Richardson’s political future unclear

Rep. David Ralston, the Blue Ridge Republican who last year unsuccessfully challenged Glenn Richardson to be speaker of the Georgia House, on Tuesday said he trusts that Richardson “is going to make the right decision.”

Ralston, who lost his committee chairmanship after his ill-fated attempt to unseat Richardson, said revelations from Richardson’s ex-wife, Susan, threaten to wreak havoc on what will be a terribly difficult legislative session ahead.

Voters, Ralston said, “want us to be about their business. I think that, I trust that he’s going to make the right decision and he will make it in the right time. Being aware of what we as a House of Representatives are going to be faced with.”

Asked what the “right decision” will be, Ralston said that’s up to Richardson. “I think he needs a little bit of space. I trust he’ll do the right thing.”

Susan Richardson told an Atlanta television station in an interview aired Monday that the speaker’s recent attempted suicide was not about depression, but was an attempt to control her.

She told Fox 5 that she has copies of e-mails and text messages from Glenn Richardson in which he threatens to beat her up, turn her in to family services for leaving their children with him for a weekend, and to call on the Georgia state patrol and Georgia Bureau of Investigation to find her when she left town. (A spokesman for the state patrol said Richardson has never contacted them about his wife. GBI officials could not be reached for comment).

But, perhaps most devastating of all, is Susan Richardson claims to have proof that the speaker was having an affair with a lobbyist for Atlanta Gas Light while he was pushing legislation to benefit the utility.

According to Fox 5, when the lobbyist told Richardson she feared she would be fired if their affair became public, Richardson responded that he would “bring all hell down on them if they do.”

Richardson has not publicly responded to his ex-wife’s claims and his spokesman has refused repeated requests for comment. Efforts to reach Susan Richardson have been unsuccessful. On Nov. 13, Richardson issued a statement to the media saying he had tried to take his own life on Nov. 8 after battling depression for more than two years following his divorce from Susan Richardson.

The stunning announcement followed what was described as an emotional conference call with House Republicans, during which Richardson went into great detail to explain his illness. In his statement to the media, Richardson said he has been seeing a physician and taking prescription drugs to battle depression.

According to police reports and the 911 call his mother made on Nov. 8, Richardson had a revolver with him in his bathroom when police responded to his home in Hiram in Paulding County. Richardson was semi-conscious and did not respond to verbal commands, according to the police report.

According to the 911 call, Richardson told his mother that he had taken pills and that it was “too late.”

In the hours and days following his public announcement of the suicide attempt, Republicans and Democrats like flocked to his support to offer encouragement and hopes for recovery.

But, after his wife’s blockbuster interview, some attitudes are changing. One House Republican who holds a leadership position, said Tuesday that he does not believe Richardson can survive this, that his resignation will come whether by choice or by force.

A prominent Republican lobbyist and activist said much the same thing, that Susan Richardson’s claims make it appear that Richardson was lying to his colleagues.

Still, the leader of the majority Republican caucus meanwhile, declined to comment about Susan Richardson’s statements. House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons Island) said he has not had a chance to talk to the speaker or “look at everything that has been said.”

But when asked if Richardson should resign as speaker, Keen said, “What I think would be fair is to let me get back over there and sit down with our leadership team and talk with the Speaker.”

Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek), who would become speaker should Richardson resign or be forced from office, said Richardson will decide what to do.

“He’s speaker as long as he chooses to be speaker,” Burkhalter said.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Democratic caucus in the House said Susan Richardson’s statements prove what they knew to be true.

“It is past time for people to know the truth,” said House Minority Leader DuBose Porter (D-Dublin), who is running for his party’s nomination for governor in 2010. “What she said is what everyone around the Capitol knew to be true. It’s an indication of the arrogance of this leadership and the corruption that is out of control and in exchange for favors. ”

Porter said he still hopes Richardson gets help, but said his caucus leadership will likely meet later this week to discuss the situation.

The allegations that Richardson was having an affair with the utility lobbyist while pushing for legislation that would benefit her client prompted state Democrats to file an ethics complaint alleging a conflict of interest in early 2007.

A joint ethics committee looked into the complaint but dismissed it. Former Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), now a Republican candidate for governor, led the investigation. Asked Tuesday about how that committee failed to act in light of Susan Richardson’s claims, Johnson’s spokesman said in a statement the committee “was not aware of the information that has now come to light.”

Johnson campaign spokesman Ben Fry said “based on the laws under which they are required to operate and the information available at the time (the committee) had no choice but to dismiss the allegations.”

The vote to dismiss, he said, “was unanimous and bipartisan.”

An anti-AGL bill, co-sponsored by some of Richardson’s top legislative lieutenants, began moving through the House a few weeks after the ethics complaint against him was dismissed. The bill created a process for municipal gas systems to run pipelines into areas earmarked as AGL’s monopoly territory, if AGL failed to build the lines itself.

The bill eventually passed.

Also Tuesday, government watchdog and ethics gadfly George Anderson, executive director of the Ethics in Government Group, said he plans to file an “conflict of interest” complaint with the attorney general on Wednesday.