Speaker Richardson: Not much to say on DOT firing

Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson didn't put out a statement on former DOT Commissioner Gena Evans' firing, but this is what his spokesman says when asked:

"The Speaker's primary concern has been and will be how to improve the transportation system for the people of Georgia."

Not a lot there. Richardson, it was reported at the time, was no fan of Dr. Evans' when she was hired. He preferred House Transportation Committee Chairman Vance Smith for the job. Smith is now carrying legislation calling for a statewide referendum and a new penny sales tax for transportation.

That tax wouldn't flow through G-DOT, but through the new STA Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Richardson say they want to create. But, if the STA gets shot down, the money still would't go to the DOT.

It would flow through the State Road and Tollway Authority which, as Ariel notes in the last sentence of her article, one Gena Evans is still the executive director of.