MDJ interview 6.30.10 transcribed by Kim Isaza

I met with Bill Borden, school board candidate, about 4 p.m. on Wednesday June 30, 2010. Mr. Borden; his wife, Brenda; and Mark Mathews were in attendance. Mathews is co-chair of Borden’s campaign, and he is the mayor of Kennesaw. Based on what he told me on Wednesday, Mr. Borden believes the Journal twists his comments and is on a witch hunt to dig up dirt on him. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

A transcript I typed, based on my audio recording of the interview, follows. Mr. Borden also used his recorder.

KIM: Are you a resident of Georgia?

BILL: I am.

KIM: Do you have a Ga. driver’s license?

BILL: I do. (He showed it to me later)

KIM: You are registered to vote here?

BILL: I am.

KIM: Now your business license. Can we see that?

BILL: It’s on the wall downstairs.

KIM: This is the business license we got from the city (showed copy). Is that the same?

BILL: That’s it. Real Estate Custom Finance (RECF) has a registered d/b/a called Checkpoint Mortgage.

KIM: When I asked for the city for the copy of the Checkpoint Mortgage business license, the person in the office searched Checkpoint; d/b/a; the address and he found nothing with Checkpoint Mortgage on it.

BILL: RECF Inc. is the company that Brenda owns that has a registered d/b/a with Cobb County, recorded in the courthouse, that says it operates as Checkpoint Mortgage.

KIM: In the courthouse.

BILL: Mmm-hmmm. Just like you’re supposed to file a d/b/a.

MARK: Superior Courthouse of Cobb County. You have to pay that $20 or whatever it is to register a d/b/a.

KIM: But the city says they have nothing, no record...

BILL: They have RECF Inc. is the name of the company.

KIM: What was the fee paid?

BRENDA: Well why do you need to know that?

BILL: That doesn’t need to be in the paper. It’s not relevant.

KIM: It’s a tax, isn’t it?

BRENDA: Well what did you pay for your taxes?

KIM: I’m not talking about my personal taxes, and I’m not asking you about your personal taxes. That is something we’re usually interested in, of any business, not just yours. When we ask for business licenses -- honestly, this is the first time a city has ever whited it out. I’m curious.

BILL: I am running for office. My wife is not. I am her employee. I work for her. She’s not a public official, she’s not running for office, and it’s her company. If you’re asking my employer to divulge personal informa-tion and she doesn’t want to... She’s not running for office. I am. I work for Checkpoint Mortgage.

KIM: You are an employee, not an owner.

BILL: That’s correct.

KIM: How often are you in Alaska?

BILL: Depends on the year. Several times a year.

KIM: For how long at a time?

BILL: Can be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks or a couple of months.

BRENDA: That’s not so. We’re usually there twice a year, for maybe two weeks.

BILL: Maybe three.

BRENDA: No. We haven’t been there for three weeks in years.

BILL: I guess we were there in March for what -- two weeks? Yeah, last time was March, two weeks. Be-fore that was sometime in October.

BRENDA: About twice a year is about all we can afford to go over there.

KIM: Do you drive up there?

BILL: Yeah. Sometimes we drive, sometimes we fly.

KIM: Do you own property in Alaska?

BILL: Yeah.

KIM: That’s where Cool Dreams is registered.

BILL: Cool Dreams Foundation is an Alaska corporation registered to do business in the state of Georgia.

KIM: When you registered it with the Secretary of State on March 30, you told them your address was Alaska.

BILL: That’s right. Cool Dreams started doing work in Georgia officially, having a physical presence here, around March or April. That’s when we registered as a foundation here. That’s when we started working and actually having a physical presence here.

KIM: Is there an office for Cool Dreams?

BILL: We just work it out of here. It’s a nonprofit, so we get the (mail?) here.

KIM: Do you draw a salary from Cool Dreams?

BILL: No.

KIM: Does anyone draw a salary from Cool Dreams?

BILL: No.

KIM: It has no employees.

BILL: No.

KIM: Tell me about your Doctor of Jurisprudence. Is that the same as a Juris Doctor?

BILL: Mmm-hm. (yes)

KIM: Are you also a lawyer?

BILL: No. I passed the fitness boards for the state bar, but I did not pass the bar, I’m not a bar member. I do not practice law. I have the legal knowledge, but I do not choose to apply it to the practice of law.

