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Bob Graham is executive editor at Insurance & Financial Advisor and IFAwebnews.com.

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Beth Sammis, Maryland’s acting insurance commissioner, may be in the acting capacity until May 2011, possibly stretching her acting label past the nearly 13 months Joel Ario, Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner, had to wait for state Senate approval two years ago.

Okay, I admit it: The behind-the-scenes debate, discussion and disposition of insurance commissioners fascinates me. I felt bad for Ario, nominated after the resignation of M. Diane Koken, because he uprooted his family from Oregon to come to Pennsylvania, where his nomination for insurance commissioner – and his renomination, after Senate Republicans forced Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell to withdraw his choice – was tied up in a battle-to-the-death for more than a year. That’s a long time to be an acting commissioner, unsure of whether the next order you sign or administrative order you issue will be your last. It’s an even longer time to tell your family, 3,000 miles away from their home, that everything will work out. Fortunately for Ario – and probably for Pennsylvania – it did.

In Maryland, Sammis, who has been the acting insurance commissioner since January, should probably contact Ario for pointers on how to handle the awkwardness of “acting insurance commissioner” limbo. Sammis, one of two deputies under Ralph S. Tyler, took over in the interim after Tyler accepted a position as chief counsel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has begun a search for a full-time successor, but filling the insurance commissioner slot is low on his priority list when he now faces an election challenge from former Gov. Robert Ehrlich, his Republican rival and the man he unseated in 2006.

Anyone O’Malley names as insurance commissioner is going to be criticized by Ehrlich and Republicans as anti-business, whether it’s right or wrong, because Ehrlich is painting O’Malley as a tax-and-spend liberal whose killing small business in the state. Remember Politics 101: Perception is reality.

Finding a nominee may prove harder. The gig is only guaranteed to May 2011, far too short a time to, say, uproot your family and move to Maryland from Oregon. Of course, if O’Malley wins the election, his appointee could be nominated for another term. But that’s not guaranteed.

Interestingly, the term limit for insurance commissioner in Maryland, extending six months past an election, was designed to lessen the politics of the position. But in this case, it appears to have backfired. Whoops! Just more to love about these situations.

In fairness, Sammis may be the right person for the job – now and in the coming few years. Her background in health insurance, including more than 20 years working for a health insurance company, puts her many steps ahead of many of the people involved in implementing federal health care reform. She understands the health industry, the politics and many of the players. While she is still learning about life insurance and property-casualty insurance, she’s probably a better advocate for insurance companies and agents than her predecessor, who worked from Day One to increase consumer protection from the insurance companies in Maryland.

Odds are that Sammis will either remain in the acting capacity or get O’Malley’s nod to run the Maryland Insurance Administration permanently until May 2011, at which time the political wrangling and debate, the realities of health care reform and all the other things that make insurance commissioner appointment watching so enjoyable will probably be settled. Or not. I guess you know what I hope for.