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Rep. Wendell Willard regarded as ‘classy, intelligent’ lawmaker
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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.”
