Georgia taxpayers spend nearly $200K a year on indicted insurance commissioner

When Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King presented his agency’s midyear budget proposal to lawmakers this week, one of his biggest spending increases stood out like a sore thumb.

It stated $194,899 “to provide one-time funds for one filled executive position.”

That, King noted, is what the state is spending in salary and benefits for his predecessor, Jim Beck, who was indicted a few months after taking office in 2019 on charges alleging that he swindled his former employer out of $2 million, in part to fund his campaign for office.

Lawmakers included the same amount in last year’s midyear budget to pay Beck.

His trial is scheduled to take place later this year, but in the meantime, the state will have spent about $400,000 paying his salary and benefits while he has been fighting the charges.

Read more: https://www.ajc.com/politics/georgia-taxpayers-spend-nearly-200k-a-year-on-indicted-insurance-commissioner/KSKE3RVGZZFKRONNERSQ7APNYA/