As political 'Lone Ranger,' tycoon shoots cash at causes Peter Lewis, chairman of automob... As political 'Lone Ranger,'

Peter Lewis, chairman of automobile insurer Progressive Group, reveres the Lone Ranger. The billionaire named the tugboat on which he travels the world after the fictional Old West hero, who fought for justice and never shot to kill.

Mr. Lewis, 71, wears glasses, not a mask. Tall and lean with a prosthetic leg, he underwrote much of last year's effort to unseat a Texan supported by political donors known as the "Pioneers" and "Rangers" - President Bush.

The insurance tycoon gave $22.9 million to nine nonprofit 527 organizations, substantially more than the $4.1 million raised by Mr. Bush's team of 30 Ohio Pioneers and Rangers.

Armed with a bank account instead of silver bullets, Mr. Lewis was the Buckeye State's political Lone Ranger, choosing to support MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group, and the Joint Victory Campaign 2004, which advocates decriminalizing marijuana.

"He cares very much about civil rights and civil liberties," former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, a friend of Mr. Lewis for 20 years, said yesterday. "His coda is just tell people the truth and be as transparent as possible."

"Well, I really don't know because I don't believe in doctors," Mr. Lewis said. "But No. 1, I feel fine. No. 2, I swim a mile every day. And No. 3, I'm single; so I [have sex] all the time."

"He was very shy," Mr. Nader said yesterday in an interview with The Blade. "He lost his father in his senior year, and he had to take over this little company."

Progressive, that little company, generated $13.7 billion in revenues last year. Headquartered in Mayfield, Ohio, it is the nation's third largest automobile insurer, according to company statements.

Several years ago, Mr. Nader, who rose to prominence by writing Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile in 1965, said he surprised his classmate during a conversation.

The question gave Mr. Lewis an idea, Mr. Nader said. In 1994, Progressive began to publicly compare its insurance rates against its competitors, a revolutionary move that fueled the company's growth.

"He's a knowledge sponge," Mr. Nader said. "He listens. You talk to so many corporate executives. They sort of smile benignly. They give you that Pat Robertson smile."

As Progessive's CEO for 35 years, Mr. Lewis, worth roughly $2 billion in company stock, defied conventionality. During a 2000 visit to New Zealand to watch the America's Cup, a yacht race, airport security found 33 grams of cannabis in his luggage. He spent the night in jail, later stating that the drug relieved the pain caused by a partial amputation of his leg in 1998 because of circulatory problems.

After a spendthrift museum director exhausted the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation's endowment, Mr. Lewis resigned from the board of trustees, abandoning an institution that had received $77 million from him since 1993, according to a recent article in Vanity Fair.

Mr. Lewis paid more than $28 million eight years ago for the Frank Gehry-designed business school at Case Western Reserve University. Angered by the building's cost over-runs, he refused to support any Cleveland charity until the school's entire board resigned. He ended the two-year boycott in 2003, according to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer.

"His contributions to whatever causes he chooses have no affect on the company," said spokesman Katherine Bell. "Political activism is not part of our corporate culture."

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