State Rep. Jasper Schneider, D-Fargo, will be officially announcing his candidacy for state insurance commissioner early next week.

Schneider, who had been rumored to want the post and said last month that he was considering a run, told the Tribune that his mind is now made up.

"I've gotten a lot of support from a lot of the people I've talked to," he said. "I've done a lot in my life to put myself in a position to take this step and I think I'd make a great insurance commissioner."

Schneider, 28, is a partner in his family's Fargo law firm. He runs a computer hardware review Web site that he started in college and was elected to his first term in the state House in 2006.

He said the insurance commissioner's post would give him a platform from which to help handle the state's troubled Workforce Safety and Insurance agency and to make sure healthcare insurance providers are treating their customers fairly.

"People are crying out for leadership," he said.

The insurance commissioner's post became a topic of political interest after two-term commissioner Jim Poolman stepped down at the end August to start a private insurance consultancy. Gov. John Hoeven appointed Fargo attorney Adam Hamm to the post. He took over Oct. 22.

Schneider and Hamm both have to receive their party's nominations. But if they do, their race is interesting because of their similar background: both are attorneys from Fargo.

Despite this, both Hamm and Schneider say they know very little about each other and haven't had any professional contact.

Citing this, Hamm declined to specifically comment on Schneider's candidacy.

"I welcome the competition and look forward to the discussion of all the issues that a campaign will bring up," he said.

BSC shines

Bismarck State College's public-private partnership with the energy sector earned the local institution a mention in the U.S. Senate last week.

The institution was used as an example of such partnerships during a Nov. 6 hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

"Bismarck State's programs in power plant, process plant, electric power, electrical transmission systems, and nuclear power technologies will educate and train many of our future energy sector workers," said the Department of Energy's Patricia Hoffman at the hearing.

(Reach Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@bismarcktribune.com.)