There are few people who have had such a profound impact on the trajectory of the people of Georgia — and done it with such humility. One man who did that while spending more than 30 years in journalism in Atlanta was conservative columnist Jim Wooten.
Wooten, who retired from the Atlanta newspapers in 2009, was known by elected officials under Georgia’s Gold Dome and in the halls of Congress as the voice of Southern conservatives in a media world rife with bias against anyone who leaned right. Wooten was an honest journalist who used his column to promote free-market principles to a state that had been ruled by Democrats since Reconstruction.
The military veteran who grew up dirt poor in Middle Georgia was respected far and wide as he kept public officials accountable with the politeness of sweet tea. He would use his Thinking Right columns to gently nudge those in power to consider the benefits of smaller government, market-based solutions and how empowering individual Georgians would lead to a more prosperous state.
Everyone around the Georgia Capitol knew Wooten by his dapper appearance, bow ties and Southern charm. Let alone his persistence and reporting on the opinion pages of the afternoon daily, The Atlanta Journal. His columns were respected by those on both sides of the aisle.
I am convinced that it was Wooten’s work that contributed to that glorious night in November 2002 when Republican state Sen. Sonny Perdue defeated Democrat incumbent Gov. Roy Barnes. Georgia finally had its first Republican governor since before Reconstruction, and a Republican majority would then take over the entire state Capitol.
Jim Wooten was a conservative visionary in a state stuck in traditional, good-ole-boy governance comfortable to those in power. As a free market advocate he encouraged leaders to embrace outsourcing which happened across a host of state agencies including the sale of Brook Run, Stone Mountain Park and the privatization of other state services.
He backed plans for a second Perimeter then dubbed the Northern Arc to relieve traffic north of Interstate 285 – something the state abandoned and never built. And he was keenly aware that those in the Atlanta region would never abandon their cars, thus the waste in investments like mass transit instead of highways.
After Sept. 11, 2001 many of us were frightened and wanted solutions, but Wooten warned that government expansion of the TSA could become a nightmare for the traveler which certainly proved to be true.
He predicted Al Gore’s global warming religion certainly would impede freedom and free markets, as we’ve seen these days as Wooten argued that such environmental regulations mandated without cost-benefit analysis would only burden the consumer with higher energy costs.
Jim Wooten was perhaps one of the most influential people in my professional life. He hired me as a young reporter at The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution when I was barely out of the University of Georgia and later on, I worked for him on the conservative editorial board. One of my greatest professional losses was the closing of the afternoon paper, knowing I wouldn’t be able to work with Jim anymore.
Others recognized this humble man’s contributions to freedom and improving the lives of Georgians. The state Legislature honored him and he received the 1996 prize of Outstanding Alumnus by the University of Georgia’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
Wooten was a tireless advocate of the free press, its role in democracy and the education of rising generations of journalists. He also served as president of the Georgia Press Association and as a trustee of the Georgia Press Foundation.
He went to his heavenly reward this past weekend.
The man who used to always say “when my band of conservatives are in charge …” did see many periods when they were in charge – both at the Georgia State Capitol and in Washington during the Trump era. And I know he was absolutely elated when many of those conservative policies finally coming to fruition.
There are some people who influence your life and make you smarter. Who teach you so much you are a better person. Jim Wooten will always have been that for me. I was so honored to have been a member of his conservative cabal at The Atlanta Journal.
Meyers, a former reporter and editorial board member of The Atlanta Journal, is the president of Oak Grove Communications.
