Seems Speaker Richardson Arranges Special Treatment

Quick and quiet: Speaker Richardson gets divorced
By ALAN JUDD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/11/08

House Speaker Glenn Richardson and his wife filed for divorce, completed the dissolution of their marriage and got court records of the proceedings sealed — all in a single afternoon last week.

The Richardsons appeared privately on Wednesday before a Paulding County Superior Court judge who was not even assigned to their case. The judge, James Osborne, is a former partner in Richardson's law firm.

Susan Richardson held the Bible when husband Glenn took the oath as Speaker of the state House in January 2007.

The judge to whom the case was assigned, Tommy Beavers, said Friday he does not know why the case ended up in Osborne's court. Beavers said Osborne told him he had received the divorce documents before they were officially filed.

The fast-track divorce defied normal procedures as it sped through the Paulding County Courthouse in Dallas, allowing Richardson to keep most details private, including any that might reflect on his performance as a public official.

The divorce followed more than a year of speculation about the status of Glenn and Susan Richardson's marriage. Georgia Democrats last year filed an ethics complaint against the speaker, a Republican, claiming he had had an "inappropriate relationship" with a lobbyist while cosponsoring legislation that would benefit her employer. A legislative panel dismissed the complaint.

A spokeswoman for Richardson did not respond to requests for comment. Richardson was absent from the General Assembly two full days and part of another last week as he attended the funerals of three friends killed in an airplane crash Feb. 1. One service took place Wednesday, a few hours before Richardson and his wife appeared at the courthouse.

Their marriage ended without delay.

State law requires a 30-day waiting period before uncontested divorces become final. A judge may grant an immediate divorce only after finding circumstances such as cruel treatment of one spouse by the other, incurable mental illness or adultery.

Osborne didn't disclose why he did not wait before entering what appears to be a final order. All documents related to the case were simultaneously filed in the court clerk's office at
4:21 p.m.

Susan Richardson, 42, appeared without an attorney, a court docket shows. Her 48-year-old husband, a lawyer, represented himself.

Osborne conducted a private hearing with the couple in his chambers, according to his order sealing the case file. It is the only document available to the public.

Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, which advocates for open government, said both the First Amendment and common law contain "a strong presumption of public access to court records."

The rules that govern Georgia's Superior Courts require judges to conduct a hearing before closing files from civil cases and to specify which documents will be sealed and for how long.

Osborne's order indefinitely restricts access to every document in the file.

In the order, Osborne said potential harm to the Richardsons and their three children "outweighs any public interest" to inspect the documents.

Osborne has been a Superior Court judge since February 2005. A former district attorney for the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit, Osborne was a partner, from 1978 to 1994, in Richardson's law firm, then known as Vinson, Osborne, Richardson and Cable.

Under the Paulding Superior Court's rules, the court clerk's office assigns civil cases, including divorces, to the circuit's three judges by rotation. Beavers was the next judge in line to receive a new case. But Osborne took charge of the Richardsons' divorce before Beavers received the case file.

"I was told it was filed," Beavers said in a brief interview Friday. "I have not seen it."
He added, "I don't recognize an instance" in which another Paulding County case has been resolved in a similar manner.

Through his secretary, Osborne declined to comment.

All of the Way Over to a Blog, Oh MY!

For a few weeks, I have been planning and working to start a blog that will serve as a free speech and info forum for Dekalb County citizens. The plan is for people to send me articles to post in the blog-- I'm interested in anything from simple announcements to political rants and everything that falls between--- I only ask that the articles/announcements/etc. pertain to Dekalb County.

I thought I would mention the blog concept on Livejournal and let people who use the site know they can submit articles if they wish. I've received messages comparing LJ and blogspot, and I've made my goal is not to have a battle of LJ and blogspot--- the goal is about being involved in the community in which we reside! And I actually had a person reply to that comment with, "True, but it also doesn't mean that those interested want to travel all of the way over to a blog to read or write about such topics," in regard to my

WTF? "All the way over to a blog." When did typing a web address become such difficult labor? For the love of Dolly, type it once and bookmark it. I didn't realize a web address was like hitching the horses to a wagon and making the full day trip to town for a sack of flour and feed.

