Did a political operative with close ties to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal orchestrate the removal of the non-partisan video-journalist from the GOP's pumpkin patch forum?
Burt’s Pumpkin Farm is a popular destination in the fall for residents of Atlanta and north Georgia. For many, especially those with small children, it’s a tradition to stop by and take family photos amongst the sea of recently-harvested beach-ball-size pumpkins.
Saturday before last (August 23rd), Republican candidates for statewide offices in Georgia gathered in Burt’s pumpkin patch to pitch partisan political positions to the populace. While the pumpkin patch is on private property owned by Johnny and Kathy Burt, the meet-and-greet was advertised as being open to the public.
Nydia Tisdale is a non-partisan citizen video-journalist who films local government meetings and political forums, uploading raw “Nydeos” to her site, AboutForsyth.com without partisan commentary or slant. She had arrived early at the forum, securing both a front-row seat and permission from the Burts to film the event. At some point during the first speaker’s remarks, the Burts allegedly withdrew their permission. The withdrawal of permission was questionably communicated to Ms. Tisdale by an out-of-uniform, off-duty deputy who never identified himself as law enforcement. To gain compliance with his demand that she stop recording, the deputy jerked the camera away from Ms. Tisdale and violently manhandled her as he pushed/dragged her to the barn, bent her over a table, pressed "himself" into her backside and draped his stout upper body over her thin frame. At this point – and still not knowing that her assailant was law enforcement – she may have reflexively elbowed him in the mouth and kicked him in the shin, alleged actions for which she now faces a felony obstruction charge to go along with the misdemeanor criminal trespass charge.
Linda Clary Umberger, the chairwoman of the Dawson County Republican Party (which did not participate in organizing and hosting the forum), followed them into the barn, apologizing to Ms. Tisdale for the way she was being treated, before storming-out in disapproval of the heavy-handed law enforcement tactics.
Ms. Tisdale later told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the deputy “didn’t need to have his body pressed against my rear end.” Chairwoman Umberger described the scene to the AJC: “I watched as a woman was bent over the counter on her face, with an officer over her. If I had been her, I would have elbowed him in the face, too. I was so upset at how they handled it – I walked out.”
Umberger later issued a statement which she said reflected her personal view, not the local party's view:
"Being a Republican woman and the chair of the Dawson County GOP, I am still troubled by the removal of a woman who was videoing speakers at a political event this past Saturday at Burt's Pumpkin Farm in north Georgia. This meeting was advertised as open to the public and there were no announcements or signs requesting recording devices to be put away. Though I have a respect for private property rights, I also respect the First Amendment rights of an individual, which should be mutually respected. I believe this was an unfortunate situation that could have been avoided if cooler heads had prevailed."
The forum opened with remarks by one of the organizers,
Clint Bearden, former chair of the Dawson County Republican Party. He then introduced the first speaker, Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens. A year ago, Hudgens was bitten by an audio recording of a Republican event
where he had bragged about obstructing ObamaCare and said that he would get around the ACA rule prohibiting insurance commissioners from administering insurance agent exams to ACA navigators, by simply marking through “insurance agent exam” and writing-in “navigator exam.”
So maybe it was his past experience, combined with the impertinent remark he had just made about Michelle Nunn making him "want to puke," that caused Hudgens to draw attention to the fact that Ms. Tisdale was videotaping the event.
Brian Pritchard, a male journalist who was seated directly behind Ms. Tisdale as Hudgens was speaking (and who curiously remained unmolested throughout the entire forum even though his audio recorder was in plain view and he was continually snapping still-photos with his camera), made some interesting observations:
“Hudgens introduced Richard Woods. While Woods was speaking, Bearden went and sat next to Tisdale, and according to Tisdale, he asked her to stop videoing or she would have to leave. Tisdale told him that she was invited and would not stop....As Woods continued to speak, Bearden went to Deputy Wooten for assistance. I then watched Bearden go and speak to the property owners Johnny and Kathy Burt. By this time, Labor Commissioner Mark Butler had started speaking. Bearden returned and said something to Wooten. At this time both Bearden and Wooten approached Tisdale. Wooten told her she had to turn the camera off. Tisdale refused and continued to video. Wooten started to try to remove the camera from Tisdale’s hands. When she refused and struggled to keep the camera running, Wooten began to physically remove her from the event. Tisdale physically resisted being removed turning the camera on Wooten screaming, ‘Identify yourself, who are you?’ Butler paused as everyone watched Tisdale struggling with Wooten. Deputy Wooten then physically removed Tisdale as she continued to scream and video him. Butler tried to continue speaking but was interrupted by loud screams coming from Tisdale in the barn....Tisdale told FYN in an exclusive interview...that she screamed because Deputy Wooten had her arm twisted up her back and she was in pain.”
