Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) is urging American International Group that “the interests of the ultimate shareholders, the U.S. taxpayers, be made paramount” in finding a replacement for outgoing CEO Edward Liddy.

AIG announced in May that Liddy would resign from his dual role as CEO and chairman of the embattled company, eight months after being selected to help guide the insurance carrier out of its financial troubles.

The insurer announced that Liddy will remain until individual replacements for both posts can be found.

Following that announcement, Cummings, who frequently recommended that Liddy resign from AIG , reiterated his position again, saying it was clear that Liddy “was not the right fit for this position.”

Elijah E. Cummings

“[And] as time progressed, he has continued to lose the confidence of the U.S. Congress and of the American people,” Cummings said in a statement following AIG’s announcement. “This was the right move.”

In the letter sent to the current AIG Board of Directors and candidates for the board up for election, Cummings reaffirmed his “commitment to achieving transparency and accountability during the government’s involvement in AIG.”

In seeking Liddy’s successors, Cummings offered four guidelines the insurer should implement: requiring all candidates to submit a full financial disclosure form; selecting candidates with “demonstrated ability” to lead organizations with insurance and financial instruments; considering candidates of the “highest integrity” committed to “an open and honest dialogue” with Congress; and providing a reasonable level of compensation for new officers.

“While the above seem self-evident, we find ourselves in a position in which months of misstatements and deception have eroded the trust of Congress in AIG’s leadership to the point that the most basic constructs of corporate responsibility must be restated,” the congressman, who represents Maryland’s 7th District, concluded.

This story originally appeared in the July 2009 print edition of Insurance & Financial Advisor.