Republican gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine spoke to Troup County Republican Women on Tuesday, saying he should be the choice of conservative voters in the July 20 primary election.

Oxendine leads in the polls over Secretary of State Karen Handel, U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal and four other Republican hopefuls.

Oxendine, the state’s insurance commissioner since 1996, said he has raised more money than the other Republican candidates and more than the leading Democratic contender, former Gov. Roy Barnes.

Oxendine touted his record as insurance commissioner, saying he fired “middle-management bureaucrats” with an attitude problem and now has 100 fewer employees than when he first became insurance commissioner.

“We created a culture that they’re there to serve,” he said, noting that his office is open until 7 p.m. while other state agencies close at 4:30 p.m. before the average person gets off from work and has a chance to make a call for service.

“You’ll be able to get birth certificates, driver’s licenses - all sorts of things - after 5 o’clock when I’m governor,” Oxendine said. “Real live people will actually answer the telephone, and they’ll never ask you to push one for English.”

He said he’d like to see Georgia eliminate the corporate and personal income tax.

“We can show Washington the way, that we don’t have to have an income tax,” he said. “It would probably bring a lot of jobs to this state.”

He said the state needs a transportation system that doesn’t funnel most traffic into the capital because “believe it or not, a lot of people don’t want to go to downtown Atlanta.”

He advocated vouchers to give parents control over their children’s education, saying, “Let’s fund the child’s education no matter if they go to a public or private school. … Let the money follow the child. It shouldn’t belong to a public school board.”

He said Georgia spends about $10,000 annually per student in public schools, while tuition for private schools averages about $6,600.

He said the state shouldn’t be furloughing teachers at a time when Georgia ranks near the bottom academically.

“I see school districts being top heavy with administrators,” he said, receiving applause from the crowd.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews. com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.