While Winder’s mayor and council continue to debate the price and the politics of having the city’s TV crew tape council meetings for rebroadcast on WCTV, an amateur videographer has stepped in to do the job himself.
Spurred to political action by ongoing controversies as well as a negative encounter with a Winder police officer in late July, Jim Cooley has notified city officials that he wants to be informed of all upcoming council meetings so that he can videotape them.
Earlier this month, Cooley posted on www.youtube.com a 9-minute segment of the council’s Aug. 3 meeting in which Mayor Chip Thompson breaks a tie vote to set a salary range of $87,187-$132,666 for the next city administrator.
Jim Cooley
Keeping tabs on Winder officials
Cooley’s video is entitled “Winder, Georgia: Could it become the next Bell, California?” — a reference to the small city where former top officials are under investigation for having salaries grossly out of line with the community’s average income.
Though Winder’s pay scale is far below the $787,637 paid to Bell’s former top administrator, the World News Network web site (www.wn.com) picked up Cooley’s video and lumped it in with others related to the “Bell California Controversy over Salaries of City Officials.”
So there, in an index of still-frames photos linked to separate videos is Winder city councilman Bob Dixon raising both hands in disbelief over being outmaneuvered on the salary issue by the mayor and his allies, who stole that political football before the former coach could even get his hands on it.
Cooley said the political one upsmanship, now available for the entire world to view online, reminds him of the kind of politics he once observed in Chicago, where he resided for 30 years.
“I watched that whole video over and over,” Cooley said. “It certainly did seem like some underhanded stuff was going on, that there was some dirty crap going on there. I thought I was in Chicago.”
For more on this story, see the August 18 edition of the Barrow Journal or click here to read the full story online when you subscribe to our new e-edition.
Though Winder’s pay scale is far below the $787,637 paid to Bell’s former top administrator, the World News Network web site (www.wn.com) picked up Cooley’s video and lumped it in with others related to the “Bell California Controversy over Salaries of City Officials.”
So there, in an index of still-frames photos linked to separate videos is Winder city councilman Bob Dixon raising both hands in disbelief over being outmaneuvered on the salary issue by the mayor and his allies, who stole that political football before the former coach could even get his hands on it.
Cooley said the political one upsmanship, now available for the entire world to view online, reminds him of the kind of politics he once observed in Chicago, where he resided for 30 years.
“I watched that whole video over and over,” Cooley said. “It certainly did seem like some underhanded stuff was going on, that there was some dirty crap going on there. I thought I was in Chicago.”
For more on this story, see the August 18 edition of the Barrow Journal or click here to read the full story online when you subscribe to our new e-edition.
Good Job Cooley.
With your help and 5 more Bob Dixons on the council, Winder can do what needs to be done...live in the real world. Not in Unicorn land!