Rep Alan Powell Calls Ralston’s Passing a Great Loss

State Representative Alan Powell said the passing of State House Speaker David Ralston is a great loss.

Ralston passed away Wednesday after several years of illness.  He had recently announced he was stepping down as House Speaker but he ran unopposed as Representative of District 7 in the November 8 Elections.

Powell said Thursday he has lost a longtime friend.

“David was a friend. We actually knew each other from back in the early ’90s. David served in the Senate and then in the ’90s David ran for State Attorney General and lost. Then he ran for the House and that was how I got to know David early on, when he ran for the House,” Powell recalled.

Ralston became Speaker of the House in 2010 and was the second longest-serving Speaker in the Georgia State House.  Powell said Ralston brought order to the House in a time of turmoil.

“There were personal issues and things that were going on with leadership and Speaker at that time, and David stepped in to restore the decorum of the House,” Powell said. “And that’s probably one of the reasons that he and I were so close was because of that. He was from Blue Ridge and he had an abiding love of all of Georgia but especially of North Georgia. He was very familiar with our part of the country, Northeast Georgia, and he was just an excellent, excellent gentleman.”

At the news of Ralston’s passing, Governor Brian Kemp ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff.

Funeral arrangements will be announced later.  David Ralston was 68.