MORE TALKS TODAY ON FUTURE OF RICHARDSON

House Republicans spent two hours behind closed doors at the state Capitol Monday night but adjourned without deciding the legislative future of state Rep. Mark Richardson.

The meeting of the GOP's 76 state representatives ended shortly before 8:30 p.m., with its members agreeing to reconvene at 9:15 a.m. today.

Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, declined to comment after the meeting of the House Republican Caucus ended.

He earlier said he would step down as House minority floor leader if GOP lawmakers believed it would help the party.

Southeast Missouri Reps. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau, David Schwab of Jackson and Patrick Naeger of Perryville said Sunday they hoped Richardson would remain in his leadership post.

Schwab refused to comment after Monday's meeting. Kasten and Naeger couldn't be reached for comment.

The meeting followed Richardson's second arrest on a drunken-driving charge in the past two years.

Richardson, first elected to the Missouri House in 1990, was touted as a possible GOP candidate for governor before his 1995 arrest.

He was acquitted of drunken driving and child endangerment charges in 1995 in Arkansas after convincing a judge that cold medicine led to a false breath test.

He came within one vote of being elected House speaker in January 1995 during an attempted GOP coup.

In a letter Saturday to House members, Richardson apologized for drinking and driving.

"Please know that I am sorry. I made a mistake, what I did was wrong and I will plead guilty," he wrote.

"In an era where we live in a fishbowl trying to exemplify the faithfulness of this profession, this item makes an already difficult job that much tougher for all of us."

Richardson said his son, Chris, was in the state finals speech tournament in Columbia.

He said he was on his way to meet his wife, Kathy, and Chris when he was stopped Friday night by a state trooper on U.S. Highway 50, near the Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop F headquarters on the eastern outskirts of Jefferson City.

His 4-year-old daughter, Megan, was in the car when the state trooper stopped the vehicle just before 11 p.m. Friday.

Richardson was charged Monday with drunken driving and endangering his daughter. He has said he would plead guilty to those charges.

Trooper D.F. Rexroad said in a police report that he stopped Richardson after he spotted Richardson's car "weaving" all over the roadway.

"Richardson had watery bloodshot eyes and I could smell a strong odor of intoxicants on his breath," Rexroad wrote.

Richardson told the officer he drank a couple beers in Poplar Bluff before getting in the car.

He registered a .11 on a breath test after failing several field sobriety tests.

In the letter, Richardson said, "The state highway patrol personnel involved in the incident, as well as local officials, exemplified the utmost professionalism and I have no reason to question the results of the test that was performed."

The Associated Press provided some information for this report.