Petition backers seek elections for insurance commissioner. (Fair Affordable Insurance Reform; Colorado insurance commissioner)

The job of Colorado's insurance commissioner would become an elected position instead of an appointed one if a small Colorado Springs faction gets its wish.

A group calling itself FAIR, which stands for Fair Affordable Insurance Reform, submitted a proposed ballot initiative to the secretary of state May 6 that would leave the job of top insurance regulator up to the whim of the voters.

According to the leader of FAIR, Colorado Springs attorney Kenneth Shakeshaft, the group believes an elected official in the job would be "more receptive to going after and solving insurance problems."

The ballot initiative would rewrite the Colorado Constitution to allow voters to elect the insurance commissioner every four years. The first such election would be in 1996. The constitution already allows …