Ethics Commission accused of contempt as Oxendine saga rolls on
State Mutual Insurance Co. of Rome on Friday asked a Fulton County judge to find the State Ethics Commission in contempt of court for planning to move forward with a hearing next week into more than $100,000 in questionable contributions to Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine’s gubernatorial campaign.
State Mutual, and its affiliate, Admiral Life Insurance Co., asked Judge Kimberly M. Esmond Adams to find the commission and its executive secretary Stacey Kalberman in contempt after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday that the commission intended to move forward with its hearing next week.
The insurance companies sued the Ethics Commission in Fulton County Superior Court in late May and asked Adams to quash a series of subpoenas the commission served in an attempt to gather documents and information into $120,000 in contributions Oxendine received from a series of Alabama political action committees with ties to the insurance companies. On Thursday, Adams issued an order calling for a hearing in her court by July 2 and ordering that “all hearings and actions in this matter before the State Ethics Commission are stayed for a period of time not to exceed thirty (30) days or until further order of this court.”
But Kalberman told the AJC on Thursday that the commission’s interpretation of “this matter” in Adams’ order is that it only applied to discussions of State Mutual and Admiral Life. She said the commission could move forward with its hearing next Thursday to discuss other topics related to the Oxendine investigation.
But Kalberman said Friday that the commission asked Adams to clarify whether they may move forward with the June 24 hearing.
The commission has been investigating the donations since last year and recently subpoenaed the companies for financial records. The companies balked, and filed a suit in Fulton County to stop the investigation. They argued it was political and had been delayed until just before the July 20 primary election to hurt Oxendine, the front-runner for the GOP nomination. Delos Yancey III, who heads State Mutual, is a friend of Oxendine.
Kalberman said delays have not been caused by the commission, but by a lack of cooperation from 10 political action committees in Alabama that channeled the donations to Oxendine. The PACs were set up by a State Mutual board member.
But in Friday’s filing, an attorney for the insurance companies said Kalberman is wrong.
“The members of the commission and the executive secretary are all attorneys; they are officers of the court,” attorney Daniel Meachum said. “They cannot willfully disregard a court order and expect such a blatant act to be ignored.”
Last year, the AJC reported State Mutual and Admiral Life had used 10 Alabama PACs to channel $120,000 – almost ten times the legal limit – to Oxendine’s campaign.
Georgia’s Ethics-in-Government Act prohibits officials from taking money directly from companies they regulate. The law also prohibits funneling money through PACs to get around contribution limits of $12,200 per candidate in a normal election cycle.
After the stories, Oxendine returned the money and the State Ethics Commission opened an investigation.
The saga of the case has rolled on for more than a year since the AJC first reported the contributions. Now, at least one of Oxendine’s opponents in the July 20 primary are calling for Oxendine himself to help end it.
“John Oxendine and his cronies are using frivolous court complaints to delay the ethics commission hearing on his illegal and unethical actions,” Karen Handel, the former secretary of state now running second to Oxendine in polling for the July 20 primary, said. “He claims that he’s done nothing wrong. If so, the ethics hearing is his opportunity to have his say now and clear his name. These stall tactics are clearly designed to push the ethics hearings past the primary.”
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26 comments Add your comment
killerJ
June 18th, 2010
2:21 pm
whats the big deal?the president of the united states takes money from people he regulates all the time, it just comes from different avenues.everybody knows this.vote for your tea parties come november for real change.
Scott
June 18th, 2010
2:37 pm
Ox is a crook…and not a very smart one either. Lets see…he wants to build a tunnel under intown neighborhoods to relieve traffic, yet he wont help support the 1 cent sales tax for transportation other than “he might vote for it”. MARK MY WORDS if this guy gets elected he will make Sonny look like the poster child of good government
CobbgGOPer
June 18th, 2010
3:16 pm
Therefore, vote Karen Handel.
It must be in the water
June 18th, 2010
3:22 pm
Seriously, these people at the Ethics Commission sound like they have lost their minds. The Executive Director and the Commissioners are all attorneys yet they cannot read and understand a simple two page order from a judge. Also, you have the Attorney General’s office involved as the Commission’s legal counsel. What scares me is these people are overseeing ethics in Georgia!?! Sounds like housing cleaning should be done at the Ethics Commission and bring in some Commissioners with common sense!!!
