Facing new allegations of political wrongdoing, former Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine fired back at the state ethics commission Saturday, accusing the panel of wasting taxpayer money in a long-running case against him and his failed 2010 campaign for governor.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday that the commission has amended an existing complaint against Oxendine, adding accusations that he accepted more than the legal limit from 20 donors during the 2010 campaign and that he spent $208,0000 in contributions raised for political races he never ran.
The complaints came about a month after the AJC reported that Oxendine's campaign failed to return about $750,000 in contributions he received for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial runoff and general election — races the former commissioner never got a chance to run because he finished fourth in the GOP primary.
After questions were raised by the AJC, Oxendine filed an amended disclosure report showing the campaign had $500,000 left in the bank five years after he lost the 2010 primary. The ethics commission complaint says Oxendine improperly spent more than $208,000 raised for the runoff and primary even though he never actually ran those races.
Oxendine, a colorful and controversial political figure during his 16 years as Insurance Commissioner, didn’t back down after the new allegations were released.
“Seven years ago, a bunch of government staffers brought wild and unsubstantiated claims against my campaign,” he said Saturday. “After wasting hundreds of thousand of taxpayer dollars, they have refused to produce one shred of evidence or even allow the case to appear before a judge. If they never take the case to a judge, they never have the embarrassment of losing.
“In order to cover up and deflect from their previous acts of incompetence and wasteful government spending, they are now attempting to add new frivolous allegations in a case that has remained open for an unprecedented seven years without any evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever being presented on their part.”
The new allegations were tacked onto an existing complaint against the former commissioner and two insurance companies that accused Oxendine of accepting $120,000 in illegal contributions from the insurers. The case against the insurers, filed in 2009, was dismissed in 2014, largely because previous commission staffers had made so little progress on it. But more recent staffers have continued to work on the case against Oxendine for receiving the excess money.
In a letter to Oxendine’s lawyer, Stefan Ritter, executive secretary of the ethics commission, said staffers took a new look at the former commissioner’s case after the AJC reported on the campaign discrepancies.
Ritter said Friday, “We did a full audit of Mr. Oxendine’s accounts and paperwork and we determined there were additional violations.”
The amended complaint said Oxendine accepted contributions above the legal limits — $6,100 per election for most of that period — from about 20 donors. Most of the donations were made for the primary election, during which Oxendine greatly out-raised his opponents but wound up fading. Nathan Deal eventually won the governor’s race that year.
According to the complaint, Oxendine collected $12,500 from a bank executive for the primary — despite the $6,100 limit at the time — and $12,200 from another businessman for the primary.
The amended complaint said the former commissioner also improperly used about $2,000 in campaign money for membership dues and expenses at the Commerce Club in Atlanta and the Delta Crown Room VIP lounge.
As a gubernatorial candidate in 2010, he reported taking in about $3.9 million in contributions. He reported spending close to $3.4 million. About 20 percent of what the candidate raised was designated for the Republican runoff and general elections.
State law dictates that candidates who raises money for races they don’t run must refund it to contributors or, if refunding it isn’t possible, donate it to charity. But commission officials and Oxendine say state law doesn’t specifically say how long candidates have to give the money back.
Oxendine told the AJC last month that he was holding onto the leftover campaign money until his ethics commission case was settled. He has spent some of the leftover money on legal bills and contributions to other politicians, such as failed presidential hopeful and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Ethics experts say Oxendine can’t pay his legal expenses with funds he raised for the races he never ran. Oxendine, a lawyer, argues that he can.
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