Search Results for: politics georgia

Update 9:10 AM: I adjusted the headline due to a text from Martha Zoller. Replaced “GOP” with “Republican.”

Ending sanctuary cities, “track and deport” and a criminal alien registry not necessary now?

Transcription and audio, Martha Zoller Show, April 4, 2020 (partial) #BrianKemp

I sometimes am able to listen to my friend Martha Zoller on her radio show (9-11 AM weekdays, WDUN -AM) and have been a guest on her show. Martha was a speaker at one of our White House rallies against amnesty when ‘W’ was president.

Today (Monday, April 4) in an interview with the Speaker of the Georgia House, Martha told her audience and Speaker David Ralston that Gov Kemp has done everything he promised he would do in the 2018 campaign. That is not true.

I tweeted as much with a tag to Martha and she replied on the air. My tweet and what Martha said in response is below. It sounds to me that the essence of Martha’s defense of Kemp is that because so many illegal aliens are coming over the border now as compared to 2018 when Kemp ran for governor the first time, that he doesn’t need to honor his 2018 promises on criminal aliens and the legislation he promised to see passed on those “criminal illegals.” Many obedient Republican voters will accept this as reality.

Georgia is home to more “undocumented workers” than Arizona.

Martha Zoller will be the first one to tell you that she has been a paid staffer for both Gov. Kemp and former Senator David Perdue, who is now one of Kemp’s primary opponents for 2022. For the record, as we have said before, Perdue also ignores illegal immigration in Georgia and does not mention Kemp’s defiant betrayal on his 2018 campaign promises. We call it the “#BigTruckTrick.” Led by the liberal AJC editors, most of the Georgia media ignores it. Likewise most Republican groups, but not in Cobb County.

Martha was also appointed to the state school board by Gov.Kemp.

The Martha Zoller Show – WDUN-AM, Gainesville GA.

Link to audio from the Martha Zoller Show, Monday, April 4, 2022

Transcript below from Rev.com

Part 1 (Ralston interview before bottom of the hour break) audio. Relevant text in bold.

Part 2 audio (after break)

Transcript below from Rev.com

My time: 3 hours. My cost $21.00

Martha Zoller (host): (00:04)
“Now you- when you go out at the end of the day today, whenever that is, um, you- there’s a big task then, uh, after that. There are people running in primaries, there are people that are gonna have, you know, a roughly a month until early voting starts, and then, uh, we’ve got about six or seven weeks until the- ’til the primary. What is the work that needs to be done in order to unite, in our case, you and I are both Republicans, the Republican party. But the Republican party is not the only party with- with some division issues, they’ve got ’em on the Democratic side too. Uh, so what are your thoughts about that going forward?

Speaker Ralston: (00:44)
Well, I- I tell Republicans that, uh, if we’re not united, um, then we might as well be prepared to turn over, uh, state government to the other party. Uh, that would include the Governor’s office as well as one or both of the, uh- uh, legislative chambers. Um- uh, you know, Republicans are, you know, and we are Republicans, you and I, have been for many, many years. Uh, I have been for over 65 years, uh, and, um- uh, but we just have a real, real knack of eating our own and turning on one another, and having these, uh, sort of circular firing squads and… Um, I- I don’t know much about the other party’s divisions, um- um, but- but my sense is, is that they’re not, uh, as deep or as, um, seemingly insurmountable as those we have.

Speaker Ralston: (01:50)
And then the last thing we needed this year was a contested race in a primary against the sitting, uh- uh, Governor, uh, and, um, but, you know, it’s a free country and, uh, we are where we are, so we’ll, uh, tee it up. Uh, we don’t have long to go after today before or, as you say, early voting starts of the primary. It’s not gonna be a, um, a marathon, it’s going to be a sprint, and it’s going to be a very fast sprint.

