Will Gold Dome turmoil cost the GOP?

By Aaron Gould Sheinin and Cameron McWhirter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It's taken just two weeks for scandal and rumor to transform the once triumphant leaders of the Georgia Republican Party into a posse of recluses.

In the power vacuum, with scandal still stinging and rumors of other imbroglios percolating, GOP rank and file have launched a palace revolt of sorts to challenge the leadership and impose reforms they hope will restore confidence in the state’s leading party as it heads into 2010 – which will likely present the grimmest budget challenges in a generations and is also a gubernatorial election year.

House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram), caught up in infidelity-divorce-attempted suicide scandal of his own making, won’t speak to the media as he finishes out his last weeks in office before his Jan. 1 resignation.

Last week, Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) abruptly withdrew his name from consideration to replace Richardson, then went on “out of town” – apparently somewhere where cell phones don’t work. He snuck in and out of a closed-door GOP meeting Friday, but then ducked out without talking to reporters who have tried to reach him for days.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the head of the Senate, also is in hiding, unwilling to be asked questions from the media.

Even Sue Everhart, the state GOP chair, wouldn’t comment about what amounted to an unprecedented deer-in-the-headlights moment in the history of Georgia state government.

At least Gov. Sonny Perdue stopped to speak to reporters Friday after addressing the House GOP caucus at its private meeting in Atlanta. House Republicans "are a little unsteady right now," Perdue said. "But they'll regain that confidence."

On Nov. 7, Georgia's Republican dominance of state politics was a given. The next day, Richardson said, he tried to kill himself, but appeared to have survived politically. But then, on Nov. 30, his ex-wife went on television and told the world Richardson cheated on her in 2007 with a lobbyist for Atlanta Gas Light while he was championing legislation that would have benefited the utility. Three days later, Richardson announced his resignation.

Now, little is certain except for this: Voters are paying attention.

There will be new leadership -- a new speaker, a new speaker pro tem -- elected after the General Assembly reconvenes on Jan. 11. But Republicans entering the 2010 elections had either do more than change the names on the doors or they better hope there aren't a lot of voters like Arwen Mullikin of Fayetteville.

"What is happening at the Capitol is a snapshot of what is happening in our government and society as a whole and that is we are in the age of entitlement," Mullikin, who leans Republican, said. "Our leaders believe they can do whatever they want. If the leaders we elect do not listen to us, the people, they will get fired. I am looking to fire more than a few next year."

Republicans in the House insist all will be fine. They're taking the steps necessary to put this behind them, they say.

"I get asked about it" by constituents, said state Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta), who is running to be majority whip, a caucus leadership post that involves lining up votes for the caucus position. "And my response back to them is that a little bit of self-reflection is a good thing. Look to how we respond to this crisis."

Lindsey said the caucus is responding "in a positive manner. We are responding swiftly in terms of righting our ship and returning to make sure come the second Monday in January we'll focus on the substantive issues."

Transportation Committee chairman Jay Roberts (R-Oscilla) said this past Friday's meeting of the caucus, the first since the recent hullabaloo, and the reaction of the caucus in general shows Republicans are taking appropriate steps.

"We're going to move forward and get this behind us and do what we need to do and that is the business we were elected to do," he said. "I think this thing will be over with and we'll move forward to continue to work hard."

All of this is coming down on Republicans as they prepare for a legislative session beginning Jan. 11 that promises to me an absolute grind of cuts to budgets, programs and people. Lawmakers are expected to have to slice $1.3 billion from a budget that's already seen $3 billion in cuts in the past two years. The Richardson saga will make those decisions all the more challenging in a tense political atmosphere where the moral authority of party leaders is being questioned.

Meanwhile, while Republicans hold 105 of the 180 House seats, Democrats see the scandal as an opening.

House Minority Leader Dubose Porter (D-Dublin), a 2010 candidate for governor, has said the crisis illustrate what he calls a "culture of corruption" among the Republican hegemony. Richardson's affair with the lobbyist was "common knowledge" at the Capitol, he said, yet Republicans did nothing to stop it.

Former Gov. Roy Barnes, among three others challenging Porter for the Democratic nomination in 2010, picked up on that phrase and said Georgians deserve better.

"You deserve leaders who act with your best interests in mind -- not the best interests of of the special interests," Barnes said in a letter to supporters this past week.

And the Democratic Party of Georgia itself is using the occasion to raise questions about the ethical leadership of Republicans at all levels of government and, of course, to raise money for the Democratic cause.

But even some Republicans believe changing leaders isn't enough. Many lawmakers are calling for a deeper cleaning of House leadership. Others want the next speaker to take a sort of fidelity pledge and many in both parties are calling for changes in how the House operates.

Rep. John Lunsford (R-McDonough), who is running against Lindsey for the whip's position, is trying to force a clean slate. He wants all caucus leadership positions to be put to a vote when House Republicans gather on Thursday to vote for a new speaker, speaker pro tem and whip. That would mean forcing Caucus Chair Donna Sheldon (R-Dacula) and Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simon's Island) to stand for election  now, rather than when their terms expire in a year.

Thus far, Lunsford's effort to force the vote has fallen short. But Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) said she supports it, calling it "a vote of confidence for those who want to remain in leadership."

Rep. Jim Cole (R-Forsyth) said last week anyone who wants his vote for speaker needed to sign a good-conduct pledge that included such requirements as being faithful to one's spouse. Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton), a candidate for governor, said he will renew his fight for legislation to create a statewide grand jury to prosecute corruption at all levels of government.

Porter, the Democratic leader and candidate for governor, said he, too, will introduce ethics reform legislation this year with Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur). Secretary of State Karen Handel, a Republican gubernatorial hopeful, has called for major ethics changes, as has Gary Horlacher, the Democrat who wants to succeed Handel.

Thus far, none of the existing House leaders have said they support any of those efforts.

They might ought to consider, however. Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political science professor and an expert on state politics, said the saga has triggered speculation about other political leaders. Republican voters, he said, are not likely to start to start voting Democrat because of the scandals, but “they might just sit out the next election,” which would benefit Democrats.

Merle Black, a government professor at Emory University and an expert on Southern politics, said the conservative base of the Republican party will be expecting the leadership to put these issues to rest soon.

“They have a very short time to get their act together,” he said.

Sadie Fields, state chair of the Georgia Christian Alliance, said Georgia voters, whatever their political persuasion, “want people who have integrity and who are down there to do the right thing not to push some personal agenda.”

She said the scandal shows, “there does need to be some housekeeping and the Republicans will do what is necessary to sweep the people’s chambers clean.”

Going forward, she said, Republicans should “look closer at someone’s personal behavior before they are put in a leadership position.”

Perhaps that should have already been happening, said 37-year-old Laura Hill Glenn, a rock-ribbed Republican voter from Suwanee.

"This event will not be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back between the state’s Republicans and its supporters," Glenn said. "But, if Republicans don’t wise up soon and make true changes, they will find themselves left without a chair when the music stops the next time around."