Susan Richardson to Speaker: "I am cleaned of all your secrets."

"I don't think it was because he was so depressed. I think it was power and control that motivated him to do this. ... And people wouldn't feel sorry for them if they knew how he truly behaved."

Susan Richardson, ex-wife of Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson, simply drops one bombshell after another in this Fox 5 Atlanta interview, describing the speaker as a threatening ex-husband, a power-abusing politician and a liar with little regard for consequence.

It is as damning, and as personal, an indictment as I can recall in my nearly 10 years covering politics in Georgia.



Among the more serious accusations in the 7 minute report:

• On a weekend that Susan Richardson went away with her boyfriend after the divorce, the speaker sent her 49 texts and emails, including some that threatened to call DFACs on her, beat her and use the GBI and Georgia State Patrol to find her.
• The speaker called her from the hospital after his suicide attempt and said "So now are you going to take me back?"
• He had previously threatened suicide.
• The long-assumed affair with an Atlanta Gas and Light lobbyist was indeed "a full out affair," which Susan Richardson discovered when she found the couple's plane tickets to Las Vegas.

Glenn Richardson has shown remarkable political resilience. But, absent a complete and believable refutation of this interview, how does this man remain Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives?