Burkhalter: No GOP image problem

ATLANTA - Mark Burkhalter will take over as speaker of the Georgia House thanks to one of the biggest scandals at the Capitol in recent memory.

But the Republican said he doesn't believe the ethical cloud surrounding Glenn Richardson has created an image problem for his party or his chamber.

"To collectively say that there is an image problem I think is very unfair," Burkhalter told The Associated Press in an interview at his state Capitol office on Friday.

"I think certain individuals in both parties have image problems and I don't think it's isolated to one party or the other, I really do not."

Burkhalter, 48, will take the reins of the House on Jan. 1. Richardson said on Thursday he is stepping down at the end of the month. He was under pressure to resign after a suicide attempt and allegations by his ex-wife of an affair with a lobbyist.

Burkhalter and Richardson had battled for the speaker's gavel when Republicans finally seized control of the House in 2005 after generations of Democratic rule. Both men had crisscrossed the state the year before stumping for GOP House candidates and helping line their campaign warchests. But it was the combative Richardson who became the first Republican speaker in the state since Reconstruction. Burkhalter went on to serve as speaker pro tem, the No. 2 post.

Richardson's tenure was filled with turbulence. Those who crossed him were punished. There were feuds with the Senate and the governor.

Burkhalter said Friday that "stylistically and substantively" he is different than his predecessor.

"The tone that I want to try to set for the House is one that is going to try to calm some of the angst that's out there," he said.

"I don't get so caught up in arguments."

House Minority Leader DuBose Porter agreed that Burkhalter's style will be different.

"He's much more of a consensus builder," the Democrat from Dublin allowed. "But will he change the culture around? He's been a part of it for the last five years so we will have to wait and see."

A former aide to U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich, Burkhalter made his fortune through a real estate and development company. He lives in John Creek with his wife and three children and also owns a home in the Cayman Islands, according to his financial disclosure forms.

A strong supporter of Republican Mitt Romney during last year's GOP presidential race, Burkhalter is viewed as a member of the business-conservative wing of the state GOP.

He has been a staunch supporter of tax cuts, sponsoring legislation this year that handed Delta Air Lines and other air carriers in Georgia a $25 million tax break on jet fuel even as state tax collections plummeted and the state slashed its budget.

"It's very simple. You cut taxes, the economy grows," he said in 2008.

This year, Georgia is facing a budget shortfall expected to easily top $1 billion.

On Friday, Burkhalter pledged there would be no tax hikes to make up the gap. Instead, he said that legislators would chop the state budget, possibly eliminating long-standing programs. He declined to name which ones could be targeted.

"It's definitely an approach we've never taken, to think about dismembering portions of the state operations," he said. "It's a little brutal."

But the man taking over after Richardson's well-publicized personal troubles doesn't come to the post free of scandal.

Burkhalter was one of a group of lawmakers who went on a 1995 lobbyist-funded golfing trip to Daufuskie Island that was also attended by dancers from the Cheetah nude dancing club.

Burkhalter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time," and was surprised to discover the dancers at the island resort. He said he paid for his portion of the trip and left the day after he arrived.

Jerry Luquire, head of the Georgia Christian Coalition, said Burkhalter is "no darling of grassroots conservatives," but the group was willing to wait and see.

"The real issue is the atmosphere under the Gold Dome," Luquire said.

"If the atmosphere that enabled this situation with the Speaker to go on so long does not change then this will just be the first act in a long painful drama for the GOP."

Burkhalter will automatically become speaker on Jan. 1 when Richardson steps down. He must call an election for the speaker post within 120 days under House rules.