Who's the Lead Dog in the Republican Primary for Insurance Commissioner?

Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.

Looks like Senator Ralph Hudgens is the defacto lead dog as of the 31 March 2010 filings with the Ethics Commission Website. He's got da money. Of course that beggars the question, "Where did he get it?"

in an effort to solve this question I went digging around in his contributor reports on file at said State Ethics Commission website and discovered the following:

Total number of Contributors for the 31 DEC 2010 report: 320
Total Amount raised: $279,660
Number of contributors in the Insurance Industry: 40
Amount raised from the 40 self identified Insurance guys: $34,175

Ralph didn't raise all that much while the last session was going on because he couldn't by state law. And sometime around the end of last year he dumped $106,000 out of his Senate campaign account into his Insurance Commissioner account and that is being looked at as a potential violation. At least that's what republican candidate Maria Sheffield says on her website.

Georgia’s Ethics-in-Government Act prohibits officials from taking money directly from companies they regulate. I suppose it's OK for candidates to do so because they're not the commissioner yet. It still smells. And Ralph got a lot of love from various and sundry Lobbyists, small loan operations as well a plethora of PAC's. That stinks as well.

So the lead dog republican looks like he's ready, willing and able to carry on with the fine traditions established by out going Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. With him at the helm we can look forward to climbing further up the ladder from 9th most expensive state for insurance all the way to #1!