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Remembering Journalist Tim Bentley

Atlanta journalist Tim Bentley died last week following a pulmonary illness.

 Tim loved dogs, was passionate about the sport of politics, chafed at authority of any kind, laughed easily and was a relentless reporter.

  I met Tim in the early 90s when I was contemplating starting a political newsletter, Georgia Times. (We thought we were clever beyond words when we hit on the pre-Internet idea of delivering it via fax to several thousand subscribers.)

  Tim came to me and told me he knew everything and everybody at the state Capitol, and it didn’t take him long to convince me this wasn’t an idle boast. Politics was in his DNA, and it would shape his life. In grade school, he would go to the Capitol and hang out in the hallways, absorbing everything, remembering faces and names and forging friendships that would carry forward to this day. There’s a wonderful photo of Tim with then-state senator Jimmy Carter, and Carter has his arm around the kid who can’t be more than 12 years old. Like many others, Carter had noticed the earnest young man who had become a presence at the Capitol before he was even in high school, and they would remain friends for the rest of Tim’s life.

  Tim worked for me at South. magazine where the monthly rhythm gave him the luxury of researching in-depth profiles and issue stories. His work on political operative Tom Perdue stands to this day as the most insightful piece written on the man, and Tim’s profile of Ralph Reed, a story that was at once sympathetic and tough, still is definitive.

  While we were assembling our plans for South., Tim introduced me to writer Charles McNair, and I remember Tim telling me, “you have to hire this guy, whatever it takes.”

  A year later, we were sitting in an interminable meeting and Charles was calculating his budget on a legal pad while pretending to take notes. Tim, being the good reporter, looked over Charles’ shoulder and figured out his colleague was being paid more money. He came to me furious, and it later became a standing joke between us. “You told me to do whatever it took to hire him,” I’d always say.

  Another standing joke between us was Tim’s absolute inability to bend to authority. Tim was press secretary to Gov. Zell Miller, campaign manager and press secretary to Secretary of State Max Cleland, communications director at the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, editor of Business to Business, among other stops. In all of these positions, he left with a chip on his shoulder, thoroughly respected for his abilities while leaving his employers perplexed that he couldn’t just get along. But that was Tim.

  If there’s a heaven, I promise you Tim is there now, and he’s arguing about the rules, and in a few days he’s going to threaten to pack up and leave. God bless you Tim; we’ll miss you.

Ed Bean
APC President-Elect
Editor-in-Chief, Daily Report

 
Bentley Interviews Ralph Reed, 1995

 Bentley and State Sen. Jimmy Carter