Insurance Commissioner Returns Money

Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has returned $120,000 that was funneled into his gubernatorial campaign by two insurance firms.

The Republican detailed the returns in a campaign filing submitted late Tuesday night. The move comes after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that the two Georgia insurance companies sent the money into Oxendine's campaign through 10 Alabama-based political action committees. Georgia law forbids public officials from taking money from the companies they regulate.

Oxendine has said in a statement that he had requested an advisory opinion from the state ethics officials days before the newspaper's story ran in May. He had called the story a "hit piece."