Speaker names leaders of top House committees

ATLANTA - The leaders of the three most important committees in the Georgia House were named Wednesday. <br> <br> All three are Democrats, and two of the new chairmen are from Columbus. <br> <br> Representative Calvin Smyre will again lead the Rules Committee, which decides which bills come up for a vote. Representative Tom Buck is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, which helps decide how tax money is spent. <br> <br> The Ways and Means Committee, which approves new taxes or tax cuts, will be led by Representative Richard Royal of Camilla. <br> <br> The appointments were made by new House Speaker Terry Coleman of Eastman. Deciding who will serve on House committees is perhaps the speaker&#39;s greatest power. Before becoming speaker, Coleman himself headed the Appropriations Committee. <br> <br> The leadership in the House was in question until this week because Republicans were hoping to share power by leading some committees. <br> <br> They pushed for House members to choose Democrat Larry Walker, who promised the GOP he would reserve some chairmanships for them. But the coalition of Democrats and Republicans fell apart before the vote. Coleman was elected speaker Monday.

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