Body language & a photo for Ga.'s political annals. -- "One of the cruelest things he'd asked me to do" said the lovely giant killer Susan Richardson.

Jim Galloway and his AJC colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin have been on a tear. In a recent post entitled "Body language and political marriages" Jim Galloway wrote:

And surely this shot by AJC photographer Ben Gray will go down in Georgia’s political annals. It was snapped as House Speaker Glenn Richardson took his oath of office on Jan. 8, 2007 – days after Democrats accused him of an “inappropriate relationship” with an AGL lobbyist.

The speaker said the charge had no basis. Susan Richardson, shown holding a Bible, now says she knew it was so.

Not noted by Jim Galloway is his above post but as reported by Dale Russell in an article that can be accessed at my 12-01-09 link:

Richardson was re-elected as House Speaker. At the swearing in, he asked his wife to come up on the stage and hold the Bible so he could take his oath of office.

"I was not thrilled to be asked that. I told him that was one of the cruelest things he'd asked me to do. To stand there and hold a Bible, knowing he had lied," said Susan Richardson.

Did things ever move quickly this week.

Prior to the airing of the interview of Susan Richardson conducted by WAGA’s Dale Russell, a 11-30-09 headlines from the Athens Banner-Herald read "Former foes now support Richardson."

And a 11-13-09 post on this blog captioned "Mr. Speaker, keep your head up high Sir," read in part:

In countless posts in different times I have described House Speaker Glenn Richardson as a tyrant and referred to him with such monikers as the "Czar" and the "Head Hawk."

Late today I literally shed tears for him upon reading about a recent event, and I pray and will continue to pray that he will be fine, both mentally and physically.

What I read is so, so sad, and to those who are near and dear to him, please know that your loved one is first and foremost a Georgian, and we all try to look after and take care of our own.

We expect so much of and give so little credit to our public servants, and seldom appreciate and fail to recognize the fish bowl in which they have to live.

But the Susan Richardson interview changed everything as she described her difficult relationship with the Speaker and revealed that she had emails confirming his affair with the Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist that preceded the couple's divorce.

As Jim Galloway noted in a post quoted in a 12-03-09 post:

In a matter of days, following a confessed suicide attempt on Nov. 8, the second most powerful figure in the state Capitol has gone from the state’s poster child for depression to – by the televised description of his ex-wife – a man obsessed.

One is discomfiting but politically acceptable. The other is not.

Richardson’s transformation began with a mesmerizing interview of Susan Richardson, conducted by WAGA’s Dale Russell.

In a 11-14-09 post Jim Galloway took us to an earlier point in Richardson's career, writing the following in the AJC's Political Insider:

Shortly before his formal election as House speaker in 2005, Glenn Richardson and I – each accompanied and, perhaps, protected by our wives – had dinner at his new favorite restaurant, Ted’s Montana Grill in west Cobb County.

The happy man had a gorgeous spouse, spoke proudly of his kids, and was about to become the second most powerful man in state government — part of a Republican revolution that hadn’t fully unfolded.

Relationships are delicate things. Richardson broke up with the press not long after that dinner. It did not grieve him.

He and his wife Susan divorced in February 2008, a year after Democrats publicly accused him of an inappropriate relationship with a lobbyist. His marriage was the relationship that mattered.

In a statement issued Friday, part confession and part public service announcement, Richardson, 49, said his divorce sparked a cycle of depression that had reached a near-fatal peak. He had attempted suicide.