On second thought, never mind.

Then it is smooth sailing a while, then time to get back out the plank

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288 members and growing…

There are several better than a man who openly states that he sees no problem with adultery with a lobbyists as long as it doesn’t become a distraction.

You are right when you state that this is old news and it was discussed at length relative to Governor Perdue. At that time Representative O’Neal was not a blip on the radar screen. All of the big guns were trained on Sonny.

As a potential Speaker, O’Neal will be looked at again. Most of the people in the state do not know him and “Oakey Woods” and “tax break” may be the way they define him. I hope that’s not the case, because I think he deserves better, but it is a real possibility.

Personally, I was hoping we would reward someone who openly stood up against Glenn Richardson. The AGL Scandal wasn’t the first sign that there was something wrong with Speaker Richardson. He employed many of the same bully-boy tactics used by Tom Murphy to punish those with whom he had an honest disagreement. That’s not how things should be done.

Over then next four years or so, hard – even brutal – decisions must be made about state services. We need someone with all of the political capital available. Half measures will not work.

Finally, I do not believe Larry O’Neal is dumb. I honestly wonder if he understands how serious the ethics problems plaguing the House will be. I read the article and some of the wording was poorly chosen if he does “get it.”

We will need a strong, but fair Speaker. I believe Larry O’Neal would be fair. I am concerned with things like Oakey Woods that could damage him in the public’s eye and make it difficult for him to make the hard decisions that have to be made.

The new speaker will need political capital to spend with the public because of cuts in provided services that will have to be made.

If Larry O’Neal becomes the Georgia House Speaker then I will support him and honestly pray that he succeeds. I do not; however, believe he is the best choice.

Not to be disrespectful, but I just don’t see how an issue that was discussed to death in 2006 is made new again by this situation, because what has happened now has not changed any of the material facts of the situation.

And those facts were laid out over and over again back then, and the public simply didn’t think it was a big deal.

I think people who oppose O’Neal really WANT it to matter again, and I’m not saying the media won’t regurgitate the story again at least briefly.

However, this is not like the Richardson situation, where a very big and new fact was learned in just the last two weeks to make the story relevant again. It is, pretty literally, the definition of old news.

Also, I’m not that old, but I’ve seen the “grass is greener” argument enough times in politics and football that I don’t just instinctively believe that statement.

For what it is worth – everybody, and I mean everybody, has got a wart on their tail. Some warts are public, some are private, but perfection just can’t be the standard for legislators or people in the real world too.

Being wise and thoughtful is always a good trait in any situation. Random retribution is always not.

It is undeniable fact.

The Governor and Rep. O’Neal used a ‘perfect storm’ of positions and opportunities to pull together profitable land deals and tax breaks for themselves and their friends and in doing so passed up great opportunities to protect a treasured piece of wilderness for future generations of Georgians.

We don’t call Mark Taylor “Governor” because he was a much worse option.

Hopefully, we will not be calling O’Neal “Speaker” because we have so many, much better options.

We have an opportunity and Lord willing we will not fumble!

This is right as far as it goes, but there is now blood in the water that wasn’t there in 2006.