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Sunday, January 7, 2007
How a private life was pushed into the spotlight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not quite a week ago, veteran political columnist Bill Shipp buried a small land mine midway through his bi-weekly column, which appears in many Georgia newspapers, though not this one.
“[House Speaker Glenn] Richardson has been seen as an almost sure bet to run for governor in 2010…. In recent weeks, however, he has become the subject for derision among his peers because of his some of his after-hours activities,” Shipp wrote.
No quotes, no attribution, no documentation. And so the rest of Georgia’s mainstream media held back. One of President Bill Clinton’s gifts to journalism was the establishment of standards - admittedly not always high, and not universally observed - to justify delving into a politician’s personal life.
Bloggers, however, felt no such compunction. On Friday, the Republican-oriented blog, peachpundit.com, threw itself into the topic. Discussion came largely under the guise of what the mainstream media might soon report, and their motives.
The Internet speculation set the Republican phone tree blazing. Still, the mainstream media outlets didn’t budge. Not until Saturday night, when state Democratic party chairman Bobby Kahn gave them the minimum they required - someone willing to publicly put his name to a formal accusation. WSB-TV was the first to report it.
Richardson, said Kahn in an ethics complaint to be filed today, engaged in an “inappropriate” and “personal” relationship with an unnamed lobbyist from Atlanta Gas Light last year, while the company was seeking legislative approval for a $300 million pipeline across the state.
In fact, Kahn — who relinquishes his Democrat chairmanship at the end of this month — had done Republicans a small favor. As the author of the complaint, he allowed Republicans on Sunday to rally around the House speaker as the victim of a partisan assault.
Not to say that GOP lawmakers don’t recognize what’s at stake.
Long before the weekend, Republicans in the Legislature said they needed to be seen doing the right things for the right reason this session - or risk losing Georgia as Republicans lost much of Washington in November, under the shadow of bribery, influence-peddling, and tawdry activities with young male pages.
“Keep your mouth shut, keep your zipper up, and keep your hand in your own pocket,” advised Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah).
Richardson is unlikely to suffer any immediate political damage. He is to be re-elected to a second term as House speaker today, against token Democratic opposition.
But if Richardson has any ambition to be governor in 2010, this not how he wanted that pursuit to begin.
Democrats accuse House speaker of ‘inappropriate relationship’ with AGL lobbyist
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Republican hopes for a smooth and triumphant opening of the 2007 session of the Legislature were dealt a blow Sunday with the announcement by state Democratic party chairman Bobby Kahn that he would file an ethics complaint against Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), charging that the speaker, due to be re-elected to a second term on Monday, had an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with a lobbyist employed by Atlanta Gas Light.
Here and here is the paperwork Kahn says he’ll file on Monday. More to come.
Nunn: Iraq ‘worst strategic error in modern times’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In an Associated Press profile that hit the wires this weekend, former U.S. senator Sam Nunn of Georgia had some rare but extremely tough criticism for President Bush and his administration’s initial handling of the Iraq war.
“We’ve lost a lot of prestige and credibility in the world,” Nunn told the AP. “I definitely think we made a real mistake going to war without the consensus of other countries … we can’t occupy a country successfully without cooperation from neighbors and countries around the globe.
“I think we’re paying a very severe price for that right now,” the former Democratic senator added. “It was the worst strategic error I’ve seen in modern times by the United States.”
On the question of whether more troops should be sent to Iraq, Nunn said extra firepower won’t make a difference.
