Almost five weeks after Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman's resignation, there's little public indication of who will be appointed in his place and when that person will be chosen.

Don Canton, a spokesman for the governor, said Friday that the office doesn't yet know when the appointment will be made.

"We don't have a fixed timetable," Canton said. "We're just trying to find the best person."

He said Hoeven is still making his mind up on a candidate. The governor has talked to "a number" of people, Canton said, but he declined to name them.

According to the Associated Press, Hoeven has discussed the job with Doug Goehring, a twice unsuccessful candidate for agriculture commissioner and former president of Nodak Mutual Insurance, Fargo attorney Adam Hamm, U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley and Julie Liffrig Fedorchak, who works in public relations for the state commerce department.

Whoever is chosen will fill Poolman's seat until 2009. Hoeven also said in August that he would consider that person's prospects as a candidate in 2008, but that this would not be his primary consideration.

The most public requests for Hoeven's attention in choosing a new commissioner have come from progressive groups.

Don Morrison, director of NDPeople.org, a progressive interest group, has called for a consumer advocate as the next insurance commissioner. Morrison said a consumer advocate insurance commissioner would be tough enough on the companies to make it in their economic interest to offer the best service to their customers.

"We need to reaffirm what that office is for," Morrison said.

He said the new insurance commissioner could also be a consumer advocate by avoiding close relationships with big companies that could be avoided as a conflict of interest, or what he called a "fox guarding the chicken coop" scenario.

Canton said Hoeven remains interested in finding a candidate who's a quick study and has strong people skills.

Noticeably absent from the debate over a new commissioner is the Professional Insurance Agents of North Dakota, the local industry's lobbying group.

Executive director Kent Olson said his group has not approached Hoeven and doesn't have any specific names in mind for the job. However, he said insurance agents would like to see a new commissioner who has experience in the industry, perhaps even from the agents perspective.

Olson said insurance is a complicated industry, and it would help the business if the person regulating it knows its terms, laws and tricks.

"We would like to see somebody who has a handle on the issues," he said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach reporter Jonathan Rivoli at 223-8482 or jonathan.rivoli@;bismarcktribune.com.)