John Oxendine, Republican candidate for governor in Georgia, is photogenic, personable and a proven vote-getter. He’s now in his fourth term as the state’s insurance commissioner, and in each of his campaigns for that post he’s amassed the largest number of votes among these seeking any statewide office. It’s a given that’s he’s an expert in the give-and-take of political repartee — and the related art of offering impressive soundbites without providing detailed information, in this case, about his platform or his plans for Georgia if he is elected to the office he seeks.
Georgia Republicans should demand more specific information from the candidate who, by his own estimate and statewide polls, currently is leading the pack of party members seeking the nomination for governor in the July primary. For the moment, though, Mr. Oxendine seems unlikely if not unwilling to meet that demand.
Mr. Oxendine, a self-professed conservative, is quick to point out the state’s problems. He did so in an editorial board meeting at the Times Free Press offices on Wednesday. He’s much less forthcoming, though, in offering specific remedies to those problems. For instance, when asked how he would resolve Georgia’s $1.2 billion — and rising — deficit — he agreed it was problem but emphatically stated that it was a spending issue that could be resolved by careful scrutiny of expenses. He added, of course, that he was just the person to do so, citing his years as an executive officer in state government.
When pressed to provide an example of excess spending and ways to mitigate it, Mr. Oxendine said that Medicaid was “an open wound on the state treasury.” Reducing the cost of Medicaid, he added, would be one way to help balance the state’s budget. That’s no doubt true, but saying so without offering specific examples of what parts of Medicaid should or could be cut and how much would be saved by doing so is disingenuous.
Mr. Oxendine, for example, says that if he is elected, he would work to find ways to reduce the number of emergency room visits by Medicaid recipients and create a system of cost-efficient clinics across the state to treat illnesses that do not require the extensive and costly services provided in hospital ERs. He refused, however, to say how much creating such a program would cost or what savings Medicaid might realize if any or all of his cost-cutting programs were implemented.
Mr. Oxendine also said that improving education, transportation and economic development in the state are high on his to-do list. He did not, however, offer specifics on how all that might be accomplished on a reduced budget.
Mr. Oxendine was more forthcoming about his state’s water woes. He said Georgia needed access to the Tennessee River and that if elected he would talk directly to Tennessee’s governor about gaining it. If those discussions proved fruitless — a good bet — he said he would turn the issue over to the U.S. Supreme Court. Depending on the high court, however, to resolve Georgia’s water issues is not policy; it is passing the buck.
Mr. Oxendine’s political rhetoric might serve him well at this stage of the campaign, but it ill serves Georgians, regardless of political party. Mr. Oxendine might be, as he says, the person best able to move the state forward in “a positive, determined and inclusive way,” but he’ll have to prove it to voters. So far, he has not.