Georgia's Three non-Amigos of politics, Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson, laughed Wednesday when asked how they'd be able to convince Georgians that they can work together in the future.

"What, do you want us to give a group hug?" Richardson responded to reporters at a Capitol news conference.

There they were, Perdue, fresh from his China trade mission, Richardson, fresh from calling for Cagle's ouster, and Cagle, fresh from calling the speaker a bully — all trying to fill some of the cracks in the once-unified Republican political front.

Before signing bills increasing competition in health care, giving more control to local school systems and creating a transportation bank, Perdue gave a lecture on the importance of civil discourse and legislative etiquette.

"I don't believe name-calling in any fashion has a place," Perdue said as Richardson and Cagle stood awkwardly on opposite sides of him, acting as if they'd rather be almost anywhere else.

"It has a certain disrespectful tone. Even when we disagree passionately over issues, we can certainly respect one another and do so in a way that maintains the dignity of the offices we hold."

The often tense, 39-minute news conference was weeks in coming and aimed at presenting a united front before Republican lawmakers begin qualifying to run for re-election in a few weeks.

The threesome had struggled to get along much of the 2008 session, which began with the House voting to override 12 of Perdue's vetoes. House leaders were angered when the Senate, which Cagle leads, wouldn't go along with them.

After the House passed legislation eliminating taxes on cars, Perdue blasted the proposal as political pandering. He did the same after Cagle's Senate passed legislation cutting income taxes. The governor also compared letting voters decide to let stores sell alcohol on Sunday — a measure Richardson supported — to a vote legalizing prostitution.

Perdue left town for China during the last week of the session; that didn't help matters. On the final night of the session, Richardson was angered by Cagle's unwillingness to let senators vote on eliminating the car tax. Richardson urged the lieutenant governor to "be a man" and called on Georgians to oust Cagle. The lieutenant governor responded by saying Richardson's ego had gotten in the way of a tax deal. He later accused the speaker of bullying to try to get his way.

Cagle, who kept a few feet of distance from Richardson throughout most of the proceedings, said little during Wednesday's news conference. When he did speak, his words were not overly conciliatory.

"Obviously, we are not going to agree on everything. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it," the lieutenant governor said. "Obviously, the styles are very different.

"What you are going to see from me is what you've seen, which is steady, principled leadership that is going to be focused on doing what's best for Georgia citizens."

Richardson compared the session to a tension-filled ballgame. But he didn't apologize for his comments.

"We all say things in the middle of a game we probably wouldn't have said if we'd been on the sidelines not playing the game," he said. "Tensions were high. I was trying to make something happen. It didn't work. We had a disagreement.

"The game is over, and we are now going to go forward to do our jobs to lead the state."

Richardson is the only one of the three facing re-election this year. All 236 House and Senate members have to run. Perdue and Cagle have four-year terms that aren't up until 2010.

Richardson, who has led a so-far unsuccessful crusade to eliminate property taxes, said he will continue to talk about taxes on the campaign trail.

"Am I going to talk about property taxes? Yes, until the day I die. I pledge to keep on keeping on to continue to try to give relief from property taxes," the speaker said. "Maybe changing it in a year was too much to ask for. As long as I'm alive, I'm going to try to change a system that I think is fundamentally flawed."

Perdue spoke over a reporter's question to respond to what Richardson had said. "If we're going to cut property taxes, let's cut property taxes. But let's not ask the state taxpayers to backfill those property taxes," Perdue said.

The governor has argued that under Richardson's plan, the state have would essentially been footing the bill for the tax cut without saying how it would come up with the money.

Tax collections have slowed in recent months while expenses have risen as the state's population continues to grow. At current collection rates, the state will not have enough revenue to fund its $20.5 billion budget for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Perdue said if lawmakers can tell him where they'd cut spending to make up for the loss of tax revenue, he'd be willing to talk about a major tax cut.

At the end of the event, Richardson and Cagle were herded out of the governor's office, and Perdue ceremoniously signed a few bills.

Despite the General Assembly's failure to pass a tax cut, or a major transportation bill, or a permanent funding source for trauma care, or even most of his own agenda, Perdue called the session a success.

"I think the citizens of Georgia saw much progress during the 2008 session on issues that matter to them," he said.