North Georgia state Rep. David Ralston, who mounted a challenge against his party’s leadership last year, emerged Thursday as the Republican Party’s next speaker of the House.
Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, became his party’s nominee for the job Thursday afternoon, besting Houston County state Rep. Larry O’Neal and state Rep. Bill Hembree of Winston in a secret ballot. He will still have to win the speakership in a formal vote when the 2010 legislative session opens next month. But with Republicans holding a strong majority in the House, his nomination by GOP legislators meeting at the state Capitol on Thursday all but confirms the new position.
Ralston had already challenged current Speaker Glenn Richardson, R-Hiram, for the speaker’s gavel in 2008, even before a sex scandal and attempted suicide pushed Richardson into retirement. Ralston promised legislators Thursday much of what he promised before: A new culture in the House, where long-standing rumors of poor behavior and a culture of lobbyist influence have been confirmed in recent weeks.
Ralston’s post-election speech to the caucus was brief: “You made a country boy real happy. And you honored me. ... I need your prayers. I wasn’t teasing earlier when I said we’ve got a big job to do.”
O’Neal, who was a close second, said he was disappointed in the results, but he expects the caucus to unite behind Ralston.
“David Ralston is a very nice man and he’s very capable,” O’Neal said. “I’m going to follow his leadership.”
Ralston said his nomination “sends a message of change” from a House GOP caucus that has been “battered” for weeks. A media firestorm raged around the caucus after Richardson’s ex-wife gave a blockbuster television interview last month, confirming rumors that he had an affair with a lobbyist.
Ralston has promised several changes for the House, including abolishing the “hawk” system that allowed the House leadership to send representatives into legislative committees to push the leadership’s agenda. He said he would review the House’s committee chairmen, who wield lots of power in the state Legislature, but wouldn’t clean house and name all new ones.
He particularly mentioned O’Neal, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee that writes tax law, calling him “a fine Ways and Means chairman” who’s going to be “a key member of my team.”
Ralston has also said he’ll push for measured discussion, followed by a vote, on ethics reforms.
“You know, at the end of the day it’s kind of simple,” Ralston said from the well of the House. “Let’s fix the problem and move on. But we have to fix the problem.”
The day’s proceedings also featured a tearful speech from Richardson, who told caucus members that they could move on now and leave recent scandals “on my shoulders.”
“I’m grateful that you allowed me to be your leader,” Richardson said. “Along the way, wherever and whatever we may have failed, I take full responsibility for those failures. All of them.
“Administer justice fairly and use moderation in all your decisions,” Richardson said. “Goodbye, friends. I’ll miss you.”
The caucus also elected a new speaker pro tempore Thursday to replace Mark Burkhalter. Burkhalter, R-John’s Creek, was initially slated to move up to speaker with Richardson’s resignation. But he bowed out, telling The Atlanta-Journal Constitution that he plans to seek a job as director of the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
State Rep. Jan Jones, an Alpharetta Republican and the caucus whip, was named the new speaker pro tempore. She will preside over the House in Ralston’s absence once the positions are finalized early next year.
House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons, will remain in his position, the only member of the top House leadership to retain his post.
Though Democrats have little say on who gets to be the next speaker, the state Democratic Party put out a statement Thursday calling Ralston’s election proof that Republicans are “only interested in preserving the status quo.” The statement focused on a tax problem in Ralston’s past, which the party said led to an IRS lien against him.
Ralston and his supporters have said that problem was caused by an embezzling employee and has been cleared up.
“There is nothing owed and has not been for some time,” state Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs, said in defending Ralston.
But state Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kidd said Republican leadership may have changed, “but the culture of corruption remains the same.
“What the House Republicans seem to be banking on is that just about anybody’s record will compare favorably to Glenn Richardson’s,” Kidd said in the statement. “What this election proves is that Glenn Richardson wasn’t the only rotten apple in the Republican caucus. Indeed, they seem to have a hard time finding a good apple.”
To contact writer Travis Fain, call 744-4213.
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