Not A Republican and Not For Any Republicans
June 18th, 2010
4:50 pm
Funny isn’t it that most people can make excuses for the Republicans who screw the people over and try their hardest to justify them but when someone makes a comment that favors something a Democrat has done they go ballistic. Both parties have issues but if you can support Oxendine after all he has done, you got personal issues. There are two kinds of Republicans – millionaires and suckers.
Libertarian Republican
June 18th, 2010
9:50 pm
I can’t understand why the Executive Secretary of the State Ethics Commission cannot understand this simple order. Are tax payer dollars funding this political charade? What is sad is the AG’s office will spend more tax payer revenue to defend this “non partisan” commission. The State Ethics commission should not be trying to pick the Republican Nominee. If the commission is charged with contempt of court, whoever is in charge should be removed without delay.
How inconvenient
June 18th, 2010
9:57 pm
To get busted breaking the law right before an election. Darn right, ole Johnny boy should sue their pants off. I mean it’s only ten times the legal limit, and he DID return the money.
I’m sure if any bank robber simply RETURNED the MONEY, they would just let the whole silly breaking the law thing go away.
4T9
June 18th, 2010
10:52 pm
Oxendine is a professional politician. He’s a rich boy from a rich family. Other than working for his dad’s law practice, what has he done? Nope, I won’t be voting for Ox. In my opinion, Karen Handel is the only choice.
4T9
June 18th, 2010
10:54 pm
Ox and McBerry of children of attorney’s. That says it all. I’ll be voting for Karen Handel.
Robert
June 18th, 2010
10:54 pm
Oxendine will be a disaster if elected Governor of Georgia. Let’s say no to this guy.
Not An OX Person
June 19th, 2010
8:11 am
Plain and simply put, John Oxendine is corrupt, always has been and always will be. This OX will ruin our state if elected. Karen Handel is the most honest person running for governor…..let’s give her a chance.
Saul Good
June 19th, 2010
8:19 am
There’s only ONE place that Ox belongs: PRISON
Trust me…. if one gets the chance to dig deep into all of his dealings… we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg of how corrupt and sleazy he is. Yet still the brain dead and uninformed would cast votes for him. True signs of the GA education system at work. This is what happens when a state is historically at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to education. You end up with politicians like the majority on the right…and the simple minded and clueless who believe their BS and think that voting for them helps…. in the long run…it’s those that VOTE for these corrupt politicians on the right that actually cause harm to themselves.
Vote Republican and you vote against your own best interests.
tomkat1
June 19th, 2010
9:45 am
It will be interesting to see if big insurance’s money can affect the judge’s decision.
Sad Slate
June 19th, 2010
10:11 am
The top of the GOP is loaded with crooks. I waited a long time for them to gain control and have been terribly let down ever since. None of the candidates for Governor are any better than Sonny and that isn’t asking for much. Talk about squandering opportunities.
UGA1954
June 19th, 2010
2:47 pm
The selection for Governor by the GOP is pathetic at best! Too bad we can’t write-in votes or we’re not like Nevada; if so, I’d vote for “None of the Above.” The GOP is handing the election to King Roy.
MoreChoicesFolks
June 19th, 2010
2:55 pm
What I find appaling is that most people think this is apparently a choice between Handel and Oxendine — Oxendine should never be the face of Georgia — we will be the laughing stock of the country. Handel…. what exactly has she done that qualifies her to be the Governor of our state? Nothing.
There ARE other choices folks — demo and repub — Eric Johnson from Savannah is the most honest and ethical politician this state has seen in years — but never even gets mentioned in Atlanta. Roy Barnes wouldn’t be a bad choice either. Funny — he got beaten for taking a stand on something that needed to be done — only stands you will see Handel or Oxendine taking are the ones they are told to take.
