To Oust Kelsey

Governor Hughes sends the senate an urgent message requesting the removal of Otto Kelsey from office.

Albany, NY-- Governor Hughes sent to the senate his second message recommending the removal from office of Otto Kelsey, state superintendent of insurance. In the message the governor refers to the investigations made by Matthew C. Fleming, appointed as a commissioner to investigate the state insurance department. The governor’s message this year was heard with profound attention, and, unlike last year, there was no preliminary attempt to show how matters stood in the senate. A year ago when the message was received it was promptly referred to the judiciary committee to adopt a plan of procedure. This time the message, together with the Fleming report, on motion of Senator Raines, was laid on the table.
Later a plan of procedure will be adopted, but it will be done with the greatest deliberation. Great pressure is being brought to bear upon Superintendent Kelsey to resign. The men who were with him a year ago are still in the main with him, but the senators who are with the governor in asking for the removal say that senators who are backing Kelsey will hesitate to oppose the governor. Friends of Mr. Kelsey, however, say the insurance superintendent does not propose to resign and will again demand that his friends stand by him.

“To Oust Kelsey,” Black Virginia: The Richmond Planet, 1894-1909, accessed February 15, 2026, https://blackvirginia.richmond.edu/items/show/516.