Former North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Injured in Crash

Former North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman is scheduled for surgery Friday after being injured in a traffic crash in Mandan.

Wife Nancy Poolman tells The Bismarck Tribune that her 43-year-old husband suffered a broken pelvis and a concussion in Monday’s crash.

The Highway Patrol says Jim Poolman was driving a sport utility vehicle that was struck by a pickup truck that crossed a concrete lane divider on Mandan’s Main Street. The driver of the pickup, 68-year-old Thomas Joblinski of Mandan, died. The patrol says he might have suffered a medical problem leading to the crash.

Poolman was a state representative from Grand Forks from 1992 to 2000 and served as state insurance commissioner from 2001 to 2007. He’s now vice chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party.