There may be a five-way primary for the Democratic nomination for governor, but Georgia Republicans have their eye on just one opponent: former Gov. Roy Barnes.

The state Republican Party on Wednesday night took the wraps off a new Web site attacking Barnes using an infamous 2002 campaign ad that cast Barnes as a marauding rat.

The site www.noroyalty.org bills itself as telling the story of Barnes "the man who wants to be king.'' Barnes was defeated in 2002 by Sonny Perdue, who became Georgia's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. He's running this year to reclaim his old job.

At the Georgia Republican Party's annual dinner state GOP Chairwoman Sue Everhart said the state's voters rejected Barnes once and will again.

Barnes has led the fundraising among Democrats and is favored to be his party's nominee.

HOUSE TO PROBE LEGISLATIVE TAX DEADBEAT

The House Ethics Committee will investigate a legislator who has failed to file a state income tax return.

State House Ethics Committee Chair Joe Wilkinson (R-Sandy Springs) received a list of House lawmakers who haven't settled their state tax bill. A new law was passed last year to deal with tax deadbeats at the state Capitol. Apparently, one legislator didn’t get the memo, and failed to file a state tax return.

That's far below the 19 legislators identified last year that had not bothered to follow state tax income tax laws. 

"But the only acceptable number is zero,'' Wilkinson told reporters on Wednesday.

Wilkinson, a former Naval commander, said he and House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) would determine when to hold an ethics committee hearing.

When word broke last year that 19 legislators had failed to pay taxes, House and Senate officials realized there was little the chambers could do to penalize the lawmakers -- let alone even learning who they were. They quickly adopted legislation requiring State Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham to hand over the names of the offending lawmakers to the House and Senate ethics committee chairmen.

Now the legislators could get even tougher.

A constitutional amendment pending in the House would bar anyone from public office who fails to file a state income tax return or pay owed taxes in a timely manner.

STOUT WINS RICHARDSON'S HOUSE SEAT: MOMMY DEAREST?

Banker Daniel Stout has won the Georgia House seat vacated by former Speaker Glenn Richardson.

Figures from the secretary of state's office show Stout had 935 votes, or 59.5 percent of the ballots cast in the special election Tuesday in the 19th House District, which covers part of Paulding County.

Stout is a Republican, as were the other two candidates in the contest. Ronny Sibley of Hiram received 560 votes, or 35.6 percent to finish second. J Cash of Dallas was third with 77 votes, or 4.9 percent.

Stout works for Highland Commercial Bank.

Like the philanderer he replaces, Stout had an extramarital affair. The affair, with his mother-in-law, was ten years ago, when he was nineteen years old, he conceded, adding that though the "adultery" broke up his marriage, it stopped short of sex.

JOBS: CUT DEEP OR WIDE?

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Karen Handel says she has a solution to help Georgia's mounting budget woes: slash the state work force by 10 percent—permanently.

Handel said Thursday eliminating some 7,800 state jobs would save about $400 million. The budget gap for the fiscal year that begins in July could top $1 billion. Handel didn't offer a plan to find the additional $600 million but insisted she opposes hiking taxes. Handel's plan would exempt teachers and public safety officers from layoffs.

One of Handel's Republican rivals for governor-- state Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) -- said layoffs of state employees is "inevitable'' but not on the massive scale Handel has proposed. Scott said he favors eliminating whole programs or departments.