Say Anything Blog

Ga. speaker resigns after lobbyist affair claim

ATLANTA (AP) Georgia’s powerful House speaker resigned Thursday after a suicide attempt and allegations by his ex-wife of an affair with a lobbyist.

Glenn Richardson, the state’s first GOP speaker since Reconstruction, had won sympathy from even his political enemies when he revealed last month that he attempted suicide by swallowing sleeping pills. But then his ex-wife went on TV and accused him of having “a full-out affair” with a lobbyist while they were still married.

Richardson did not address that allegation in a brief statement issued through the House communications office in which he said he will leave both his position as speaker and his House seat on Jan. 1. He did mention his recent admission, made in the wake of his suicide attempt, that he has grappled with depression.

“I fear that the media attention of this week has deflected this message and done harm to many people who suffer from this condition,” he said in the statement.

The 49-year-old once thought to be a serious contender for governor had gone right back to shaking hands at chicken-and-grits fundraisers after trying to kill himself, but he had been silent since his ex-wife claimed this week that he slept with a lobbyist pushing a $300 million pipeline bill he was co-sponsoring.