Cumming mayor needs briefing on Georgia’s sunshine laws

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens is investigating whether Cumming Mayor Ford Gravitt violated the state’s sunshine laws when he told citizen journalist Nydia Tisdale she was not allowed to videotape a recent public meeting. Here’s video of the incident shot by AboutForsyth.net Tisdale, which is awkward like you’d expect (skip to around 2:00):

The mayor later told WSB-TV’s Mike Petchenik he thought the Open Records Act — which he says he supports — only permitted people to take still pictures or video, and not both. (I’m trying to wrap my brain around this logic and keep imagining a person trying to take photos with a disposable camera while shooting video with a massive 1980s camcorder.)

“Maybe everyone don’t understand it,” he said. “I think it’s a complicated sunshine law.”

Oh, and the mayor ordered Tisdale out of the meeting on the same day that Gov. Nathan Deal signed a rewrite of the state’s Open Records Act into law.