UPDATED

A Major Announcement Brings Perdue, Richardson To The Same Podium For First Time Since The Session Ended

(Updated at 12:20 to delete reference to forest being in Speaker's district. While he represents Paulding County, the forest is in the district of Rep. Howard Maxwell. New material highlighted.)

By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia

Dallas, Ga.

(12/6/07) A major announcement - the state’s acquisition of 20,000 acres of pristine forest lands in three counties - brought Gov. Sonny Perdue and House Speaker Glenn Richardson together in public for the first time since the last legislative session ended chaotically last April with tempers flaring and charges and counter-charges in the air.

But in a serene setting with rolling hills rising above a gently rippled lake and several hundred happy and excited Paulding County residents looking on, it almost seemed as if that episode never happened.

Perdue, who spoke first, gave a generous introduction to his one-time administration floor leader, saying, “Let me introduce a huge partner in this effort - one that led the effort in the House of Representatives to recognize the value of preserving lands like this - none other than the Speaker of the House, himself, the hometown boy, Speaker Glenn Richardson.”

If anything, Richardson was even more lavish in his praise, crediting Perdue with keeping a firm hand on government and guiding it through a recession that had taken hold by the time he was sworn into office in 2003.

“It was exactly five years ago in December of ’02, and I’d helped to get Sonny Perdue elected and he had had the confidence in me to name me as his floor leader, and we were in a meeting talking about the looming financial crisis for our state.

“You see, we often forget what was going on in December of ’02, but the state had a looming financial crisis. We were out of money We had whittled our surplus down from $750 million to $50 million. And we tightened our belt because of the leadership of Gov. Sonny Perdue and his financial and fiscal management of this state.

“And today I’m pleased to report that because of what he’s done, we’ve taken what was virtually a nonexistent reserve fund and we’ve got the state’s resources built up to over $1.4 billion, making us flush and able to do things like we’re doing here today.

“And we did it because of Gov. Sonny Perdue, my friend. Thank you, governor, for leading us through the ... (difficult) times of the last five years.”

Richardson went on to say: “A lot of people want to criticize ... but I’ll tell you what - we’re in the best financial situation of any state in the nation right now, and we’ll continue to be and we’re going to work together to do that.”

The two leaders spoke on the banks of Corley Lake in Paulding County with the unspoiled Paulding Forest rising in the background.

Thanks to a cooperative effort between the state, the county, the federal government and private philanthropies, some 6,865 acres of the forest will come under state control to be managed for hunters, anglers and wildlife enthusiasts.

Richardson got off the best quip of the day when he said it was the culmination of a dream he’d harbored since he was first elected to the Georgia House.

“Today is the culmination of that wish, so I guess I could quit - but before you reporters get too excited, I’m not. You wouldn’t have anybody else to have fun with,” he said.

All told, some 20,000 acres in Paulding, Decatur and McIntosh counties will be brought under state control for preservation.

In Paulding County, the total cost is $45.8 million. State funds will amount to $15.2 million, Paulding County is putting in $15 million, neighboring Polk has contributed $100,000, federal grants account for $7.8 million and private foundations - including the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation - will account for $7.8 million.

The other projects:

* Some 8,430 acres will be acquired n Decatur County on Lake Seminole near Bainbridge, known as the Silver Lake Tract. The tract includes extensive stands of mature longleaf pine with a population of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The cost is $38.6 million and will be funded through a $15 million state grant and a combination of federal and local and private foundation funds for the balance.

* Some 4,162 acres will be acquired in McIntosh County known as the Fort Barrington Tract. It will protect critical wildlife habitat on the Altamaha River and serve as an additional buffer to an area used by military pilots to train for bombing runs. The cost is $8.5 million, and will be funded with $2 million in state funds and the balance from other sources.

The state money will primarily come through land conservation money included in the current state budget under the governor’s Georgia Land Conservation Program.

“The investment we’re making today will ensure that future generations of Georgians, all over Georgia, will be forever able to enjoy forest and lands like the one you see behind me today,” Perdue said.