About Sandy Springs reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2013)
COMMUNITY Rep. Wendell Willard regarded as ‘classy, intelligent’ lawmaker CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 said. “That’s all we could do.” Willard, 72, has seen more accom plishment than frustration through out his political career. His fellow legis lators speak highly of him, both for his keen mind and the way he carries him self when he’s at the state Capitol. Willard said being a successful leg islator requires “professional courtesy” and that he has worked to earn the trust of others and acted with integrity. He advises new members of the House to do the same. “You’re going to be known for how you conduct yourself,” he said. He married his wife, Vicki, in 1984, and has two children from a previous marriage. His son, Ken, lives in St. Lou is and is a consultant for churches. His daughter, Kelly, resides near Roswell with her husband, Jake, and Willard’s 3-year-old grandson, Kaleb. Willard describes himself as a “Theo dore Roosevelt Republican,” saying he’s fiscally conservative and socially progres sive. In the current session, Willard co signed House Bill 427, which seeks to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans- gendered state employees from work place discrimination. Willard said he hasn’t decided how much longer he’ll continue serving. He was first elected in 2000 and has another year before he’s up for re-election. His first foray into Republican poli tics began when he was 18. He worked on the I960 presidential campaign of Richard Nixon, who lost that year but won the presidency in 1968. Willard was born in Decatur and grew up in DeKalb County. He said public service is in his blood. His father worked in security do ing background checks for the U.S. State De partment, and his job took the younger Wil lard to live overseas. His grandfather served in the Alabama Legisla ture, Willard said. Willard obtained his law degree from Atlan ta Law School, graduat ing in 1965. He ran for the state Legislature in 1970 but lost. He moved his family to north Fulton in 1986 and stayed put. He ran again in 2000 at the urging of friends within the party. He won and shortly thereafter met a woman named Eva Galambos who was working to start a new city, Sandy Springs. The city in corporated in 2005. Galambos became Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs the city’s first mayor. Willard wrote the city’s charter, a document describing the powers, duties and functions of the city’s government. Willard currently works as the city’s attorney. That charter has be come the blueprint that Georgia’s other new cit ies — including Dun- woody and Brookhaven — have followed. If a charter sounds bureaucratic and tech nical, it is. Willard has spent most of his career mired in the fine print of legislation and law. Willard has served as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee since 2005. This year, Willard and his com mittee are overhauling the juvenile justice sys tem so that kids who skip school are treated differently than more dangerous youthful offenders. At the moment, the juvenile justice system doesn’t make very much distinction, Willard said. The juvenile justice system has a 65 percent recidivism rate, a statistic Wil lard calls unacceptable. “We’re really, as a state, damaging the greatest asset that we’ve got,” Wil lard said. His initiatives to reform the state code will be his lasting legacy, said his friend Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhav- en. “Wendell is as good a legislator as they come,” Jacobs said. “He has a tre mendous depth of experience as a lawyer and as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee he does a great job bringing that experience to bear in ways that really benefit all of Georgia.” Rep. LaDawn Jones, D-Atlanta, said she’s clashed with Willard over legisla tion but said “overall I think he’s a very intelligent attorney. ... He wasn’t very happy with me earlier this session when I disagreed with him on one of the first bills, but he understands. He under stood that.” Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, D-Deca- tur, has known Willard for 20 years. “He is a very classy gentleman,” Ol iver said. “I know the volume of work that he’s carrying, and I know the way in which he treats people respectfully. He provides a great model of public service, in my view.” Willard said he likes the job, particu larly finishing the complicated but nec essary task of reforming dysfunctional state laws. He said he intends to work “as long as I could keep doing it.”
