Chamblee54

The Republicans in the Georgia State Lesterslature have been making quite a spectacle recently. They have succeeded in making people pay attention to their antics, which in Georgia is an accomplishment.
It was reasonably common knowledge that House Speaker Glenn Richardson was a crook and a philanderer. This was ignored by most of the state. That changed one night, when he took a few pills, and called his mother to say he was ending it all. 911 got to his house in time to “save” him, but the story got into the press.
Before long, his ex wife gave an interview on TV, where she said a bunch of rude things about him, and had emails and text messages for proof. One thing the ex wife mentioned was a girlfriend the speaker had, while the speaker was still a married man. The gf was a lobbyist for a utility. The speaker had sponsored a bill very favorable to the utility, while the speaker was sleeping with the lobbyist, who represented the utility. People began to connect the dots.
Pretty soon, stories of other lesterslaters who where crooks and philanderers started to emerge. The fact was that many were Republicans, who called themselves Christian conservatives. They pushed through a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, saying that they were defending the sanctity of marriage. Their girlfriends agreed that this was a good thing to do.
The speaker has resigned his job, and if he had a family, he would be spending more time with it. The rest of the Repubs are in a quandary about what to do. It is like the scene in “Blazing Saddles” where the man wants us to keep our phoney baloney jobs.
One lesterslater, Chuck Martin, wants to elect the new House of Representatives leadership in an open vote, away from the back room deal making. ( They used to call those smoke filled rooms, but in these modern times it is probably a smoke filled parking lot.) Another representative, Wendell Williard, does not like this idea.
“I am vehemently opposed to this concept for choosing our next Speaker.It would set a dangerous and unnecessary precedent….The Republican Party has earned an electoral majority from Georgia voters. Martin’s initiative would open the door for a liberal who is a Republican in name only to win the Speaker ship with the support of Democrats. This would circumvent the electoral wishes of Georgia voters over the last five years.”
HT to Peach Pundit for this story. In the comment thread to that post, “Macho” noted
“You have the open vote in the Caucus ahead of time. Why would you open it up to the Democrats, it makes no sense. You’ve got a lot of people on here looking to destroy everything, just for the sake of destroying it.
One of the most common complaints, which I agree with, is, “The leadership forgot their Republican values and became a bunch of egomaniacal narcissists.” How is opening up the floor to negotiating with Stephanie Stuckey, Kathy Ashe and Tyrone Brooks going to encourage traditional Conservative initiatives.”
PG is an independent voter, who feels that liberal and conservative are meaningless labels. He also feels that being “a bunch of egomaniacal narcissists” is Republican values.
The photographs of Glenn Richardson were taken at a campaign party for Jill Chambers August 9, 2008. Mrs. Chambers has not been implicated in the current wave of scandals.