continued from page He began ….
continued from page
He began his address discussing his background, as he was born in Mexico, but moved to Albany, Georgia, at age 17 to learn the English language. “My father is from Berrien County; at a very early age, he realized he did not want to be a tobacco farmer. So, he went off to Savannah and joined the Merchant Marines,” King told the audience.
After spending several years sailing the world, King’s father settled in Mexico, where he fell in love and married King’s mother. The young family remained there until moving during King’s teenage years.
In Albany, King graduated from the local high school before moving to Atlanta to study at Georgia State University. Upon graduation from college in the 1980’s, he began working with the Atlanta Police Department as a patrol officer for “High Crime Foot Patrol,” as he monitored the streets for drugs and other crimes. King also joined the National Guard as a young private in a tank unit and continued to serve with the U.S. Army until he retired around 10 years ago.
“The only reason I’m telling you this is not because I’m trying to brag, but because that would be impossible anywhere else in the world,” he remarked. “Only this country would allow someone who is the son of a tobacco farmer in South Georgia – who was born in Mexico and spoke Spanish as his first language – to get a chance to progress and deploy to several spots around the world – [such as] Desert Storm, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa – and to culminate his career as a major general. This is the only country [where] that would even be remotely possible, and that is something we ought to celebrate. It’s easy to go down the path of talking bad about what’s going on, but this is the only country that has that opportunity.”
King also recalled his experiences with the Atlanta Police Department, which helped him to learn to lead in tough situations. He shared memories, such as the time when he worked as a translator for 11 days in a crisis when the Atlanta penitentiary was taken over by Cuban Marielitos. “I worked with Atlanta PD for 7.5 years, and it was an incredible career,” he emphasized. “Of course, everything that could possibly happen to a young police officer did happen – I got shot, got stabbed – I even got run over by a police car one time. I guess it prepared me for being a good customer for insurance because my health insurance carrier was pretty busy with my claims.” In 2019, King’s career swapped from law and protecting others to serving as the State Insurance and Fire Commissioner. “Governor [Brian] Kemp asked me to come serve in this office because the former Insurance Commissioner was going to prison for fraud,” he explained regarding his appointment. “I came in not as an insurance expert – but as a police officer and a soldier – and we rebuilt the agency from the ground up.”
One aspect that the Commissioner changed in the state was the structure of the fire marshal agency throughout the state – rather than basing the operation in Atlanta, he hired and placed 10 state fire marshals throughout the state to ensure that no one in Georgia had to wait more than 90 minutes for the marshal to arrive.
Another area that he changed within the agency was his personnel, as he brought new insurance officials into the office, and came in with a new provision. “I am not out to just protect insurance companies or providers,” he stated. “I am a voice of the consumer.”
King also shared several issues he hopes to address this year, including the high costs and fairness of lawsuits against commercial truck insurance, fraud prevention, and the accessibility of health insurance to all Georgians. He spoke of the new Georgia Access system, which he is currently rolling out, that allows providers to set up in gathering places and help Georgians find health insurance at low cost and best meets their needs.
He concluded his speech by presenting Vidalia Kiwanis Club President Greg McKenzie Jr. with a certificate that delegated him as an honorary fire marshal.
