“When you’re an adversary to me, and I oppose you, I go for the jugular vein.” And, former Speaker Tom Murphy meant it.
For twenty-eight years, the honorable gentlemen from Bremen, Georgia served as the Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. He was no shrinking violet. With every passing year, he steadily increased his power and influence until he became the most powerful man in Georgia.
Once he set his mind to something, he became a charging bull. Usually, it was accompanied by a lot of broken china. Almost always, there would be a few broken bones. More often than not, he got his way. Sometimes by shrewd political acumen; other times by brute political power.
In many ways, Georgia benefited from his political will. It was Tom Murphy who led the way on the World Congress Center, the Georgia Dome, MARTA, and most of Georgia’s major arteries. He understood that progress and growth depended on infrastructure. He wanted Georgia to remain in a growth mode.
One common report regarding Speaker Tom Murphy was that he loved Georgia - just not all Georgians. There was no more partisan Democrat than Tom Murphy. As much as he loved Georgia, he hated Republicans. When the yellow dog Democrat saw a Republican, especially a stand-up Republican, he saw red - really red.
For people who do not believe God has a sense of humor, they need only consider that from 1979 until 1992, Democratic Speaker Tom Murphy’s Congressman was Republican Congressman Newt Gingrich. This was such a sore spot with Speaker Murphy that he made the destruction of Congressman Newt Gingrich’s Congressional district through the reapportionment process his highest single priority in 1991.
His partisan efforts did not pay good dividends. Instead, the dismantling of Gingrich’s district created a splintering of Republican strongholds among a handful of Congressional Districts around western Georgia. Newt Gingrich moved over to Cobb County, which served as a reliable base from which he became the Speaker of the United States Congress. Part of what made this possible was the election of Congressmen Mac Collins and Bob Barr from newly created Congressional districts, comprised of Gingrich’s old district, and supported by well organized local Republican organizations.
Eventually, not even favorably drawn state house district lines could save Representative Tom Murphy from Republican voters in Haralson and Paulding counties. On November 5, 2002, the same day Georgia elected a Republican Governor, Democrat Tom Murphy lost to Republican Bill Heath.
There is some irony in the fact that it will be a Republican Governor and First Lady that will welcome him to the Capitol and it will be a Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives that will invoke a moment of silence in his memory.
In his final visit to the place where he ruled with a partisan iron fist, there is little question that the governing Republicans will treat him much better than he ever treated them.
Republican Speaker Glenn Richardson said this: “While the family of Speaker Murphy has suffered the greatest loss, all Georgians have lost a true friend and a great political leader. The stresses and responsibilities the job of Speaker creates are too many to be counted, and yet, Speaker Murphy handled it all with dignity and distinction for 28 years.”
Republican Governor Sonny Perdue echoed these good words with the following: “As a public servant he always fought for the children of Georgia, our veterans and the disabled. When he rose to speak, people listened, even if they disagreed with his politics. And when he said he was going to act, he kept his word. Speaker Murphy's spirit will forever be part of the General Assembly, and his love for our state should serve as an example for all of us."
These are all far kinder words than the old Georgia Democrat ever said about any Republican. But candidly, he deserved better than he dished out. After all, he was a bulldog.