condition while he prepared his candidacy.

"Death should never be used, particularly not for election campaign ends," added Capriles, who would struggle to govern if elected because the national assembly, courts and other major institutions are dominated by Chavez supporters.

At stake in the election is not only the future of Chavez's leftist "revolution," but the continuation of Venezuelan oil subsidies and other aid crucial to the economies of left-wing allies around Latin America, from Cuba to Bolivia.

Venezuela boasts the world's largest oil reserves.

Government officials said Capriles was playing with fire, offending Chavez's family and risking legal action by criticizing the handling of his illness and death.

"You can see the disgusting face of the fascist that he is," a visibly furious Maduro said, alleging that the opposition was hoping to stir up violence.

SLURS

Capriles, a descendant of Polish Jews on his mother's side, was a victim of racist and homophobic slurs from Chavez supporters last year. Maduro appeared to allude to his rival's sexuality during Monday's rally.

"I do have a wife, you know? I do like women!" he told the crowd with his wife Cilia Flores at his side, who has served as attorney general but is stepping down to join her husband's campaign.

Though single, Capriles has had various high-profile girlfriends in the past. He scoffs at the personal insults, saying they illustrate the government's aggressive mindset.

"I want to send a message of ... rejection about Nicolas' homophobic declarations," Capriles said. "It is not the first time. His is a message of exclusion."

Shaken by Chavez's death and now immersed in an ugly election campaign, Venezuelans saw some semblance of normality return on Monday as most schools and shops reopened after being closed for most of last week.

Chavez's many local detractors are keeping a low profile.

But they say his memory is being burnished to forget less savory parts of his rule like the bullying of opponents and stifling of private businesses with nationalizations.

The official mourning period for Chavez ends on Tuesday. However, the government extended a temporary ban on alcohol and carrying firearms through March 16.

Several million have paid their respects at his coffin at a military academy in a dramatic outpouring of grief.

Though criticized by many for his authoritarian tendencies and handling of the economy, Chavez was loved by millions, especially the poor, because of his own humble background, plain language and attacks on global "imperialists" and the domestic "elite," as well as his welfare policies in Venezuela's slums.

In death, he is earning a near-religious status among supporters, perhaps akin to that of Argentina's former populist ruler Juan Peron and his deeply loved wife Eva Peron.

State television has been playing speeches and appearances by Chavez over and over, next to a banner saying "Chavez lives forever."

OPPOSITION'S UPHILL STRUGGLE

Though there are hopes for a post-Chavez rapprochement between ideological foes Venezuela and the United States, a diplomatic spat worsened on Monday when Washington expelled two Venezuelan diplomats in a tit-for-tat retaliation.

Two U.S. military attaches were ordered out last week, on the day of Chavez's death, for allegedly conspiring with locals against the government.

Venezuela's only opposition TV channel, Globovision, said on Monday it had accepted a buyout offer because of financial troubles and frequent tangles with the government.

A local businessman is buying the channel and it was not immediately clear if its editorial line would change. The sale will close after the election.

Capriles, a 40-year-old centrist governor who describes himself as a "progressive" and an admirer of Brazil's political model, ran in the last presidential election in October, taking 44 percent of the votes, but was unable to prevent Chavez's re-election.

While attacking Maduro's handling of the crisis over Chavez's cancer, Capriles will try to turn the focus of the month-long election campaign to the many day-to-day problems afflicting Venezuelans, from electricity cuts to crime and an inflation rate that is among the world's highest.

Maduro, 50, who echoes Chavez's anti-imperialist rhetoric, is sure to make his former boss the centerpiece of his campaign while casting himself as the only heir.

On Monday, though, he did promise a new anti-crime drive, and to deepen Chavez's social programs, known as "missions," in the slums. He also sought to blame sky high crime levels, which worsened dramatically during Chavez's years in power, on Venezuela's wealthy, saying they had ignored festering social problems and turned their back on the poor.

Two opinion polls before Chavez's death gave Maduro a lead of more than 10 percentage points.