Georgia Legislative Process Overview

I received an email from a reader asking about the legislative process in Georgia. I was going to reply to the email with the information; however, I think the information makes for a good blog post-- never hurts to have a review of important information. Since I should be in bed, I took the easy route and copied information from the New Georgia Encyclopedia:

Once drafted, a bill faces three stages in the legislative process. The first is the process of introduction. A copy of the proposed bill is submitted by the author or sponsor to the Clerk of the House or Secretary of the Senate, depending on the member's house. There the bill is given a number, entered into the house's computer database, and printed in multiple copies. The next morning, the bill is considered to have been formally introduced into its house.

Each bill or resolution has a "title," which is an introductory paragraph summarizing its content. As a caution against hastily passed legislation, Georgia's constitution requires that the title of each general bill be read three times on three separate days in each house. On the day of introduction the title of the bill is read aloud on the floor of the chamber. At this point, the presiding officer announces to which standing committee the bill will be assigned.

The bill now faces the second stage of the legislative process—committee consideration. While studying a bill, a committee can invite the author, other legislators, lobbyists, state agency officials, or the general public to testify about the bill. Frequently, based on its study, the committee will make changes in the measure. Should members desire to send the bill to the floor, they adopt a favorable report that simply states "do pass," "do pass with amendments," or "do pass by substitute" (meaning an alternate bill is forwarded). If the committee wishes to keep the bill from advancing, it can issue an unfavorable "do not pass" recommendation, or, as is most common, the committee can simply hold the bill and issue no report. Though there are several procedural motions to force the bill out or to move it to another committee, most bills introduced in the Georgia General Assembly die in committee.

If favorably reported from committee, a bill advances to the third stage—floor consideration. For most of the session, each house operates under its own rules calendar. Prepared each evening by the rules committee, this calendar sets the next day's agenda for floor action. As there are usually more bills favorably reported from committee than can be considered on one day's floor session, the rules committee attempts to decide which bills are most important or deserving of floor consideration. For a variety of reasons, a particular bill reported from standing committee may never be placed on the rules calendar.

Bills placed on the rules calendar are called up one by one for floor action. First, the bill's title is read aloud a third and final time. Then the floor is opened for debate. In each house, floor debate involves a member being recognized by the presiding officer to come forward to the "well" (the central podium at the front of the chamber) and speak on the bill to the entire body. During these comments, members at their desks may be recognized by the presiding officer to ask questions—and they must be phrased as questions. Legislators in the well usually agree to respond, although they occasionally decline to yield for questions.

At this point, amendments to a bill may be offered from the floor. Finally, if a motion calling for the previous question is approved, debate ends and the presiding officer calls for a vote. Each member has a switch at his or her desk to cast a "yea" or "nay" vote via their house's electronic voting system. Approval of a bill requires a majority of the total membership of that house—the equivalent of ninety-one yes votes in the House or twenty-nine in the Senate.

If approved, a bill is sent to the other house, where it must undergo the same procedure. In order for the bill to pass, an identical bill must be approved by each house of the General Assembly. Usually one house will make changes to a bill sent from the other house. In that event, the amended bill is sent back to the first house, which has the option of accepting or refusing the amendments. If the amendments are rejected, the bill is sent back to the second house, which can delete its amendments or stand firm. If the two houses cannot agree, a conference committee consisting of three members of each house can be appointed to try to achieve a compromise acceptable to both houses. If a compromise is agreed to, the conference committee's report is then presented to each house for approval. In recent decades, the conference committee mechanism has become increasingly important for resolving differences between the two houses. Today most important legislation (especially the annual appropriations act) can expect to end up in conference committee prior to passage.