Martha Zoller (host): (02:24)
—>No, I’m with you on that, completely. We’re gonna- I’m in the process now of laying out these interviews, and I know… And it’s a good thing in many of these races to have opposition, but I’m- I’m with you, um, that we have a Governor that’s done a very good job, that’s done everything he promised he would do and, uh, that’s- the, you know, the primary in that particular race is not helping. But, you know, you and I, I know, will be working hard for our values between now and- and that primary. And the primary is gonna be a ver- May 24th is gonna be a very big day for what people like to call the Trump Republicans versus the establishment Republicans, because Tex- Texas will be having their run-offs, and we will be having our primaries, and it’s gonna tell us a lot about where we are, I think.

Speaker Ralston: (03:12)
Well, you’re exactly right. Um- um, you know, the, um, former President Trump has made the Georgia primary and the… He- he’s made it, this hasn’t been the media, but he has made it, um, the first big test of his, uh, continuing, um, influence over, uh, the Republican party. And if he loses there and he doesn’t do well in Texas, and then it looks like, uh, he’s not going to do well in, um, Alabama. Uh, he’s pulled off of his un- endorsed opponent, or the endorsed, uh, candidate there, a fair chance, uh, or better that he doesn’t do well in North Carolina, then I think people, uh, will start saying, um, you know, maybe, uh- um, maybe the dew’s worn off the rose now.

Martha Zoller (host): (04:06)
Well Speaker Ralston, I know you’ve got a very long day ahead of you, and we appreciate you giving us a few minutes of your time today.

Speaker Ralston: (04:13)
Thank you very much, Martha. It’s always good to be with you and, uh, I hope you get some rest after the session and, um, and- and- and- and I’d- I’d love to come back on, but not until after I get some rest.

Martha Zoller (host): (04:25)
That’s right, you got it.

Speaker Ralston: (04:26)
(laughs)

Martha Zoller (host): (04:26)
I will have you on again soon. Thank you very much, sir.

Martha Zoller (host): (04:29)
We’re gonna take a break right now, and when we come back we’re gonna talk with you, find out what you think. What are you looking for in this, what we call, sine die. We’ll be back.

End of interview with Speaker Ralston, show goes to commercial break.

Return from 9:30 AM break:

Announcer 1: (00:00)
5:50 and FM 102.9 WDUN. (singing)

Martha Zoller (host): (00:09)
That increase in groceries every single week, uh, almost $300 a month. That is absolutely crushing. That is essentially a tax on every American. In addition, energy costs.

Martha Zoller (host): (00:20)
It is the Martha Zoller show. And, uh, you know, what is it that you guys are looking for as you look at this last day of session, are there still bills that you’re looking for? (770) 535-2911, because what’s really interesting about any of this is that, uh, you know, what’s really interesting about any of this is that they could actually gavel out right now. They pass the budget, that’s all they have to do. Um, and you know, I, I think it’s one of those things that people need to be aware of. Um, I think it’s important. So I got this tweet in from D.A. King and I don’t don’t really us- I usually don’t, um, uh, you know, read tweets on the air, but I think because he called me out directly, I will, he says, “Martha Zoller just told listeners and speaker Ralston that governor Kemp has done a very good job of keeping all of his 2018 campaign promises.”

Martha Zoller (host): (01:18)
Um, and, and he put in here, um, uh, some comments from governor Kemp related to immigration policy as governor, conservative businessman, Brian Kemp create a comprehensive database to track criminal aliens in Georgia. He will also update the Georgia law to streamline deportation from our jails and prisons. Uh, Donald Trump was right, we must in sanctuary cities and he goes on and talks about some other things.

Martha Zoller (host): (01:43)
Where I would disagree with D.A. about his, his, you know, belief. And he’s entitled to that belief, uh, that, uh, governor Kemp has not kept promises on immigration is that the immigration issue has changed as this session, as this governor’s term has gone on. So what is necessary is different than what he promised in 2018. He has been working with the Tex- with Texas, with putting National Guard on the border to try to help stem the tide of people coming across the border because in my view, the biggest problem is not the things that were mentioned here in this promise that was made in 2018.

Martha Zoller (host): (02:24)
And this is just my opinion. This is not governor Kemp’s opinion. Although I’ve asked governor Kemp this question when he’s been on the program and he will be on again tomorrow, and I will be talking to him about this, but there are these issues that, um, have changed. And you have seen that the governor has responded to immigration issues as they relate to sex trafficking and human trafficking and people that are coming across the border. No, it is not exactly what he promised in 2018. But if, if the situation changes and the people coming across the border have changed, then you’ve got to adapt to that.

