ATLANTA — State ethics officials say former Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine may have committed a felony by loaning $237,000 that he raised for his unsuccessful 2010 gubernatorial campaign to his own law firm, according to an article posted by the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

What’s unclear is whether ethics officials will wind up referring the case to Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens’ office for review.

State ethics officials raised the possibility of criminal behavior in their response to motions filed by Oxendine’s lawyer, Douglas Chalmers.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the response through an Open Records Act request. It is part of a two-month-long back-and-forth between ethics commission staffers and Chalmers since additional allegations were made against Oxendine following a report in the AJC on the former commissioner’s campaign finances.

The ethics commission is expected to hear arguments Dec. 16 in probably the biggest case before the panel since its staff was gutted and it hired Stefan Ritter, a senior assistant attorney general, to head the watchdog agency.

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