Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, "the man who destroyed Ralph Reed's chances of ever getting into elected office," has decided not "to run for Governor of Georgia this year," because of "`back surgery' [which] he felt would make running for statewide office too burdensome." Instead "he decided to seek re-election as Lt. Governor -- also a statewide office," Erickson recently pointed out.

"Rumors have long circulated that Cagle has a philandering problem too. This is the point where we get into wink-wink-nod-nod territory as there have been long, assorted, and firm denials (puns kind of intended), but pretty much anyone you talk to treats the stories as fact.

"Basically, the main story goes (and this story is not new), after Cagle got elected Lt. Governor and before he actually took the office, a secretary whose name many of us know walked into his office looking for him and found him standing receiving . . . well . . . let's call it a Lewinsky . . . from a lady not his wife who shortly thereafter allegedly parted ways with Cagle's campaign wherein she had been employed.

"And that's not the only rumor about the Lt. Governor and not the only woman allegedly connected to the Lt. Governor. The latest story, recounted nearly identically to me by a couple of people, circulating about the Lt. Governor involves earrings that went missing in his vehicle -- he wanted someone's head for the supposed theft until it was politely pointed out that the incident would create a record and Mrs. Cagle might wonder exactly which pair of her earrings had gone missing.

Erickson also relayed the somewhat tragic story of Georgia House Speaker Glenn Richardson who in November "announced he had tried to commit suicide":

The Speaker went through a very messy divorce. His best friends were all killed in one day in a plane crash together. He had undertaken an affair with a lobbyist that did not work out well. He admitted to suffering severe depression. People were willing to give him a second chance.

 

But, according to Erickson, Richardson's ex-wife claimed that "she had the text messages and voicemails of a belligerent Speaker threatening to use his power to destroy her. What's more, additional revelations into the Speaker's affair showed that he might have used his power to help his mistress's company -- Atlanta Gas Light -- get some sweet legislation passed."

Richardson will resign, Erickson notes, but it won't be until sometime early in the new year.