It was actually a birthday present of sorts. I received the information from out of state from a third party group interested in Georgia’s elections, particularly those candidates who will be good or bad for business in the state. It’s a binder containing a professionally compiled opposition research briefing on John Oxendine, Republican gubernatorial candidate in Georgia. If the information is not used in the primary, it will definitely be used in the general election.

I’ve said for some time that Oxendine is corrupt. I’ve had people in his own office tell me there are rumors of him ordering personnel to shred documents, but those employees instead smuggled the documents out of the office to be used against him.

This binder confirms that. Oxendine has serious, serious problems and the binder is a compilation of publicly available documents, interviews with individuals, pictures, etc. that source the allegations.

As you can see from the picture, the binder is in three sections of more than 250 total pages. The first is the proven and easily provable. If you want a taste, I’ve scanned the first five pages as a PDF.

From those pages, you can see the basis of the first attack will be competence. John Oxendine says he has been fighting for Georgia’s insured, but in fact he’s allowed our insurance rates to skyrocket. Also in the binder is a compilation showing campaign contributions to John Oxendine with subsequent rate increases for companies related to the source of funds.

The red tab is the “sin and salaciousness” section, which makes all sorts of allegations. The front page of this section notes that it was compiled based on “interviews” and “information sources” but without “original documentation” and “hard verification.” There is, however, this note:

“We feel strongly enough about these to present them for your consideration.” This section also notes some of the information is based on tape recordings of Oxendine and a transcript of a recording, but neither is included.

This section contains allegations of affairs, stuff on John Oxendine’s family connections, ties to Dr. Gallups, WellPoint, a pharmaceutical lobbyist, UPS packages routinely delivered (pictures available), statements from his staff about what they perceive as mistreatment by Oxendine, the details of the Westmoreland situation, why AFLAC moved its headquarters, etc. The people putting this together were so thorough in their investigation, there is even random information like his monthly tabs at Tower Package store in Atlanta (high) and his preferred bottle water choice ($8.00 per bottle).

One of my favorites, which is in the documented section, not the “sin and salaciousness” section, is how a charitable group tried to get Oxendine’s help because, in the group’s words, they were having serious trouble raising money and Oxendine had always supported them. Oxendine then proceeded order a highly expensive bottle of liquor on the charity’s tab at the hotel they were meeting at.

The third tab, however, is the most damning tab. It is a 76 page, single spaced memo documenting every fact and allegation about John Oxendine woven into a comprehensive narrative. You can get a flavor for it with this picture of the table of contents.

I’ve known professional political groups hire professional investigators, etc. to prepare stuff like this, but I’ve never, in all my years in politics, seen anything like this.

If Oxendine gets the nomination, the GOP gets screwed in Georgia.

Oh, and this is the first of two volumes.