Fresh Loaf

Jim Walls, that free-radical investigator, has a great piece on his Atlanta Unfiltered blog suggesting that a recent financial sleight-of-hand by outgoing House Speaker Glenn Richardson may not only have been sneaky and underhanded, but illegal, to boot:

On Dec. 31, a day before Richardson’s resignation took effect, he cleaned out his re-election campaign’s bank account with the transfer of $219,915 to the MMV Alliance Fund. The fund filed its 2010 registration on Dec. 30 naming Richardson as its new chairman.

You may recall from an excellent 2006 AJC expose that the MMV Alliance Fund is the state GOP’s own political slush fund. But Walls points out what could be a hitch in this sleazy undertaking:

MMV does not appear to be among the organizations that may legally accept unused campaign contributions. Under Georgia law, political campaigns may give excess funds to IRS-recognized charities; educational, philanthropic and non-profit organizations; other candidates; or political parties.

MMV, a political action committee created in 2004, is none of those. It is not registered as a corporation in Georgia, non-profit or otherwise; a spokesman for the Georgia Secretary of State said late Thursday that the agency had received no request from MMV to register as a corporation. Nor does the committee show up in the IRS’s searchable database of tax-exempt groups.

Because of Richardson’s money transfer, the PAC now boasts upwards of a quarter-million dollars in slushable funds. Let’s hope that when the House addresses the issue of ethics in coming weeks, it takes a close look at MMV and similarly slimy enterprises.

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Say goodnight, Glenn

Oh, and the little matter of who’ll be replacing him.

First things first: A metro Republican House member who spent much of Tuesday huddled at the Capitol discussing the Richardson problem confirmed to me that the GOP caucus has, indeed, decided to replace the Speaker.

He said Richardson was not directly involved in those discussions, but then, why would he be? The caucus must focus on minimizing political damage to the Georgia Republican Party and ensuring some stability going into next month’s General Assembly, which, because of cratering revenue, will be one of the most important in a long time. The well-being of the state trumps the feelings of one politician.

That said, I’m told that Richardson is being afforded some time to go out with some semblance of dignity. But don’t look for this to drag into next week. I suspect they’ll be some announcement by Friday at the latest.

What form will this take? Apparently, that’s being negotiated, or at least discussed. For instance, Richardson could say — not without justification — that he’s taking a medical leave of absence from the Speaker’s job.

(more…)

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In other words, nothing was accomplished.

Last night, Scott Henry and I embedded ourselves in the Gold Dome, risking life and limb to chronicle the final night of the legislative session. Thanks to the House press box’s Internet service acting screwy, we weren’t able to offer you minute-by-minute updates on the shenanigans.

That might’ve been a good thing. If you’re a fan of transit and getting around, you would’ve been disappointed with the news.

Despite piss-poor travel times and a mountain of studies that show the state needs more cash to build roads, bridges and transit, the General Assembly — for the second straight year — failed to pass a transportation funding bill. The Metro Chamber’s Sam Williams pointed the blame at the state’s “lack of leadership.”

The bill that would’ve allowed MARTA to have control over the one-cent sales tax in Atlanta, Fulton County and DeKalb County — its main source of funding — to fund daily operations? Failed. MARTA officials, who looked like they were at a wake after they heard the news, said drastic cuts to bus and train service were on the way. Veteran lobbyists called the move “irresponsible.”

Yet the lawmakers still had something to smile about, and as is the tradition, tossed shredded paper in the air as Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle gaveled the legislative session to a close at midnight. CL shutterbug Joeff Davis noted it earlier — lawmakers made a mess that someone else will now have to clean up.

We’re gonna let this one soak in and pore over what passed and what failed. More to come later.

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Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson today announced their appointments to the group that will play a vital role in determining just how much water the state has and how to best manage the resource.

We’re still going through the list, which we’ve posted after the jump. If you know any of these men and women, feel free to give ‘em a shout out.

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BUDGET BUDDIES Richardson and Perdue at this morning's legislative breakfast.

Tuesday morning, Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and state House Speaker Glenn Richardson, speaking before a banquet room filled with business heavies, lobbyists and fellow lawmakers, outlined their legislative agendas for the session at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual “Eggs and Issues” breakfast at the Georgia World Congress Center.

There, over plates of eggs, sausage, and some hashbrown-stuffed tomato concoction, the elected officials said that, even with the state nearly $2 billion in the red, progress would take place.

After the jump, what Perdue, Cagle and Richardson said, in fancy bulletpoint style, about the upcoming legislative session.

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It hasn’t worked so far, but let’s try it again.

That seemed to be the thinking down at the state Capitol today, where House Republicans re-elected Glenn Richardson of Hiram as speaker and Jerry Keen of St. Simons as minority leader. The only real turnover was the election of Jan Jones of Alpharetta as majority whip, replacing Barry Fleming, who left the Legislature to get his clocked cleaned by Congressman Paul Broun in the 10th District race.

Granted, Richardson and Keen both had opposition – from GOP outsiders David Ralston of Blue Ridge and Tom Graves of Ranger, respectively – but, although caucus votes counts are kept secret, neither incumbent seemed to be in much danger.

(more…)

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— Over in Iraq, the Daly Briefing is getting ready to come home. Which means it’s no time for complacency because that can get you killed. He makes a final trip down into a bunker when they hear explosions near their compound. When they emerge, they learn that a convoy with an Iraqi official was bombed. From the way the walls of the bunker shook when the bomb went off, he instantly knew people had died.