"This is going to be a really tough campaign for us, we know," said an aide at Capriles' office in Caracas.

"It's hard to get everyone enthused and pumped again. We've only got a month, and we're fighting Chavez's ghost, not Maduro. But believe me, we'll give it our best."

(Additional reporting by Simon Gardner, Terry Wade, Ana Isabel Martinez, Marianna Parraga and Mario Naranjo; Editing by Kieran Murray, Daniel Wallis, Sandra Maler, Lisa Shumaker and Paul Simao)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/capriles-maduro-others-throats-venezuela-election-race-014539754.html

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10 Hot New Convertibles for Summer 2013 and Beyond

If there's one upcoming droptop built to cannonball across the country, it's the new Corvette Convertible. The only problem? We might have to wait until next summer, as the Vette won't see showrooms until the latter part of 2013. No matter. When it does hit the streets, expect a flurry of high fives at every stoplight. The new Vette's shape is a little cleaner and less fussy without the Coupe's roof and shoulder-mounted cooling ducts, so it might end up as the prettiest of all Stingrays.

Under that scooped hood is the same 6.2-liter LT1 V-8, packing 450 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque. Lest anyone think the convertible Corvette is just some boulevard cruiser, the engineers have promised an experience just as rewarding as the hard top. The suspension settings were not relaxed for the convertible. For anyone who wants to take the ragtop on a road course, a Z51 package brings dry sump oiling for the powerplant along with coolers for the transmission and differential.

The roof remains fabric but is crafted with more sound insulation, and will lower in 21 seconds with the touch of just one button (or your key fob). And it can all happen at speeds up to 30 mph. We can't wait for our first turn behind the wheel.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/10-hot-new-convertibles-for-summer-2013-and-beyond?src=rss

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Jeb Bush: I'm 'in Sync' With Lindsey Graham on Immigration Reform

During an interview for "This Week," former Florida governor Jeb Bush told me that he was "in sync" with South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on the issue of immigration reform.

Graham, a key member of the bipartisan group of senators pushing for immigration reform, took Bush to task after the former Florida governor said Monday that he did not support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, which is a key component of the plan being pushed by the Senate group. Bush subsequently reversed course and said he could in fact support a plan that included a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already living in the United States.

"Senator Graham and I talked. He was responding to concerns that were expressed before the book was actually published," Bush said. "I told him that I support his efforts and I applaud what he's doing. And he concluded, after he heard what the thesis of the book is that we're in sync. We're on the same - on the same path."

"The basic premise needs to be that coming to the country legally should be easier with less cost than coming to the country illegally. And if you can create a system like that as is being discussed in the Senate and in the House- through a path to citizenship, that's fine," Bush said. "But my guess is that will take a long, long time to achieve. In the interim, it's important to take people out from the shadows to allow them to have- the dignity of being- having legal status."

Florida governor Jeb Bush told me that he was "very encouraged" about the possibility of comprehensive immigration reform - a legislative achievement that has eluded lawmakers for more than a decade - becoming law by the end of the year.

"I'm very encouraged. There are some big sticking points about how do you deal with making sure that there's enough seasonal workers, temporary worker programs that have been quite successful in the past," Bush said. "There's a lot of work being done, really good work, courageous work, 'cause this is complex and may not be popular, but I think it's- it is possible that comprehensive reform can be done."

Turning to President Obama's new effort to reach out to his colleagues on right - which included inviting the GOP's 2012 vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan to lunch - Bush complimented the president, comparing his actions to those of Ronald Reagan, an icon of the Republican Party.

"I'm very encouraged by the fact the president is trying to restore some personal connection with policymakers in Congress. I'm at the Reagan Library today and that's kind of what Ronald Reagan did. He didn't scorn his adversaries, he embraced them and got a lot done," Bush said. "This is very positive in my mind. It makes it harder to reach agreement when there's not trust. It's just human nature. And so this is maybe a good, positive first step."

