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DEL.ICIO.USText of letter dismissing Richardson complaint
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Senate President pro tem Eric Johnson of Savannah did the smart thing and included a Senate Democrat, George Hooks of Americus, in the three-person review panel that dismissed the ethics complaint against House Speaker Glenn Richardson of Hiram. State Rep. Lynn Smith (R-Newnan) was the third member.
Here’s the full text of the letter from the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee:
Mr. Bobby Kahn
Chairman
Democrat Party of Georgia
1100 Spring Street, NW
Suite 408
Atlanta, Ga. 30309
Dear Mr. Kahn:
Pursuant to Rule 3 of the Rules of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, a Review Committee has been appointed, and it has reviewed the complaint filed against Representative Glenn Richardson on January 5, 2007.
Rule 2.2 of the Rules of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee states that any complaint shall be in writing and shall contain a specific description of the nature of the alleged conflict of interest, the party or parties involved, and a statement of the specific facts upon which all allegations are based. Without specific information or specific facts, neither the Review Committee nor the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee has anything to investigate. Pursuant to Rule 3.4 of the Rules of the Joint Legislative Ethics Committee, the Review Committee cannot find probable cause to warrant further review and investigation based on any evidence that would be inadmissible in a court of record. The allegation that certain matters are “common knowledge” clearly fails to meet this requirement.
Consequently, the Review Committee does not find that sufficient information exists to find probable cause to warrant further investigation by the Review Committee or the full Joint Legislative Ethics Committee and the complaint is hereby dismissed.
Sincerely yours,
Senator Eric Johnson
Representative Lynn Smith
Senator George Hooks
cc: Rep. Glenn Richardson
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By RJ
January 18, 2007 12:24 PM | Link to this
Bobby, It’s now time to put up or shut up.
By Gina
January 18, 2007 12:25 PM | Link to this
The complaint was an obvious sham to try to hurt his career. I have met him personally and think he is one of our best legislators.
By Cosmo
January 18, 2007 12:59 PM | Link to this
Not surprised. Democrats do this kind of thing all the time. Hopefully Kahn will be censured somehow…..
By Joc
January 18, 2007 1:09 PM | Link to this
Cosmos, It’s too early in the game for you to lick your chops. Give the matter at least a week to see if Bobby will re-file the complaint in accordance with the Rules.
By R.B.
January 18, 2007 2:10 PM | Link to this
Funny how, though, the Speaker has not denied such allegations. I think there probably will be more to this. I mean the woman didn’t get let go from Atlanta Gas Light for just doing her job…???!!!??
By UGA75
January 18, 2007 3:03 PM | Link to this
Glenn has to look up to see snakes bellies. He is the definition of corrupt, power hungry, and don’t give a darn about the people of GA, politician. Of course he’s guilty, the only reason Eric Johnson finds no basis for following up on the complaint is setting a president for his own ethics violation down the road.
By jeffrye
January 18, 2007 8:44 PM | Link to this
Cosmo, Exactly how do you ‘censure’ a private citizen??….. Gina, As you are sure you know the true character of all those you ‘personally’ meet, I am wondering if you would like a guest spot on the NBC series ‘Heroes’ as this ability would definately be classified as a super power!!!!
By Run it like a business?
January 19, 2007 8:44 AM | Link to this
If your business was negotiating a $300 million deal and you started hearing rumors that one of your co-workers who was negotiating the deal was sleeping with one of the negotiators on the other side of the deal, would you turn a blind eye to the rumors? Or would try to figure out what was going on in the interest of protecting your company and its stockholders? What’s up with all the legislators who heard about this and said and did nothing to figure out whether there was, in fact, a conflict of interest? Don’t they have an obligation to protect the integrity of the legislature? Given that the young lady lost her job over the rumors, don’t they have an obligation to at least ask the question of their co-worker?