Scandals' domino effect shakes Georgia Republicans
Harry Hope
From The Washington Post, 12/17/09:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/17/AR2009121701809_pf.html
Scandals' domino effect shakes Ga. GOP leaders
By SHANNON McCAFFREY
The Associated Press
ATLANTA --
What's going on at the Georgia Statehouse these days?
The House speaker, who tried to kill himself by swallowing pills,
stepped down amid allegations of an affair with a lobbyist.
A lawmaker who wants to succeed him admits that the IRS investigated
tax legislation he sponsored that saved the governor thousands of
dollars.
And a lawsuit criticizes the state's insurance commissioner - himself
a gubernatorial hopeful - for taking a trip to the Oscars on a
campaign contributor's tab.
Ethics allegations are nothing new at the Georgia Capitol, where
money, power and politics mingle.
But the flood of recent scandals among the state's Republican leaders
has left the Peach State's image bruised.
"It's a crisis for the Republican party in this state," said Alan
Abramowitz, a political science professor at Emory University.
Georgia has voted reliably Republican in recent years, but Abramowitz
said the recent mess might give Democrats a fighting chance in next
year's battle for governor.
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The domino effect shaking the state's conservative political
establishment began with the speaker's resignation last month.
Glenn Richardson is set to step down Jan 1. after allegations by his
ex-wife that he had an affair with a lobbyist.
His No. 2, speaker pro tem Mark Burkhalter, said he was eager to take
over the reins as speaker.
Then three days later, with only the vaguest of explanations about
other career opportunities, he said he wouldn't seek the post, one of
the most powerful in Georgia politics.
He has disappeared since, refusing to explain his decision further.
Allegations of wrongdoing have also clouded the race for governor.
U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal - a Republican candidate for governor - is
facing an inquiry by two congressional ethics panels after the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution reported a lucrative deal his company had with
the state.
On Wednesday, state Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine - another GOP
gubernatorial hopeful - was defending himself after a lawsuit surfaced
claiming he took trips bankrolled by a campaign contributor who asked
for help in an insurance dispute.
The federal lawsuit involves a dispute over investments in an
insurance company.
The company alleges Dr. Jeffrey Gallups shelled out almost $2,000 in
2007 for Oxendine and his wife to attend the Oscars, according to
court documents.
Gallups is involved in a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Life
Insurance Company, which Oxendine's office is investigating.
Oxendine denied any wrongdoing and said he'd broken no law in taking
personal trips with a friend.
He said he had reimbursed Gallups for the trips, although he refused
to provide proof.
"What you have here is an insurance company accused of cheating
people, and they are trying to do whatever they can to get at me,"
Oxendine told The Associated Press.
He said his office found wrongdoing by the company after an
investigation prompted in part by complaints from Gallups.
Indianapolis Life Insurance Spokeswoman Catherine Huggins said the
company "strongly disagrees" with Oxendine's assertions and said it is
reviewing his report on the company's market conduct.
The fallout continues in the Georgia House.
A lawmaker considered a leading candidate to replace Richardson has
been forced to explain old ethics problems that also ensnared the
governor.
In an e-mail to the House GOP caucus, state Rep. Larry O'Neal - who
had worked as Gov. Sonny Perdue's lawyer while serving in the House -
revealed on Wednesday that the IRS investigated a tax break that saved
Gov. Sonny Perdue about $100,000 on a 2004 Florida land deal.
O'Neal said he was exonerated by the probe and that the governor
didn't have to pay additional taxes.
The allegations had dogged Perdue during the 2006 race for governor.
And state Rep. Mark Butler came under fire after e-mails surfaced
suggesting he complained to University of West Georgia officials after
they fired his ex-girlfriend, Erin Henderson, a lobbyist for the
school.
Her firing over the summer prompted a phone call with Butler,
according to Danielle Tackett, a secretary to the vice president of
university advancement Michael Ruffner.
"He said Dr. Ruffner had just pissed off the whole political party
firing Erin. This includes Speaker of the House, Rules Chairman and
Senate," Tackett wrote of the conversation with Butler.
"(H)e was very vocal with his feelings in expressing his anger at the
situation."
Butler denied he had tried to influence the school and said he
believed his words may have been misconstrued.
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Whew...another day, more Republican scandals.
Harry