“So why did he REALLY do it?” That question has been posed to me quite a few times in the week since the news broke about House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping pills.
My answer, which happens to be the truth: I have no idea. Who can really know what torments push anybody to that ultimate step of trying to end it all?
I am inclined to believe that Richardson’s own public statement provides us with at least part of the answer.
“For the past two and a half years, ever since my separation and divorce, I have struggled with the disease of depression,” Richardson said in the statement he released late last Friday. “While depression often seems to be resolved on occasion, when personal trials or tribulations arise, it flares back up. That is what occurred with me. My depression became so severe that I took substantial steps to do harm to myself and to take my own life.”
Richardson has been the center of numerous rumors and speculation about his after-hours activities almost from the moment he became speaker. He was accused in a 2007 ethics complaint of having an inappropriate relationship with an Atlanta Gas Light lobbyist. The complaint was dismissed but a few months afterward his wife, Susan, divorced him. From casual remarks I have heard him make over the years, I think Richardson cares very deeply about his three children. All of those factors can take a toll on a person’s emotional well-being.
There could be other things that are wearing away at Richardson, such as financial issues. He is no longer the county attorney for the Paulding County Commission, which eliminated one of his revenue streams. Richardson — along with Congressman Phil Gingrey — is also on the board of directors of a Paulding County institution, the WestSide Bank, that has a lot of shaky real estate loans on its portfolio. Richardson’s close friend and political ally, Rep. Earl Ehrhart of Cobb County, was a board member of another financial institution, Georgian Bank, that went belly-up in September from major losses associated with the collapse of the real estate market.
Shortly after Richardson’s suicide attempt was revealed, a website sprang up at the internet address glennrichardsonsuicide.com (the website now appears to have been suspended). Before that website disappeared into cyberspace, the unnamed operators posted this:
Richardson is also believed to be mired in serious financial troubles. Richardson is a founder and board member of Westside Bank, a deeply troubled financial institution created to cash in on suburban Atlanta’s building boom. Westside Bank has basically gone bust in the economic downturn, and Richardson is believed to have lost almost everything along with it. Notwithstanding his disingenuous public statements, financial ruin is the real reason Speaker Richardson attempted suicide.
There may be some more pieces of the puzzle moving into place soon. Some months ago, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter put together a long article on Richardson and the WestSide Bank. His editors, for whatever reason, sat on the story and would not let it into print. I understand that, in the aftermath of the suicide attempt, that article is being dusted off and updated for publication soon, possibly this weekend. Perhaps that will give us some more insights into the situation.
On the other hand, it could simply be a case of divine intervention, as Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has said. Shortly after the suicide attempt was reported, Oxendine’s gubernatorial campaign released this statement on behalf of the Ox: “God has preserved the Speaker’s life, so that tells me that He has a plan for Glenn’s time here on earth. Let’s all respect his privacy and give encouragement and grace in this time of recovery.”
Well, okay. It does not appear as if Richardson’s personal tribulations are going to cause him any political problems, at least not for now. There is not any movement within the House Republican Caucus to force Richardson out of the speaker’s position and he says he has every intention of keeping the job.
He is also not the first legislator to cope with the problems resulting from a bad divorce and an attempted suicide.
In 2004, state Sen. Renee Unterman was in the middle of a fractious divorce from her husband Marc, a prominent cardiologist, when she passed out from a drug overdose and spent some time recovering in a clinic near Boston.
The Gwinnett Daily Post subsequently reported that Marc Unterman filed a petition for a protective order, alleging that Renee Unterman “twice attempted suicide and has received treatment in psychiatric hospitals. The temporary protective order states Unterman must stay at least 250 yards away from her husband’s home and work and her 13-year-old daughter’s school.” There were also allegations that Unterman had fired a gun.
When the news of her personal problems broke, Unterman was running for reelection to the Senate and preparing to run for secretary of state in 2006. None of her legislative colleagues demanded that she withdraw from her Senate race and she was reelected that fall. She still serves in the Senate. She did, however, abandon her plans to run for secretary of state.
Just as Unterman is still a senator, Richardson is still the speaker, but there could be more to come on this particular story.
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