KIM: Does it benefit you in real estate dealings?

BILL: Any knowledge benefits you in many dealings. People should thirst for knowledge.

KIM: When did you graduate from John Marshall?

BILL: 93.

KIM: But you said you are not a member of the bar. Did you take the bar?

BILL: I did. But I am not a member of the bar, do not practice law. Passed the fitness boards, do not want to practice law, do not have any desire to practice law. There are attorneys out there that enjoy practicing law.

KIM: Did you take the bar just once?

BILL: I took it twice.

KIM: Shortly after your graduation?

BILL: Yes.

KIM: Tell me about the car tags. Are they your primary vehicles here?

BILL: One of them is. That would be the Sequoia. We do drive it back and forth. It’s actually only been in the state this time less than a week, but it is in this state quite a bit. Brenda was just up in Kentucky with it for a week. We have quite a few miles that we put on that vehicle.

KIM: When you say you drive it back and forth, do you drive it to Alaska and back?

BILL: Not usually. It gets as far as Kentucky, or South Carolina. It is a gas vehicle, and it requires an emis-sion. When it is out of this state, Georgia has no provision for getting an emissions sticker. And I have talked to a couple of representatives, hoping that they will get that law changed.

KIM: I’m confused. What do you mean, it’s a gas vehicle?

BILL: It runs on gasoline.

MARK: As opposed to diesel.

KIM: So they don’t have an emissions?

BILL: If you own your car, and you go out of state during the month of your birth, and you try to license the vehicle in Georgia, you cannot. Which means you are then driving illegally back to Georgia.

KIM: Can you get it done before you leave?

BILL: Not if it’s not within 30 days.

KIM: So it can’t be done more than 30 days in advance.

BILL: Mmm-hmm.

KIM: What is your birth month?

BILL: My birth month is December. Middle of winter.

KIM: So is this something that happens every year, you’re always out of town every December?

BILL: We travel a lot, and it can happen, yes. I have asked to get that law changed, but I haven’t seen it changed yet. But that’s really irrelevant. If it’s determined that a legally licensed vehicle with valid registra-tions and valid insurance, if it’s determined that I need to have it registered here, then I’ll be happy to register it here. I think one of the questions that your counterpart has been asking is...I think he’s implying that I am avoiding paying taxes. I would happily see a comparison between the amount of school taxes my opponent pays versus what I pay. If you look at my disclosures, you will see that I own multiple properties inside the post that I am running for, all of which I pay school taxes on.

KIM: Are they rental houses?

BILL: Yes.

KIM: All of them?

BILL: Mm-hmm. Except the one we live in.

KIM: Right. But they aren’t commercial properties [such as a strip mall].

BILL: Your paper seeks to paint me in the picture that I am not paying school taxes. I am paying way more school taxes than my opponent is, and I will look forward to that comparison in the paper as you look it up at the county tax office.

KIM: That’s an excellent point. Your opponent did not bring this to our attention, I will just point out. Are you going to change the tags?

BRENDA: I’m going to change mine.

BILL: She has one.

KIM: Of the three -- there are three vehicles here?

BILL: No.

BRENDA: There’s a picture in the paper of a red car, but I don’t know whose car that is. It’s not ours, and that’s false reporting. You need to point out that whoever made those pictures that doesn’t belong to us, and somebody is probably going to be really upset when they see their license plate in the paper.

KIM: I will make that note. So the Sequoia...

BRENDA: Is my car. I’m changing it. I’ve already started doing it today. I don’t need this hassle.

KIM: And then the truck that says Checkpoint Mortgage -- is yours (to Bill)?

BILL: Yes.

KIM: You own it?

BILL: I own it.

KIM: Will you be changing that?

BILL: Haven’t decided yet.

KIM: OK, but the law does say...

BILL: I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t think you are, either.

KIM: I’m not, but I can read OCGA.

BILL: So can I. It says ‘new resident.’ We’ll see. I haven’t decided yet.

KIM: How long have you owned the truck?

BILL: Since 2002.

KIM: Besides the motorcycle that is registered in Ga., do you have any other vehicles?

BILL: Not right now. I have access to other vehicles. I have other vehicles that are not registered right now. I have farm trucks, I have trailers.

KIM: In Georgia?

BILL: Not in Georgia.

