Glenn Richardson

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Glenn Richardson in an American politician from the state of Georgia.

Richardson was born in Douglas County, Georgia, where he graduated from Douglas County High School in 1978. In 1981, Glenn earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Georgia State University and earned his Juris Doctor in 1984 as a member of the first graduating class from the Georgia State University College of Law.

In 1985, Glenn joined the firm of Vinson & Osborne and made partner two years later. Now known as Vinson, Talley, Richardson & Cable, Glenn continues to practice with the same firm. In 1989, he was appointed to serve as County Attorney for Paulding County and served in that position for 16 years.

In 1996, Glenn became the first Republican from Paulding County, Georgia, elected to the Georgia House of Representatives since Reconstruction. In 2003, Governor Sonny Perdue hand- picked Glenn to serve as the Administration Floor Leader in the House and in November 2003, the Republican Caucus chose Glenn to serve as Minority Leader. He was elected to his sixth consecutive term in 2006 to represent House District 19. As a result of his role in securing Republican control of the House for the first time since Reconstruction, in 2005 Glenn was chosen by his colleagues to serve as the first Republican Speaker of the House in over 130 years.

In his first two years as speaker, legislative accomplishments include passage of the landmark Civil Justice Reform bill and the most sweeping ethics reform legislation in Georgia’s history. The “Woman’s Right to Know” bill was finally adopted after years of languishing in the Georgia General Assembly. 2005 also saw the repeal of Georgia’s antiquated Jim Crow laws. Glenn continues to champion the requirement of photo identification to vote in Georgia in an attempt to curb voter fraud. However, Glenn has been criticized for expanding a loophole in Georgia's absentee voter law, for which voters are not required to show photo identification to vote absentee.

Glenn has played an instrumental and supporting role in passing Georgia’s new laws protecting private property rights and tougher laws against sexual predators, including a provision that prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop. However, this provision has been criticized by many, and has been the subject of a federal lawsuit, because it effectively makes it impossible for registered sex offenders to live in most urban and suburban areas and is pushing registered sex offenders to have to live in more rural areas of the state, including locations close to youth camping areas.

The Republican Party of Georgia named him the 2003 Legislator of the Year. He was the recipient of the 2003 American Cancer Society Capitol Dome Award. The March of Dimes recognized him “for providing extraordinary leadership in passing legislation to reduce the number of premature births in Georgia.” Insider Advantage’s James Magazine named him the 2005 “Man of the Year.” He was also the recipient of the prestigious 2005 Wayne Shackelford Award from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia and the James A. Coffman Award by the Medical Association of Georgia.

In 2006, Glenn became chairman of the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) and the Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (RLCC). As chairman of the SLC, Glenn works with other southern states to foster greater intergovernmental cooperation and communication to address regional issues. The RLCC is an organization dedicated to electing Republicans to state legislative offices.

Richardson was a major supporter of legislation in 2004 to pass a Constitutional Amendement to prohibit gay marriage. In addition, Richardson is known for saying that legislation will not pass in the Georgia House unless it passes a four prong test: it must shrink state government, cut taxes, encourage personal responsibility, or strengthens.

However, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported[1] that the Democratic Party of Georgia had filed an ethics complaint about Richardson based on an allegation that Richardson engaged in an “inappropriate” and “personal” relationship with a female lobbyist from Atlanta Gas Light in 2006, while the company was seeking legislative approval for a $300 million pipeline across the state. Richardson only responded by stating that “The bad news for those that manufactured, dispensed and stirred unreasonably the poison is that I survived. And I’m looking for those that manufactured that poison.”[2] Richardson is married to Susan Richardson and they have three Children, Maggie, Bryn, and Will

Despite the controversy surrounding Richardson's alleged affair, on January 8, 2007, Richardson was re-elected Speaker of the Georgia House, with the support of several Democrats.