Tom Blakely

The struggle of the late political consultant Tom Blakely’s widow to secure payment from the life insurance policy her husband signed just days before he died may lead to legislation in New Jersey. 

Last month, four state Senators wrote a letter to TransAmerica Life Insurance Corp. CEO Patrick S. Baird inviting him or a representative of the company to meet with them over legislation they plan to propose next month that would change the way life insurance companies operate in New Jersey.

TransAmerica has been assailed by prominent New Jersey Republicans ever since it challenged the validity of Blakely’s second policy with the company.  Blakely was a co-founder of Jamestown Associates, a top Republican consulting firm, and died in March after collapsing during a 5K race in Bordentown. 

On March 7, 46-year-old Republican political consultant Tom Blakely and his wife, Deborah, sent off a check to Transamerica Life Insurance Corp., beginning the family’s second life insurance policy with the company.

The timing of the Blakelys' decision to take on that policy turned out to be a tragic coincidence.

On March 15, while running a weekend 5K race in Bordentown, Blakely suffered a heart attack, collapsed and died on the spot. Shockwaves immediately reverberated through the political community, many of whom had known Blakely, a fit former Marine with two children ages three and one, for decades, and who had used his company, Jamestown Associates, to run their campaigns.

But two months after Blakely’s death, Transamerica is disputing his family’s claim for the second life insurance policy, and still has not paid their first one.