KIM: But the truck, you own. It’s in your name.

BILL: Mmm-hmm.

KIM: Have you ever been subject to an FBI investigation?

BILL: Through the state bar, I’m sure. I think that’s who investigates when you do your bar fitness. Or the GBI. One of the two.

KIM: For any criminal matter?

BILL: No. No. Why? Who’s posting that?

BRENDA: I bet it’s [that] Faircloth [guy].

**THE LINE ABOVE EDITED FROM ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT sic 7/8/2010**

BILL: Kim, the paper posting...come on, having an article on an anonymous blog? That’s not right either. You know that. You know this is becoming a witch hunt. When you have anonymous tips like that, that is just not right. That is just, absolutely, not right. I cannot believe that you would even ask such a question. What else are they going to make up?

KIM: But when we call you to ask you about these, you don’t pick up the phone.

BILL: It’s just me and Brenda running this. I’m trying to do business. I’m trying to put out signs. I get calls from you, I get calls from Katie, I get e-mails from Gillooly. I mean, I got how many yesterday? You guys get together.

KIM: I believe I only sent you one yesterday, with all the questions combined.

BILL: And I have to tell you...and I told you down at the school board that day. I went and talked to your publisher. I said I would do it fairly. I would be open book for him. And the very first, very first article pub-lished about my school board run paraphrased, inserted fact. You said you were going to check it.

KIM: I did go back and look at it. And I found that we used a portion of your comments verbatim. We didn’t use everything you said, but we don’t use everything anybody says because people ramble. But we took the meat of what you said.

BILL: I choose not to play that game -- you deciding what’s meat and what’s not. I will answer your ques-tions. When I’m out in the field... I got to your questions just as quick as I could. And I was tired, too. But I got to them just as quick as I could. And I’ve got to tell you, MDJ is down low on my totem pole because of the way they’re acting. I would love to have a good, wholesome, local hometown paper that reported things accu-rately and fairly, but I know that’s not going to happen because I’m running against one of your contributing writers. And yes, it’s on the web. She’s one of your contributing writers.

KIM: She’s on the editorial page. ... OK. Do you have an office in Vinings?

BILL: No.

KIM: Have you ever had an office in Vinings?

BILL: No.

KIM: Were you involved in any way in the purchase of the Lacy Hotel?

BILL: The Lacy Hotel burned down in the 1800s, I believe.

KIM: Any other hotel purchases in the city of Kennesaw?

BILL: A purchase of a hotel in the city of Kennesaw? No.

KIM: You were on the Kennesaw Business Authority.

BILL: For less than a month, yes.

BRENDA: Less than a week.

KIM: How do you get on that? Are you appointed?

BILL: Mmm-hmm.

KIM: Who appointed you?

BILL: Tim Killingsworth.

KIM: Why were you only on for a week?

BILL: I didn’t feel like I could devote the time necessary to do it. I went to one meeting, and there was just way too much energy that needed to be brought into that.

KIM: So you quickly resigned, is that what happened?

BILL: Mmm-hmm.

KIM: And then Killingsworth appointed someone else?

BILL: I suppose.

KIM: How do you get on that Authority if you’re not a resident?

MARK: There are different requirements for development authority members. ... I believe he was put on as a business owner within the city limits.

KIM: What was the hotel on the PILOT site?

MARK: A hotel on the PILOT site? Ah... Smith Hotel.

KIM: (To Bill) Were you involved in that?

BILL: Nope.

BRENDA: (Inaudible... I thought she said to Bill, why don’t you just tell her)

KIM: OK, was there something you were involved in?

BILL: I sold a piece of property to the city.

KIM: What property was that?

BILL: Corner of Watts and Main Street.

BRENDA: And the corporation’s name was ... (deliberate pause)

BILL: Lacy Hotel. But it wasn’t a hotel.

BRENDA: There was no hotel there.

MARK: All this, gossip, let’s go off the record a minute, you and me.

----

KIM: Can we get in touch with you? If I call you and leave you a message, will you call me back?

BILL: Kim, can I trust you?

KIM: I’d like to think that you can, yes.

BILL: Mark says that he trusts you. If Mark trusts you, I’ll believe you. But Otis said he’d quote me right, too. I will answer your questions, and I will answer your questions honestly. But I’m telling you, there are people down there -- and I know about it. I’m hearing it from the other sides as Jon is rummaging through all the things. I hear what he’s doing. OK? I’m not blind. I’ve got to trust you to make sure that it gets published accurately. When it’s constantly downing Bill Borden, I just don’t feel like communicating with the MDJ. It’s like I want to turn that switch off. I am trying to run this race to help. To help my community. To help the kids. To help property owners. To help property values. I’ve got some talents that I can take to that board, and I can make things happen. I can make things better. The voters believe that. If you’re gonna write what you want to anyway, why do you even need to talk to me? But if you tell me you’re going to write the facts, we’ll talk all day long.

KIM: I sent you those questions late yesterday, and then I get -- you did respond, at 10:45 last night, which is too late for today, but you didn’t answer the questions.

BILL: Some of the questions -- I read those comments as coming from Jon Gillooly because I knew Gil-looly was running the story. I know Gillooly is trying to do a pie chart right now to show how much taxes I’m not paying because of those car tags. I know Gillooly is trying to do comparisons on why I’m not giving back to the school children. I give to the schools day in and day out. We give time, we give energy. We pay. We sponsor.

I don’t mind answering your questions, but when I answer a question -- if it is factually reported instead of twisted, that’s fine. I’ll give you (answers) right to ‘em. But I’ve got to know those stories are not going to be twisted around. That’s why I’m giving you canned, less than 100-word statements, in quotes. That’s the only way I can get my message across. Even the last one I sent -- not yesterday, but the one before, when we were talking about the debates. I had a debate. If you read my answer, it says: We were at Park Forum, my opponent didn’t show up, and that I was looking forward to the TV23 July 6th. It was all in there, and where I was going to be on July 8th. Yet, all before and all after, the “staff writer” which we both know is Gillooly, took liberties. He takes what I send you and then he goes to my opponent and says, How am I going to twist this?

That’s what I’m reading. So I don’t mind talking to you, but I’ve got to tell you, I am really worried about the ethics of the journalism of the MDJ at this point in time. Not yours, the paper as a whole. When I look at what this county can be, if we had some help from our press. But yes, I will answer your questions.

KIM: Before a deadline?

BILL: If I am not out putting up signs or out showing a house or...

KIM: But if you’re elected to the school board, this is how it goes.

BILL: If I am elected to the school board, I’m going to have more time to devote to the school board. Right now, I’m not elected. I have to keep a business running. If I’m elected to the school board, then I’m going to hire somebody to take care of those appointments for me. Nobody’s paying me to do anything right now. I will devote all the time I need to, to make sure, because it will increase the property values in this county. It will increase the people wanting to move to this county. People will want their kids educated in Cobb County Schools. It will be the premiere system that it once was. Or still is, for that matter. It will continue to get bet-ter.

KIM: If you are elected.

BILL: Yes. I’m going to do everything in my power. I’m going to take my education, my background, all of the information I have available to me, my negotiating skills, and I am going to try to build a consensus on the board and once we get that consensus built on the board, then we are going to move forward into bringing in county government, city governments, and this county is going to hopefully function as a whole for the better-ment of our students and student achievement.

I don’t need to be in the paper. I don’t need to make a name for myself. I can quietly sit with my wife at home in front of the fireplace at night and relax. But God gave me talents that I can make a difference with. And I’m going to try that. And come July 20th, we will know if that’s what God has in store for me. We will know if the voters of Cobb County want me and my background and my abilities helping run their school board, or whether they want my opponent. We will know July 20th.

KIM: Tell me why you are better prepared than your opponent.

BILL: Why don’t I tell you why I am prepared so I don’t talk bad about my opponent. We’ll start with the sled dog race. Everybody keys in on that. It takes a tremendous amount of planning, preparation, tenacity to complete something that you start when you are faced with the obstacles that are put in before you in that respect.

You can take those same characters and apply them to everyday life, simply doing one job at a time for the eventual goal of trying... Student achievement, for instance.

The actual character that I have proven, day in and day out, because of that. Having been in businesses in Cobb County all these years. Working with business leaders, working with businessmen and women. Graduate of Leadership Cobb. Knowing everything there is to know about the county. Knowing the people that run the county. Knowing the people that run the cities. Having the educational background. There are my degrees (points to wall). Please observe them and look at them and compare them to anybody else.