1. Jody Richards is the longest serving Speaker of the House in the history of the Kentucky legislature, having served from 1994 to 2008, a total of 14 years.
10 Facts About Jody Richards
1. 2.
Jody Richards served with the United States Army Reserve and the Kentucky National Guard from 1962 to 1968.
3.
Jody Richards, who began his career as a teacher at Western Kentucky University, first ran for office in 1975, when he won the 20th District seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives.
4.
Jody Richards later played an instrumental part in engineering Kentucky's sweeping education reforms by chairing one of the committees that helped draft the Kentucky Education Reform Act, and he has shown the same commitment in leadership roles in the Southern Legislative Conference's Education Committee and the Legislative Advisory Council of the Southern Regional Education Board.
5.
In 1987, Jody Richards was chosen by his Democratic colleagues in the House to serve as their Majority Caucus Chairman, one of the body's five leadership positions.
6.
In 1995, Jody Richards was elected the Speaker of the Kentucky House.
7.
On January 6,2009, Jody Richards, was defeated by Greg Stumbo in the internal election for the position of Speaker of the House.
8.
In 2003 Jody Richards ran for Governor of Kentucky on a slate with Tony Miller, losing in the Democratic primary to Ben Chandler and Charlie Owen.
9.
Jody Richards finished a distant fourth in the primary with just over 45,000 votes, far behind the 142,000 votes garnered by nominee Steve Beshear.
10.
Jody Richards has a son, Roger, a daughter-in-law, Ellen, and a granddaughter, Holly Beth.