WAKE UP PEOPLE….. if you elect these puppets you get what you deserve.
lighteredknot
June 19th, 2010
3:48 pm
Oxendine has proven to be a puppet of the insurance crowd, and Barnes just doesn’t listen to us because we voted him out of office once. I have not reached a final decision, but you can bet it won’t be for anyone running in the same party as the obama and Pelosi crowd.
Not a Handel Person
June 19th, 2010
5:38 pm
Handel honest? That’s the biggest laugh. First let’s look at her recent handling of was she or wasn’t she a member of the Log Cabin Republicans? I would have no problem if she was. It is an important constituency group in Fulton County. But to lie that she was never a member, to blame a flunky on her campaign staff for signing her name to emails, and to try to cover it all up…give me a break. If she would lie about something this small, what else is she covering it up? And we’re not even going to begin to talk about the lucrative computer contract she gave her husband’s company for her campaign. Doug MacGinnitie’s whole campaign is practically based on on her incompetence and the need to clean up the SoS office long before Brian Kemp was appointed.
Face it, Handel can’t handle it.
Diehard
June 19th, 2010
9:46 pm
John Oxendine is Georgia’s own Rod Blagedovich.
Will Jones - Atlanta Jeffersonian Exegesis
June 20th, 2010
10:18 am
If a crime hadn’t been committed Oxendine would not have returned his friend’s illegal, out-of-state, money.
“Justice, justice, shall you pursue.” Justice delayed is justice denied the voters of this greatest state.
It appears Kalberman and Judge Adams now have an opportunity to rise in the esteem of the good and decent People of Georgia, should justice be now achieved, with corrupt Oxendine, liar Handel, and Linger Longer’s friend Eric Johnson, rejected at the polls.
As Carol Porter seems so wise in her response to those who support papist-front GRTL’s abomination against G-d: insisting that the raped and incested be forced to bear, perhaps the grace she represents as a stellar Georgia Peach suggests DuBose may be the one Georgia needs to make Elect, and her as LG, as well.
The Best Choice
June 20th, 2010
11:13 am
“More Choices Folks” needs to get real…. “Eric Johnson from Savannah is the most honest and ethical politician this state has seen in years …” Let’s get real. Eric Johnson was a state senator, who as ex-officio member of the Jekyll Island Authority board, authorized a $10 million dollar subsidy to the billion dollar Trammell Crow company to build on “prime oceanfront land” and then helped the JIA get $50 million in general obligation bonds to redevelop a “beach village” on Jekyll Island that would directly benefit…no other than the Reynolds family. We all know by now I hope, that Jamie Reynolds is one of Johnson’s campaign finance chairs and his family has donated the max to his campaign. And, oh by the way, 2 member of the Jekyll Island Authority Board are also on his campaign finance committee. Watch out Jekyll Island – if the “honest and ethical” Eric Johnson becomes governor Linger Longer will be knocking on your door steps again!
Jeff Chapman is the only honest and ethical republican candidate in the race. At the risk of rising in his own party he shed light on the give away of Jekyll to the Reynolds family and worked hard to put an end to eminent domain abuse. Chapman puts principles above party and walks the walk!
Macko
June 20th, 2010
3:24 pm
I think all the Repubs, running for Governor, are from the same cloth as Bush/Cheney! Citizens can be damned…it’s all about the corporations!
Dave
June 21st, 2010
7:31 am
I guess if insurance companies are fighting so hard for Oxendine he must have been pretty good to them as a regulator which means more of the same as governor. There is a reason people run for office and many times it is to be a deal maker. This is why the longer incumbents stay in political office the more corrupt many sometimes become. This is why term limits are usually good.
Gene
June 21st, 2010
8:20 am
When it comes to corruption, Oxendine is the gold standard. He should have the Republican primary in the bag.
Ezra
June 21st, 2010
10:41 am
I dont trust anyone dealing with insurance. But I would vote for them over a liberal because there is no trustworthiness in a progressive liberal socialist. I think the liberals see that Georgians feels that way also and is now trying to determine which republican will win the office. The enemy of my enemy is my friend…so to speak.
Really
June 21st, 2010
11:03 am
Looks like this ethics charge maybe just the tip of the iceberg.
http://www.peachpundit.com/2010/06/21/john-oxendines-binder/