And so it would appear that
Clint Bearden is the person who wanted Ms. Tisdale to stop recording the remarks being made by the Republican candidates. It was
Clint Bearden – not law enforcement and not the property owners – who initiated the request for Ms. Tisdale to stop videoing. But lacking the authority of law enforcement or the property owners, his request was ignored. So
Clint Bearden set about to obtain law enforcement authority from the deputy. Although we don't know what was said between them, it is likely that Bearden was told that he would first have to obtain authority from the property owners to shut-down Ms. Tisdale, as he went immediately from the deputy to the property owners before returning to the deputy and then accompanying the deputy to confront Ms. Tisdale.
And who is Clint Bearden? Aside from serving as chair of the Dawson County Republican Party during the 2012 elections, he is the law partner of David Ralston, the Republican Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives. Previously, he served as law clerk for Hall County Superior Court Judge Jason Deal, who is the son of Governor Nathan Deal. Just last year, Governor Deal appointed Bearden to a cushy job on the Lake Lanier Islands Development Authority.
According to Pritchard, Governor Deal and his wife were seated on the front row with an up-close-and-personal view of the manhandling of Ms. Tisdale. Governor Deal made no attempt to stop or even address the heavy-handed tactics, either at the time of the events or later when it was his turn to speak.
On the Thursday following the event, journalist Pritchard posted an audio of his interview with Sheriff Carlisle wherein the sheriff said that the deputy was still on active duty. The article was later updated to show that the deputy was later suspended sometime after that interview, pending an internal investigation. By Friday morning, the deputy was fully reinstated, cleared of all wrong-doing, after an investigation which consisted of speaking to "witnesses" but, not to Ms. Tisdale. DawsonNews.com also reported on the suspension/reinstatement. The incident report obtained by journalist Pritchard through a freedom of information request had listed only two witnesses: Pepper Pettit and...wait for it...Clint Bearden. So the person who set in motion the events which led to the deputy's assault on Ms. Tisdale, was the same person whose interview with internal affairs served to clear the deputy from any wrongdoing.
Also on Friday morning, Ms. Tisdale was allowed to retrieve her video camera from the sheriff's department with original footage fully intact.
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As this story has made its rounds on social media, it has shed the attribution to the most authoritative, detailed, and comprehensive reporting on the incident by eyewitness Brian K. Pritchard, another journalist, who was seated directly behind Ms. Tisdale and who initially broke the story on his news site,
FetchYourNews.com.
According to journalist Pritchard’s initial reporting of the event, the candidates who were in attendance – listed in the order by which they spoke – were as follows:
Incumbent Republican Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens;
Republican Nominee for State School Superintendent Richard Woods;
Incumbent Republican State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler;
Incumbent Republican State Agricultural Commissioner Gary Black;
Incumbent Republican State Attorney General Sam Olens;
Incumbent Republican Congressman Doug Collins;
Republican Nominee for US Senate David Perdue (who is facing Democratic Nominee Michelle Nunn, daughter of former US Senator Sam Nunn); and,
Incumbent Republican Governor Nathan Deal (who is facing Democratic Nominee Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter).
None of the candidates or representatives from their campaigns made any attempt to intervene. To his credit, Attorney General Sam Olens addressed the incident when he took the microphone:
“Let me be possibly politically incorrect here for a second. If we stand for anything as a party what are we afraid of with the lady having a camera filming us? What are we saying here that shouldn't be on film? What message are we sending? Cause it’s private property they shouldn't be filming? What is the harm? The harm that this poses is far greater than her filming us. What are we hiding? If we are telling you why we are running and what we stand for, what are we hiding? There is no reason for that. That is not right [gesturing to where Ms. Tisdale had been manhandled].”
In an
interview with CBS46, Olens said he thought the treatment of Ms. Tisdale was "inappropriate."
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Dawsonville, Georgia is known primarily for being the birthplace of NASCAR. In the 1930s, small businesses in Dawsonville were industry leaders in the emerging field of bionutritionals, primarily engaged in the production and packaging of corn-byproducts. Problems were encountered, however, in transporting their finished product from Dawsonville to the Atlanta market, 60 miles south, as agents of the State Revenue Department had an annoying habit of pulling over the delivery cars and destroying entire trunk-loads of glass jugs filled with product. Soon, the ingenuity of the Dawsonville business owners corrected this market instability by enhancing the engine performance of their transport vehicles, making them capable of out-performing the state vehicles in the category of speed. Thus was created a new industry known as “moonshine running” which later became NASCAR.