Bush qualified his praise for the president, tweaking him for a lack of "seriousness" when it came to the president's efforts to reach a deal to reduce the national debt and specifically his willingness to embrace entitlement reform as part of a potential bargain with Republicans.

"I haven't seen the seriousness of the president's efforts. I'd love to see a specific plan that really did reform- bend the cost curve for Medicare and the entitlement system. I haven't seen it, so if there is through these talks, some kind of consensus that emerged, I don't think you should say, 'no, no, no' about anything'" Bush said.

"Frankly, there was already been one of the largest tax increases in American history a month ago. And frankly, we ought to be focused on sustained economic growth, which grows more revenue for people and for government than any tax increase that's been suggested, so there are a lot of things that could be done to create a real grand bargain. And let the process work. I'm hopeful that the president's sincere about this," Bush said.

Bush also insisted during out conversation that he is not positioning himself for a 2016 presidential run as he promotes his new book "Immigration Wars," even as speculation grows that he aims to be the third member of the Bush family to occupy the oval office.

"I'm not viewing this as a political reentry either. I just don't view it that way," Bush said. "Everything's viewed with a political lens in Washington and that's just the nature of the beast and it is what it is."

Finally Bush gave me an update on the health of his father, 88-year-old former president George H.W. Bush, who was released from the hospital earlier this year after a lengthy stay.

"He's doing better. You know, he's got his spectacular chief caregiver, Barbara Bush, taking care of him and he's regaining his strength day by day. And he's out more," Bush said. "He was at the University of Texas, A&M, at the Bush School- twice in the last two weeks, so- we're excited that he seems to be making great progress."

Like "This Week" on Facebook here . You can also follow the show on Twitter here .

Go here to find out when "This Week" is on in your area.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jeb-bush-im-sync-lindsey-130807468.html

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Travel time a risk as DHB jobs merge

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This is the website of New Zealand Doctor, New Zealand?s fortnightly medical newspaper.

Some of our content ? Un-Doctored (media releases), That's Interesting, PEARLS and free classifieds ? is freely available to everyone, but most of the site is available only to paid-up subscribers of New Zealand Doctor. It costs only $169 a year to subscribe and receive the fortnightly print issues of New Zealand Doctor and full online access to nzdoctor.co.nz. GP subscribers are eligible for a discounted subscription which includes twice yearly copies of MIMS New Ethicals.

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Source: http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/news/2013/march-2013/08/travel-time-a-risk-as-dhb-jobs-merge.aspx

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WPP's Form Letter To Poachable Ad Execs - Business Insider

WPP, one of the largest holding companies in the world, sent out a slew of recruitment letters to try to poach ad execs at rival ad agencies, Ad Age reports.

So while the line, "WPP has a very high positive awareness of you" may seem personalized, it is really a part of a form email that has been making the rounds.?

While there isn't word on if the potential poachable execs responded positively, Ad Age says that a lawyer from Publicis (another holding company with employees who got the email) has.

Here's the letter, with redacted names, via Ad Age:

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/wpps-form-letter-to-poachable-ad-execs-2013-3

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Judging Jeb

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone )

NOTABLES

BUSH - NO PATH TO CITIZENSHIP: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday he does not support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., a central provision of immigration reform plans being considered by Congress. ABC-Univision's Jordan Fabian reports that Bush has long chided the Republican Party to adopt immigration reform and improve its outreach to minority and immigrant voters. But he said that a path to citizenship would violate the rule of law, and instead is proposing giving a path to legal permanent residency to many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country. "If we want to create an immigration policy that's going to work, we can't continue to make illegal immigration an easier path than legal immigration," Bush said during an interview on NBC's "Today" show. http://abcn.ws/104C80D

WHY IT MATTERS: The ex-governor's stance is notable because of his reputation as an immigration moderate within the GOP, especially during the 2012 campaign season when he criticized GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his opposition to immigration reform that legalized undocumented immigrants. As early as June of last year, Bush said he would be supportive of either a path to citizenship or a path to legal residency. Now, Bush's position on a path to citizenship is to the right of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" Senate proposal, which has been endorsed by his former political mentee Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and several other Republican lawmakers. http://abcn.ws/104C80D

TODAY AT THE WHITE HOUSE: President Obama has no public events today. In the afternoon, he visits wounded service members at Walter Reed. Later, he meets privately with Biden and Defense Secretary Hagel. The staggering defense cuts will presumably be among the topics of discussion, notes ABC's Mary Bruce.

