Georgia commissioner candidates clash over money, incumbents’ record

The midterm race for Georgia Insurance Commissioner pits a veteran politician against an attorney in his first foray into politics. Each candidate has an ‘x’ in his three-syllabled surname – but that’s where the similarities end.

In a contest that officially began in the Georgia primaries on July 18, there has been plenty of time for the candidates to show their constituents what they’re made of. The rousing primary contest was evenly matched with Democrats casting 331,692 votes to the Republicans’ 346,379.

Money issue

Democratic candidate Gaeton “Guy” Drexinger told Insurance Journal that the past 18 months have been exciting, while Republican incumbent John Oxendine asked, “What did he say about me?”

If elected, Drexinger hopes to rid future political races of all industry contributions, citing conflict of interest. He wants to close a loophole in current state ethics laws that allows employees of regulated or licensed entities (i.e. employees of the insurance industry) to contribute campaign cash from their personal funds.

Drexinger set the stage for confrontation on his Web site with a spoof on the movie “Brokeback Mountain,” portraying Oxendine as a cowboy, hooked on certain alleged campaign contributions, uttering the movie’s tagline, “I wish I could quit you.”

Oxendine claims Drexinger started out lobbying the insurance industry for support only to come up short. “When he found no industry contributors, he started saying that he wouldn’t accept their money,” the incumbent maintains.

Drexinger said early in his campaign he returned some $4,000 to insurance industry-related supporters and since then has not accepted similar support.

Drexinger believes Georgia is not tough enough on uninsured motorists. He said fines for driving without auto insurance in Georgia are $25 and $60 for first and second offenses respectively. Referring to a comparison with Arizona, he said that state’s fines are $500 and $700 respectively for first and second offenses.

“States like Arizona transfer a percentage of the collected fines back to their insurance commission to provide a mechanism to pay medical and property damage,” Drexinger said. “That lowers premiums for people who are doing the right thing.”

Oxendine record

First elected in 1994 and re-elected in 1998 and again in 2002, Oxendine is confident of his record in office.

“I want to focus on the incredibly good job we’ve done. Georgia has a good competitive market; auto rates are one of the cheapest for a state of this size. Homeowners rates are cheapest in the southeast and for workers comp, Georgia is one of the lowest in the country,” he said.

But Drexinger said he wants to focus on lowering workers compensation costs. “Georgia’s businesses are paying 28 percent more than in neighboring North Carolina and 36 percent more than Virginia,” he argues.

According to Drexinger, there are currently “only five or six fraud investigators covering entire state.” He said he wants more investigators on the job.

Oxendine touts his ant-fraud record, citing his investigation into fraudulent activities targeted at military members’ health care insurance. “The investigation reached a national scale. As a result of the investigation, $70 million will now go back to the victimized soldiers,” he noted.

Drexinger has a degree in economics from the University of Florida’s College of Business Administration and law degree from Mercer University. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Oxendine also received a law degree from Mercer University. Prior to taking this office, he was with the law firm of Oxendine and Associates. He also served as chairman of the State Personnel Board.

The election is Nov. 7.

Topics Georgia Market