— On the local front, Georgia has become a battleground state as the polls show “that one” and Jim Martin have closed the gap on J-Mac and the Sax Machine. How’d that happen? While we all sat in gas lines — when there was gas — Sonny went on vacation (oops, I meant to say he went on an economic development trip) to Spain. And as Raleigh at Inside The Sprawl notes, Republican numbers had to go down every time Glenn Richardson opened his mouth.

— And, as Jason Pye points out, the Republicans do idiotic things. A prime example is how the AJC busted Sonny over the weekend because while state agencies are under a mandate to cut costs by six percent, he’s going full steam ahead on his own pet project: the $23 million “Go Fish Center” in Perry.

— With the races closing in Georgia, Bill Clinton came to Atlanta Saturday night on behalf of Martin, and Amy at Georgia Women Vote was there. She got up close and personal with Clinton, and was awed by his charisma.

— At Georgia Politics Unfiltered, Andre takes note that the daily papers in Macon and Columbus each endorsed “that one.” I ventured out into 770 territory over the weekend, and was surprised by the sparsity of political signs for Johnny Mac and Caribou Barbie. Is Georgia going to go Democratic in this election?

— And, fiinally, Amber Rhea checks out the new Waffle House museum so the rest of us don’t have to. And she wants to go back. Check out her report here.

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— Is the clock ticking on Glenn Richardson’s reign as House Speaker? Jason Pye says some key Republican legislators have come out publicly in support of a challenge by state Rep. David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.

— What’s life without DriftGrift’s “Morning Wooten?”

— Reporter-Cub recounts a jarring election day conversation he had with a tech at his doctor’s office. Seems the tech, who is white, couldn’t believe that Cub actually voted for Obama.

— Over at Paw Paw Bill, William Cotter has a troubling essay on the irony of a Vietnam resort hosting the Miss Universe beauty pageant.

— The Wren’s Next posts some of its fan mail from the wee ones, and they sure are charming.

— And speaking of kids, what’s on Maigh’s mind today is the loss of manners and how so many parents use television and computer games, essentially, as babysitters. “No one likes a Goop, and with Grover as my witness, we’re raising a whole generation of ‘em,” she says.

— Which leads nicely into the final item. ATLMalcontent shares an email from a grammar-challenged delegate who attended the National Education Association convention. Let’s hope he/she isn’t an English teacher.

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House Speaker Glenn Richardson has been criticized for having his divorce decree sealed from public view, but that censure is somewhat misplaced. That’s because the speaker is not actually divorced — or at least wasn’t when the court documents were sealed.

The explanation we heard from a knowledgeable House member is that the documents in question do, indeed, relate to divorce proceedings. But the Richardsons’ divorce has not yet been finalized.

It’s not uncommon for parents to ask a judge to seal divorce proceedings in order to protect their children, as may have been the Speaker’s objective. But rather than take his chances at persuading a randomly assigned judge — as you or I would have to do — Richardson apparently used his clout to steer his case to a former law partner who was inclined to give him a friendly ruling.

In legal circles, that’s called “judge shopping” and while it may not be, strictly speaking, illegal, it would certainly be considered an ethical violation on the part of both the shopper (Richardson) and the shoppee (Paulding Superior Court Judge Jim Osborne).

It will be interesting to see the result of a motion filed by ethics watchdog George Anderson claiming that the Richardsons’ file was improperly sealed. Even if a court sides with Anderson — and, to us, this seems a no-brainer — the case would likely be reassigned to a new judge who could well decide to keep the documents under seal.

Inquiring minds may have to wait a while longer to inspect the Speaker’s dirty laundry.

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Has metro Atlanta’s growth and development had any effect on the metro region’s water shortage? It depends who you ask.

“Absolutely not!”

— State House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s response when CL Senior Editor John Sugg asked him on Nov. 18, “Do you think development has contributed to the water problems?”

“In Atlanta, for example, the model shows that between 59.9 and 132.8 billion gallons of groundwater infiltration may have been lost in 1997 compared to 15 years earlier. That is enough water to supply the average daily household needs of between 1.5 and 3.6 million people per year.

— Page 8 from “Paving Our Way to Water Shortages,” a 2002 study by Smart Growth America, the Natural Resources Defense Council and American Rivers on the amount of groundwater lost because of development

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Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson is the villain du jour — due primarily to his proposed tax plan. That’s why I interviewed him last week, and you can read my take on Richardson’s plan in this week’s Metropolis column.

But it’s impossible to talk to a state official nowadays without mentioning water, as in the fact that we have a shortage of the precious liquid. To people with at least a slight grasp on reality, the reasons are obvious. We have a drought. We have a very small water supply for such a large metro area. Our population has exploded in recent decades, stressing the already meager sources of water, primarily the Chattahoochee River.

Knowing that Richardson is firmly ground in Republican politics — as in, adjust scientific facts to accommodate radical ideology — I didn’t anticipate an attack on development when I asked him about the causes of the water shortage. But I was a little stunned at his response.

My question: “Do you think development has contributed to the water problems?”

Richardson rose from his seat. He’s a pretty animated conversationalist to begin with. But he became even more so, raising his hands as he proclaimed: “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

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