Above is the Fox 5 Atlanta report from last night titled “Her Side of the Story”. In it, Susan Richardson, the ex-wife of Speaker of the Georgia House of Reprentatives Glenn Richardson, makes some very serious allegations – specifically that Speaker Richardson recently threatened to beat her and use the Georgia State Patrol to track her down and that the “inappropriate relationship” that was the center of an ethics complaint against him a few years ago was actually a full-blown affair that she knew about.
Suffice it to say, the Speaker has not exactly had a good day today. Erick Erickson has said that the text messages in question are real, and even GriftDrift has begrudgingly said that Erick is probably right. State Rep DuBose Porter (D-Dublin), the House Minority Leader and a current candidate for Governor, has already called for the ethics investigation to be re-opened, and there have been many calls among various Representatives about what is going on and what will happen next. Indeed, I’m told that the “damage control” phone call Erick said occurred around 5p wasn’t so much “damage control” as trying to figure out what happens next – after all, this story is barely 24 hours old.
Right now, Georgia Politics – particularly as far as the Gold Dome is concerned – is focused squarely on one man, and what he must be going through right now as a man truly breaks my heart. I don’t have the history with Richardson that Jason or Erick or many of my friends do. I just began watching politics this year, and Richardson appeared to be a very competent leader from what I saw. I met him a few weeks ago at State Rep Ed Rynders’ fundraiser in his first public appearance since the suicide attempt, and he genuinely impressed me, even with everything else that was going on in his life.
Tonight, the first Republican Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives in nearly a century and a half faces the battle of his life. He has already lost his family, the bank he is part owner of is in major trouble, and now the one thing he probably once thought of as a sure thing is on the brink of destruction as well. He needs his friends now more than ever, and I think right now he may be finding out how elusive true friendship really is in politics.
Retaining his Speakership may well prove to be Richardson’s grand finale, his perfect game in the very last game he ever pitches.
And while he struggles, others are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Will Richardson pull this off and thus the power structure remains relatively unchanged, or will he fall and thus create massive upheaval in the power structure from top to bottom?
Only time will tell, and right now only one man can truly answer that question.
[UPDATE] Literally as I finished typing this post, I saw this come through on my twitter feed from Creative Loafing’s primary political reporter saying that Dick Pettys of Insider Advantage is now saying that Glenn Richardson will resign as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Going to be interesting to see how Eric Johnson plays this since he completely ignored it as Chair of the Joint House-Senate Committee that heard the ethics complaint. He can claim dumb or he can claim party loyalty. I don’t see how he can claim anything positive. Maybe a non-issue unless he moves up in the polls.
Eric Johnson did absolutely nothing on the ethics complaint. He gathered zero information and closed the case. Due to the way Eric handled Richardson’s ethics complaint, an ethics complaint should be filed against him. Eric’s feet should be held to the fire over this. In my opinion, this should end Eric’s run for Governor!
I’ve followed Richardson since he became Speaker. He hasn’t impressed one little bit. He’s a political bully and doesn’t surprise me that he bullied his wife.
Unfortunately, this will damage more than just Glenn Richardson’s career. If he survives as Speaker, he would do more damage than if he is ousted. Why didn’t he just step down before it damaged his family and friends?