THE ROUNDTABLE

ABC's RICK KLEIN: What's Jeb's angle? That's the question swirling in the immigration-reform world after the surprising news that Jeb Bush now opposes a path to legalization for illegal immigrants currently in the United States. That puts the former governor in opposition to the bipartisan group - yes, the one that includes Sen. Marco Rubio - now working the issue in the Senate, to promising results so far. (It also puts Bush in opposition to himself, as recently as last summer.) It's possible the politics of immigration reform shifted too quickly to comply with book publishing schedules, and that Bush was trying to nudge his party forward but misread the movement that's already occurred. It's possible (though less likely) that this is an early 2016 move. But in the shorter term, it's hard to see how Bush's reentry into the immigration debate is going to help a bill forward. Conservatives in the both the Senate and especially the House now have all the pretext they need to oppose a deal that includes a pathway to citizenship. Strip that from a bill, and Democrats will be under tremendous pressure to scuttle the whole effort - something many Republicans believe President Obama secretly wants to happen anyway, for political gain.

ABC-UNIVISION's JORDAN FABIAN: For years, Jeb Bush led the charge in prodding his own party to adapt on immigration and improve its outreach to Hispanic and immigrant voters. Now allies of immigration reform, who once championed the ex-Florida governor as a model Republican, are left wondering what exactly happened to their old flame. Bush outlined his proposal in his new book, which provides legal status for undocumented immigrants. But it would specifically bar undocumented immigrants from seeking full citizenship unless they first return to their home countries. Some would have to wait a decade before re-entering the U.S. That places Bush well to the right of the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" plan in the Senate, which is backed by his former prot?g?, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) Just last summer, Rubio was the one holding out on a path to citizenship, while Bush was speaking in favor of it. That's a remarkable shift. Speculation has abounded as to what sparked Bush's reversal, whether it's boosting book sales or jockeying to run for president in 2016. But the more important question is: What impact will Bush's switch have on the immigration reform effort in Congress? Bush's comments could provide political cover for conservative fence-sitters to oppose the current framework being debated (i.e. "Even Jeb Bush opposes a path to citizenship.") But some close to the debate on the Hill in both parties aren't so sure. One senior Democratic aide, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said: "The process here is going to keep moving. He is not a member of Congress." Even if Bush's comments don't derail the process, that won't reduce the shock generated by his shift. "Jeb was always pointed out as someone who really got it. I assume he still does," the Democratic aide said. "It is unfortunate and disappointing."

ABC's SHUSHANNAH WALSHE: Ahead of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC next week, it's worth noting not all conservative politicians are on board with the group despite the tendency of presidential hopefuls to address the confab. At news that his friend and fellow Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was uninvited after taking on John Boehner for pulling the vote on Sandy funding at the eleventh hour, New York Rep. Pete King's response to the snub was "if the Republicans start catering to CPAC then we are just signing our own suicide pact, and the fact that CPAC is the first step to the presidential nomination we have to end that." King added, "Chris Christie is the most popular across the board governor we have. He's conservative, he's balanced the budget, he's done tough budget reforms, he's pro-life and yet he has a 74 percent approval rating in a Democratic state. The fact that he is not being invited to CPAC because he fought for the aid that he's entitled to to save New Jersey shows Republicans if they give in to CPAC they have a death wish and it shows we should stop taking groups like CPAC so seriously." The executive director of the American Conservative Union Gregg Keller said in response that King's comments meant he "apparently didn't get the memo that CPAC is a conservative event, not a Republican event. That's what the first C in CPAC stands for." http://abcn.ws/WwMuA7

