As reported earlier, state Reps. Terry England, R-Auburn, and Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, are among about a dozen or so representatives openly backing Blue Ridge Republican David Ralston’s challenge of House Speaker Glenn Richardson.

I still haven’t had a chance to talk to Benton or England personally, but I spoke to state Rep. Bob Smith, R-Watkinsville, recently, and he said he’s sitting on the sidelines for the time being. Smith backed Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter, R-Alpharetta, for the top spot in 2004.

The official Democrat line is that they’ll let the GOP sort out the speaker situation in caucus meetings this fall. After all, when one party starts fighting in the sandbox, they make the other side look like grown-ups.

House Speaker Glenn Richardson, like predecessor Tom Murphy, has a reputation for sending lawmakers who cross him to a legislative version of a Soviet gulag.

With two local representatives among a dozen or so mounting a palace coup, what does the Athens area have to lose?

Not much, really.

Is Glenn gone?

Not likely, but House Speaker Glenn Richardson is having a bad week.

First, his BFF Barry Fleming gets run over by the Jesus Train. Now, there’s a rebellion brewing against him.

Among the freedom fighters: State Reps. Tommy Benton, R-Jefferson, and Terry England, R-Auburn.

"’I think we've got the votes,’ Benton told (the Braselton News, of all people). ‘If we are unsuccessful with this, you'll probably see my office in the island of Nod somewhere with the others.’ Benton is correct. The oldest rule in politics definitely applies in challenges to a Speaker - if you shoot at the king you'd better finish the job.’”

House Speaker Glenn Richardson has a reputation as a vindictive control freak.

After seeing this little chunklet of a bill, it’s easy to understand why.

H.B. 854 ostensibly requires labor unions involved in political activity to register with the Secretary of State.

But last week, dozens of local elected officials, including A-CC Mayor Heidi Davison, visited the Capitol to lobby against the speaker’s tax plan. Richardson responded by declaring war.

Happily, it appears that the opening-day spasm of veto overrides in the Georgia House of Representatives will represent the sum-total of House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s nose-thumbing at the governor.

Following the Banner-Herald’s Tuesday editorial criticizing Richardson and the House for using the first day of the General Assembly session to concentrate on overriding Gov. Sonny Perdue’s vetoes of legislation from last year’s session, instead of getting an early start on water, transportation, education and taxation issues, I got a call from Richardson’s spokeswoman, Clelia Davis.

Saying she was sure she wasn’t going to be able to change the newspaper’s frequent criticism of the speaker, Davis added that the Tuesday overrides of a dozen of the 41 bills vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue (approximately 30 of which originated in the House) represented all of the overrides that the House would pursue.