Glenn Richardson settles all family business

CHAIRMAN: Is it true that in -- in the year 1950 you devised the murder of the heads of the so-called five families in New York to assume and consolidate your nefarious power?

MICHAEL: That's a complete falsehood.

Ariel Hart says it's official: State Rep. Vance Smith is the new commissioner at the Georgia Department of Transportation.

So Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson's choice for the position will assume it, albeit 16 months after he'd hoped. Now we'll all wait to see who replaces Rep. Smith as head of the House Transportation Committee.

And whose name Gov. Sonny Perdue submits to that committee to become the state's new transportation planning director, as dictated by this section of Senate Bill 200:

There shall be a director of planning appointed by the Governor subject to approval by a majority vote of the House Transportation Committee. The director shall serve during the term of the Governor by whom he or she is appointed and at the pleasure of the Governor.

Remind me, who decides who gets to be on that committee?


Who's shaking Vance Smith's hand with a goofy grin and is the answer to that question? This guy.
Image: Liz Erikson, House Photography Office.