John Oxendine

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John Oxendine
Insurance Commissioner
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 8, 1995
Governor	Sonny Perdue
Preceded by	Tim Ryles
Born	April 30, 1962 (1962-04-30) (age 47) Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Ivy Oxendine
Residence	Peachtree Corners, Georgia
Alma mater	Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer
Occupation	Insurance Commissioner Lawyer Businessman
Religion	Methodist[1]
Website	Official site

John W. Oxendine (born April 30, 1962) is an American politician currently serving his fourth four-year term as Insurance Commissioner of the U.S. state of Georgia. A Republican, he was first elected commissioner in 1994^[2] and was reelected in 1998,^[3] 2002,^[4] and 2006.^[5] Prior to entering politics, Oxendine owned and operated a law firm and was a bar-certified lawyer^[6] practicing in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

Oxendine is currently leading in the polls^[7] in the race for Governor of Georgia in 2010^[8] to succeed the term-limited Sonny Perdue.

Oxendine began his career working on several gubernatorial campaigns and was later appointed by Governor Joe Frank Harris to the State Personnel Board, and by the time Harris was ending his term, Oxendine had been promoted to chairman of the the board.^[9] During his tenure as insurance commissioner, Oxendine has kept the office open eleven hours a day (8 am until 7 pm), reorganized the Consumer Services Division—to date more than $182 million in disputed claims has been recovered^[10][11]—and created the Georgia Telemedicine Program.^[12]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Political career 2.1 Early years 2.2 Election as Insurance Commissioner 2.3 Potential U.S. Senate candidacies 2.4 2006 Campaign for Lieutenant Governor 2.5 2006 Reelection campaign 2.6 As Insurance Commissioner 2.7 2010 Gubernatorial campaign 2.7.1 2009 Campaign finance controversy 3 Political positions 3.1 Second Amendment 4 Electoral history 5 References 6 External links

Early life

Oxendine was born in Tennessee; he is the son of James W. Oxendine and Louise Oxendine and has two sisters. He grew up in Tucker, Georgia, where he graduated from Tucker High School in 1980. Oxendine attributes his interest in politics to his father who has been a Senior Superior Court Judge in Gwinnett County since Oxendine was in school. Oxendine was active in scholastic activities all four years at Tucker High School and regularly went hunting, a tradition that he continues today with his children.^{[citation needed]}

He triple majored in Christianity, Greek, and political science at Mercer University, earning his Bachelor of Arts in 1984 with a 4.0 GPA.^{[citation needed]} During college he worked at the Georgia State Capitol to pay for his tuition^{[citation needed]} as a student assistant to Governor George Busbee. Oxendine attended Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer, where he continued being active in student organizations including the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, and graduated with his Juris Doctorate in 1987.^[13]

Upon graduation from law school, Oxendine took over the family law practice, Oxendine and Associates, located in Gwinnett County, from his father. Oxendine and Associates concentrated in helping small businesses navigate the bureaucracy required when doing business with the federal government.^{[citation needed]} Oxendine owned and ran this small business until he took the office of Insurance Commissioner in January 1995.^[14]

Oxendine married Ivy Adams, who had also been a student at Mercer, and together they have three children, J.W. (17), Phillip (12) and Caroline (10).^[when?] The family attends Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church, where he serves as an usher. He currently resides in unincorporated Peachtree Corners, in Gwinnett County.^[15] The Oxendines are expecting their fourth child, Jake, on July 6.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

Early years

Oxendine began his political life as a student assistant to Governor George Busbee. Oxendine later worked on the campaign staff of Joe Frank Harris, who was elected Governor and appointed Oxendine as chairman of the State Personnel Board.

Election as Insurance Commissioner

In the 1994 election, Oxendine opposed incumbent Democratic Insurance Commissioner Tim Ryles, a controversial^{[clarification needed]} consumer advocate who had strained relations with the business community and his party's leadership. Helped by the Republican takeover of Congress and an independent expenditure by the insurance industry, Oxendine upset Ryles, winning 50.98% of the vote.

Potential U.S. Senate candidacies

When United States Senator Paul Coverdell died suddenly in 2000, Oxendine decided against running and gave a Shermanesque statement.^{[citation needed]} Republican leaders settled for former U.S. Senator Mack Mattingly as their consensus Republican candidate; Mattingly was defeated by former Governor Zell Miller.

In early 2003, Miller announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate, prompting Oxendine to again consider running for the seat. On January 8, 2003, Oxendine told the Atlanta Business Chronicle, "We've had countless people across the state asking us to run for the [U.S.] Senate, and I told people I was flattered by their faith in me and that I would consider it. I did consider it to the point of commissioning a poll and the results were every encouraging. It turned out I am one of the best-known and -liked politicians in the state."^{[citation needed]} However, when Congressman Johnny Isakson announced his candidacy a month later, Oxendine endorsed Isakson and restated his intention to serve out his term as Insurance Commissioner.

2006 Campaign for Lieutenant Governor

In early 2004, Oxendine announced his intent to run for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia in 2006. He raised approximately $500,000 for his campaign over several months^[16]. In February 2005, after State Senator Casey Cagle and Christian political consultant Ralph Reed joined the race for Lieutenant Governor, Oxendine released polling data showing that he led his two opponents and reiterated his intent to remain in the race. However, Oxendine later announced that he would run for reelection as Insurance Commissioner. Speculation by some observers that Oxendine was leaving open a return to the Lieutenant Governor's race ended when the qualifying period closed on April 28, 2006.

2006 Reelection campaign

In the November election, Oxendine defeated Democratic attorney Guy Drexinger by a large margin, taking 65.6 percent of the vote to Drexinger's 34.4 percent. Oxendine carried 153 of Georgia's 159 counties^[17] in what was the best showing ever for a statewide Republican candidate in Georgia.^{[citation needed]}

Although Oxendine was generally regarded as likely to win re-election as Insurance Commissioner, Drexinger had the backing of former Governor Roy Barnes, raised substantial funds, and was Oxendine's strongest challenger since Oxendine defeated Ryles in 1994.^{[citation needed]}

As Insurance Commissioner

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As Insurance Commissioner, John Oxendine brought reforms to the office, expanding the office hours to make the department more consumer friendly, building a customer satisfaction culture, and creating Georgia's first Telemedicine Program.^[18]

Since becoming the first Republican to control a state agency, Oxendine has consistently run the department under budget, keeping the office open eleven hours a day (8am-7pm), and returning money to the taxpayers every year he has been in office.^[19]

Oxendine has brought the power of the private sector to bear in addressing Georgia's challenges. His creative, public-private partnership to develop the most comprehensive telemedicine program in the United States has expanded the availability of first-class healthcare to every Georgia citizen without spending taxpayer dollars.^[20]

For his work on behalf of Georgia consumers and health care providers, Oxendine was awarded the American Medical Association's highest honor, the only Insurance Commissioner to receive the David Award.^[21]

2010 Gubernatorial campaign

With Governor Sonny Perdue term-limited in 2010, Oxendine has filed paperwork to run for the Republican nomination for governor.^[22] Oxendine is currently the frontrunner in the race for Governor and is running as the reform candidate.^[23] He has been the consistent leader among the polls for Governor and the only Republican who polls ahead of former Governor Roy Barnes.^{[24][25][26][27]}

2009 Campaign finance controversy

In May 2009, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that Oxendine had received over $120,000, or eight percent of his total campaign contributions received,^[28] in campaign contributions from 10 different political action committees in Alabama.^[29] The newspaper reporter found that all ten PACs donated to Oxendine the maximum contribution allowed by law.^[30] After further investigation, it was found that records of the Secretary of State of Alabama showed the PACs all had similar addresses and the same chairperson, the son of lawyer and businessman Donald V. Watkins and that the money originated from two insurance companies based in Georgia, while state law prohibits companies from giving money to the campaigns of elected officials who regulate them.^[28]

“It’s not like an oversight or I didn’t know what the law was,” Oxendine said. “We received it from completely different sources, and they are not common.” He added later, “I don’t want you to think we had the intent of doing anything inappropriate.”^[31]

In one instance seven years prior to the contributions, discussed in a 2002 federal appellate decision involving Oxendine, the company funding the PACs sought and received approval from Oxendine for the special sale of an insurance company it owned.^{[clarification needed]}

Once the suspiciousness was realized and brought to Oxendine's attention, Oxendine immediately returned the funds to their donor awaiting a legal opinion.^[32][33]

Political positions

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Second Amendment

Oxendine has publicly stated that he is a member of National Rifle Association, the Georgia Sports Shooting Association, and GeorgiaCarry.org.^[34]

Electoral history

Georgia Insurance Commissioner Election, 1994
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Oxendine	754,123	50.98
	Democratic	Tim Ryles	725,134	49.02

Georgia Insurance Commissioner Election, 1998
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Oxendine	1,017,602	58.9	+8%
	Democratic	Henrietta Canty	651,891	37.7
	Libertarian	Joshua Batchelder	59,170	3.4

Georgia Insurance Commissioner Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Oxendine	1,274,831	64.3	+5.4%
	Democratic	Lois Cohen	657,754	33.2
	Libertarian	Helmut Forren	51,441	2.6

Georgia Insurance Commissioner Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Oxendine	1,357,770	65.6	+1.3%
	Democratic	Guy Drexinger	713,324	34.4

References

External links

• Official John Oxendine campaign website
• Georgia Department of Insurance website
• New Georgia Encyclopedia.

Preceded by Tim Ryles

Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner 1995 - Present

Succeeded by incumbent

v • d • e Current statewide executive officials of Georgia (term of office ends in January 2011) Governor Sonny Perdue (Republican) Other executive officials Lieutenant Governor: Casey Cagle (Republican) • Secretary of State: Karen Handel (Republican) • Attorney General: Thurbert Baker (Democrat) • Commissioner of Agriculture: Tommy Irvin (Democrat) • Commissioner of Insurance: John Oxendine (Republican) • Commissioner of Labor: Mike Thurmond (Democrat) • Superintendent of Schools: Kathy Cox (Republican)

Persondata
NAME	Oxendine, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	John W. Oxendine
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Insurance Commissioner, Attorney, Small Businessman
DATE OF BIRTH	April 30, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH	Nashville, Tennessee
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH