John Oxendine don’t need no stinkin’ insurance tests
Former insurance commissioner exempted himself from requirements prior to leaving office
- Cobb County Republican Party
Even out of office, former state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine manages to make news.
According to the AJC, Georgia’s Walt Disney issued himself several licenses to sell insurance and adjust claims the day before he left public service. What’s more, he exempted himself from taking mandatory tests — and with it, the 80 hours of classes most hopefuls take to prepare for those exams.
Arguably the best quote:
He also said he decided against taking the tests because he worried his presence would be a distraction to other test takers.
“We didn’t want to close down a testing center,” he said. “I didn’t want anyone getting a bad grade and saying the insurance commissioner was sitting next to them distracting them.”
We can imagine the testing center. “Dan, don’t look. I said don’t look! I think that’s John Oxendine. I’m freaking out, bro. A celebrity!”
Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens isn’t very happy about the news. Neither are some state lawmakers in the insurance industry. One even called the eleventh-hour exemptions, which Oxendine said were within the law and understandable because he’d spent 16 years regulating insurance, an “abuse of power.”
But according to Hudgens, the licenses can’t be rescinded.