WHAT WE'RE READING

"INSIDE THE NRSC'S COMEBACK STRATEGY," by Roll Call's Kyle Trygstad. "The National Republican Senatorial Committee plans to expand its press operation to train campaigns earlier in the cycle on how to better handle the kind of candidate missteps that have plagued its party's nominees. The goal? To avoid what's become known in GOP circles as 'Todd Akin moments.' 'The campaigns that jumped off message not only infected themselves, they infected all the rest of the campaigns,' said Rob Collins, the new NRSC executive director, in his first extensive interview on the job. 'So in this age of fractured but continuous, three-dimensional communication, we have to constantly plan for that and train for that and build for that.' ? While candidate control is often beyond the NRSC's abilities, the committee will ultimately be judged on whether the party can avoid such troubles and pick up the six seats needed for a majority in 2014. So for the past two months, incoming NRSC leadership surveyed senators, candidates and operatives from 16 winning and losing campaigns from 2010 and 2012. As a result, the NRSC's new leadership discovered its party lacked talented communications professionals in the field able to capably run a campaign press operation that could handle such situations." http://bit.ly/XSHHZY

BUZZ

HOUSE MOVES TO AVOID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: House Republicans unveiled a stopgap measure yesterday to fund the federal government through the rest of the fiscal year, a move intended to mollify a deeply divided Congress that has fought through three years of bruising budget battles, reports ABC's John R. Parkinson. The continuing resolution, known around Washington as a CR, is subject to sequestration levels in its entirety, setting the top-line overall rate of spending at $982 billion, down from $1.047 trillion the previous fiscal year. "The legislation will avoid a government shutdown on March 27, prioritize DoD and Veterans programs, and allow the Pentagon some leeway to do its best with the funding it has," Rep. Hal Rogers, the chairman of the appropriations committee, wrote in a statement Monday. "This CR package is the right thing to do, and it's the right time to do it." The bill is expected to be on the floor for debate on Wednesday and a vote on Thursday. http://abcn.ws/ZYmVdS

CHRIS CHRISTIE DINGS OBAMA'S SEQUESTER EVE 'PHOTO OP.' So much for the bromance. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie yesterday blasted President Obama over what he said was a failure of leadership to prevent the sequester, notes ABC's Devin Dwyer. "Real leadership would get this fixed. You get everybody in the room and you fix it, and you don't let them leave until you fix it," Christie said at a press conference in Jersey City. "That's what real leadership is, not calling a meeting two hours before the thing's going to hit to have a photo-op in the driveway at the White House," he said of Friday's eleventh-hour meeting. "That's not real leadership." Christie, who has downplayed the much-hyped impact from the automatic spending cuts, also said he's dumbfounded that both sides have failed to tackle the root causes of the deficit and debt problem. "Seems to me it should be pretty easy to fix," he said. http://abcn.ws/10694Wx

NOTED - TRUE OR FALSE?: "I don't think we're going to see much impact from sequester in New Jersey at all," Gov. Christie said yesterday, according to The Bergen Record's Melissa Hayes. "Christie said there is no evidence the $85 billion in spending cuts, known as sequester, will have a big impact on New Jersey and he accused President Obama of overplaying the impacts of sequester 'in a major way.' He said the proof is that no planes have fallen out of the sky, despite cuts to airport security and air traffic controllers. 'I don't believe that sequestration at one cent on a dollar is going to have a grave effect on anybody and that anybody is really going to notice it all that much, except for some of the federal employees who are going to be furloughed,' Christie said." http://bit.ly/Xnx590

BIDEN: WE'RE NOT BLUFFING ON IRAN. Tough talk from Vice President Joe Biden yesterday, warning that the U.S. is determined to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, reports ABC's Dana Hughes. "Big nations can't bluff," said Biden at a meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a group that lobbies in favor of Israel. "Presidents of the United States cannot bluff. And President Barack Obama is not bluffing." The Obama administration has employed a "dual track" strategy on Iran, continuing diplomatic negotiations while imposing harsh sanctions on the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Biden told AIPAC that Iran has a limited time for negotiations. "We're not looking for war. We're looking to and ready to negotiate peacefully, but all options, including military options, are on the table," he said to a cheering crowd. http://abcn.ws/WICKrW

