Tuesday, February 2, 2010
News Westmoreland: Oxendine call felt like 'shakedown'
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 3:29 PM
Kudos to Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine — the leading GOP contender to fill Gov. Sonny Perdue's shoes — for keeping his name in the news!
U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland said Monday that he believes Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine used an investigation into a failed insurance company in an attempt to pressure him to take a low profile in the governor’s race.Westmoreland said Oxendine, a Republican candidate for governor, called him about an investigation into Southeastern U.S. Insurance, where Westmoreland served on an advisory board in 2003 and 2004. He said Oxendine told him that his name was found in company documents.
Westmoreland said Oxendine never said anything explicit, but the congressman said he felt a message was being sent. He said Oxendine said to him repeatedly that he would try to keep his name from becoming public as a favor.
Oxendine denied trying to pressure Westmoreland. He said politics had nothing to do with the call.
No follow-up statement from the Oxendine camp yet, just a tweet telling followers to watch radio talk show host Herman Cain tonight for some sort of response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Icarus at Peach Pundit is calling this latest news story the "beginning of the end" for the GOP gubernatorial candidate's campaign. Jim Galloway says this confrontation could split the state's GOP — and he wonders if any other elephants are ensnared in the Insurance Commission investigation that prompted Oxendine's call to Westmoreland.
Comments (4)
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"He said Oxendine said to him repeatedly that he would try to keep his name from becoming public as a favor." Typical conservative scum.
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Putting aside the extortionate component, isn't it inappropriate for Oxendine to call a person involved in a company being investigated? Does Oxendine's call compromise the investigation? How does Oxendine keep doing these types of things without ever being called to account?
Oxendine’s actions need to be immediately investigated. It was inappropriate for him to contact a person possibly involved in a criminal investigation. Did Oxendine call Westmoreland to give him a "heads up?" Did Oxendine call Westmoreland to keep him quiet? To convince Westmoreland to lay low in the governor's race? Were Oxendine’s actions consistent with the rules and practices applicable to these types of investigations? Thurbert Baker, where are you? I hope you are not too busy running for governor to address serious questions involving possible violations of civil and criminal laws by the State Insurance Commissioner. P.S. By the way, what was Oxendine doing leaking information to GPB during a criminal investigation? Oxendine has a lot of explaining ahead of him. Perhaps he should take a lesson from Glenn Richardson and try to cut his losses? P.P.S. The AJC has some additional info on this story. http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2010/02/02/the-gpb-story-on-oxendine-westmoreland-and-seus/comment-page-1/#comment-43266
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