Richardson's future topic of meeting

Print
E-mail

By Aaron Gould Sheinin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A high-powered foursome met Wednesday evening at the Governor’s Mansion to discuss a difficult subject: How one of them quits his job.

Enlarge photo

His scheduled meetings were cancelled Wednesday as House Speaker Glenn Richardson huddled with Gov. Sonny Perdue and two other top state leaders at the Governor's Mansion.

Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com His scheduled meetings were cancelled Wednesday as House Speaker Glenn Richardson huddled with Gov. Sonny Perdue and two other top state leaders at the Governor's Mansion.

Enlarge photo

Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson was to have chaired a 2 p.m. meeting of the obscure Legislative Services Committee, but that meeting, too, was canceled. A TV cameraman waits outside the speaker's office at the Capitol.

Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson was to have chaired a 2 p.m. meeting of the obscure Legislative Services Committee, but that meeting, too, was canceled. A TV cameraman waits outside the speaker's office at the Capitol.

Election 2012: Across the nation

More Georgia politics stories »

Gov. Sonny Perdue hosted embattled House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) and House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simon’s Island) for a private huddle to develop a strategy that would allow Richardson to vacate the office of speaker.

None of the participants could be reached for comment before or after the meeting. Its outcome was unknown, meaning as darkness enveloped the Georgia Capitol, very little had changed in the saga that has drowned out all other news from the Gold Dome: Richardson was still the speaker.

How much longer that will be the case is not entirely clear. However, unlike Tuesday, when every rumor and innuendo was broadcast, blogged or Tweeted, the rumor mill largely ground to a halt on Wednesday and lawmakers and observers went into what one called “radio silence.”

The few facts available are:

-- Richardson and the rest of House leadership had been scheduled to meet with Senate leaders at 11 a.m. in Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s office to discuss the upcoming session. The House cancelled; the Senate met without them.

-- Richardson was to have chaired a 2 p.m. meeting of the obscure Legislative Services Committee, but that meeting, too, was cancelled.

-- House Democratic leaders met by conference call to discuss whether they would demand an ethics investigation into Richardson’s conduct and whether some of the more damning information released this week could constitute criminal stalking of his ex-wife.

The Capitol was awfully quiet all day. Richardson’s chief of staff and spokesman were gone most of the day, while reporters milled about the third floor of the Capitol outside Richardson’s office, waiting for anything.

“Glenn Richardson is still speaker of the House to my knowledge,” said state Rep. David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge).

If Richardson resigns, or is forced out, House rules dictate what happens next. Burkhalter would immediately become speaker — but only temporarily. The rule requires a new election to be held within 120 days.

The likely scenario is the new speaker would be chosen when lawmakers return for the 2010 legislative session on Jan. 11. That person would serve out the rest of the current speaker’s term, which ends when the General Assembly begins again in 2011.

Richardson’s political career suffered a massive hit this week when his ex-wife, Susan, spilled a lifetime of secrets in an interview with an Atlanta television station. Susan Richardson told WAGA that she caught her then-husband in an affair with a lobbyist for Atlanta Gas Light while Richardson was advocating legislation that would have benefited the utility.

She said she found plane tickets for the two to fly to Las Vegas and incriminating e-mails, including one in which Richardson vowed to protect the lobbyist should her employer try to fire her.

But Susan Richardson also said that her husband’s Nov. 8 attempted suicide was less about depression over their 2008 divorce — as he claimed in a statement to the media nearly a week later — than it was about trying to control her and guilt her into reconciling.

She also said that she recently started dating again and left their children with Glenn Richardson to go out of town with a new boyfriend. This enraged him, she said, and he sent her 49 text messages and voice mails threatening to beat her up, accusing her of abandoning her children and threatening to turn her into DFACS and to have the state patrol and GBI come track her down.

Glenn Richardson has not responded to — or refuted — anything that his ex-wife has said. He and his staff have not spoken publicly since the report first aired Monday night.

Staff Writer Jim Galloway contributed.