WOMAN SAYS SHE WAS PAID TO LIE ABOUT CLAIM OF SEX WITH SENATOR. Allegations that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had sex with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic were a lie, according to a young woman who signed an affidavit saying she was paid to make the false claims in the week before last year's elections. ABC's Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz report that last fall, Republican operatives, who insisted on anonymity, helped arrange the woman's appearance, along with two additional women, in back-to-back, on-line interviews with ABC News and a conservative news website, the Daily Caller. The woman, who was not present when her affidavit was revealed at a press conference by an attorney in the Dominican Republic Monday, said her performance last year was arranged by a Dominican lawyer who had her rehearse statements and promised to pay her well. "I never slept with Mr. Menendez nor Mr. Melgin," the woman, Nexis de los Santos Santana, said in her sworn statement, adding she did not know the Senator or the doctor."So therefore I don't have any relationship of any kind with the aforementioned people." In her interview with ABC News before the election, she said her name was Michelle Rodriguez and that she had come forward because Menendez had paid her only $100 of the $500 she had expected. She now says she was coached to make the claim. http://abcn.ws/15uwkgl

WHO'S TWEETING?

@aseitzwald: "Where the hell was this Jeb Bush during the campaign?" Romney adviser tells @MarcACaputo http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/04/3266978/jeb-bush-no-citizenship-path-for.html ?

@JesseFFerguson: Washington Post reports that "anxiety is rising among House Republicans" about new Ryan budget and Medicare. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/republican-goal-to-balance-budget-could-mean-deep-cuts-to-health-programs/2013/03/04/94632f92-840b-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394_story.html?hpid=z1 ?

@elisefoley: Jeb Bush: "We wrote this book last year, not this year." http://bit.ly/Zd55Bo

@jimacostacnn: DC is so divided. We even have a rain/snow line: http://www.wjla.com/blogs/weather/

@CoryBooker: "The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become." W.E.B. Du Bois

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judging-jeb-140207993--abc-news-politics.html

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Metzler Bros. Insurance is acquired by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co ...

Metzler Bros. Insurance, a second-generation, family-owned Kansas City company, has been acquired for an undisclosed price by Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., one of the largest insurance brokerages in the world.

Founded in 1946 by brothers Bob and Jim Metzler, the property and casualty insurance broker has been led by president and chief financial officer Stephen Metzler and vice president Mark Simcosky.

They will continue to operate the business from 1201 Walnut St, but the company will change its name later this year to Gallagher Metzler Insurance Co.

Metzler Bros. has 15 employees, including seven sales agents.

Stephen Metzler, who joined the company in 1971 to work for his father, Bob, said Tuesday that the sale was a ?very emotional but satisfying decision.?

He said Gallagher approached him a few months ago to discuss a possible deal. He noted that the acquisition should provide his company more financial resources and business expertise to continue to grow.

The company specializes in providing insurance needs for more than 90 not-for-profits in the Kansas City area, especially arts groups and other community organizations.

?We will continue our commitment to work with them,? said Simcosky, who joined the firm in 1985.

Metzler Bros. has expanded its business over the years to include employee benefits coverage and financial services products.

?Metzler Bros. Insurance is highly regarded in the industry for its professional expertise, market relationships and commitment to personalized client service,? J. Patrick Gallagher Jr., chairman, president and chief executive of Gallagher, said in a statement.

Gallagher, a publicly traded company based in Itasca, Ill., is an international insurance brokerage and risk management firm with offices in 19 countries.

It has a Kansas City office at 2345 Grand Blvd. with 70 employees, but there are no immediate plans to consolidate space with the Metzler firm, Simcosky said.

Mike Henthorn, head of Gallagher?s south central region, will oversee the Metzler Bros. operation.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/05/4101696/metzler-bros-insurance-acquired.html

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