Martha Zoller (host): (03:01)
Now, D.A.’s gonna disagree with me, and that’s perfectly fine. Okay. But I think sometimes you have to amend what you promised and it doesn’t mean that you didn’t keep your promise. It meant that you saw that you needed something different than what he had originally promised. And he did something different, but D.A. can disagree with me because, hey, we’ve been friends for 25 years talking about this issue and we don’t agree on every single thing. You can join us on the phones at (770) 535-2911. Let’s talk to Chad…”

Candidate for Lt. Governor, Senator Butch Miller on the Trump agenda and his role in HB 87 in 2011. 

Below is a transcript of part of the radio (Access WDUN) interview Martha Zoller did with Sen Butch Miller, March 25, 2022. here is the audio and a link to the entire seven-ish  minute interview.

We think Martha does good work.

Martha Zoller (host): (00:00)

‘…[inaudible 00:00:00], um, uh, you know, I, I think we’re pa- We’re getting past that, and I don’t think that Donald Trump- Donald Trump was asked not to come to Virginia in the governor’s race, and he, he had complied with that wish, didn’t come. Virginia had a positive message, and they ended up electing a Republican governor. You know, I have said- I said in the AJC yesterday, if he is negative and fore and backward looking, then he doesn’t help these candidates that he says he wants to help.

Butch Miller: (00:28)
A-, absolute that’s the case. And, you know, before they were, uh, Trump policies that, that they’re all talking about, they were Butch Miller policies. And matter of fact, we passed, uh, uh, I particularly passed, uh, legislation in the Georgia chamber that, that President Trump picked up and passed on a national basis to our federal employees when we talked about, um, family, uh, access, family leave, uh, low taxes, uh, those kind of things. Those are things that I have been worked on for years now and not, not gonna stop.

Butch Miller: (01:00)
And, uh, you know, we, we talked, he talked about immigration, making sure we had immigration control. I, I was part of passing House Bill 87, which was the strongest immigration bill in the history of the, of the United States. No one has more … No one has a stronger immigration bill than Ho-, House Bill 87. Uh, so I’ve been working on those issues for years on the state level. On the federal level, they picked up those very same issues. And I think-

Martha Zoller (host): (01:27)
Absolutely.

Butch Miller: (01:28)
… that’s [inaudible 00:01:28] you know, what, what is it? Uh, intimidation is the gra- Uh, excuse me. Imitation is the greatest compliment. And, uh,-

Martha Zoller (host): (01:33)
That’s right, greatest-

Butch Miller: (01:33)
… so that’s what we’ve done.

Martha Zoller (host): (01:35)
… form of flattery. Butch Miller,-

Butch Miller: (01:37)
[crosstalk 00:01:37]

Martha Zoller (host): (01:37)
… if people wanna help you in your campaign, how can they do that?

Butch Miller: (01:40)
Uh, butchmillerforgeorgia.com and, uh, that’s the website.

We will have more facts and analysis later, including the interesting absences and “no” votes after I do the traditional Happy Dance.

Please see here if you are new to this one. We’ll have a better view of the tally board tomorrow.    See below for vote count and record.

* The Georgia Senate is made up of 34 Republicans and 22 Democrats. Green votes below are “YES.” Red votes are “NO.” Names in yellow are “excused” and did not vote.

Quick count from here: Eight (corrected) Republicans voted “NO.” Six Republicans were excused and did not vote. One Democrat was excused.

VIDEO: Go to 1:45-ish on the counter.

We note that Sen Jason Anavitatre voted “YES” in committee but “NO” on the floor.

Ecstatic supporters of SB 601 pose with Sen Miller after his “school choice!” bill passes out of committee March 8, 2022.

Update: noon, March 16, 2022 – SB 601 failed to see final passage on the senate floor yesterday by a vote of 20-29. It’s dead. Also of note: Sen Jason Anavitarte voted “YES do pass” in committee but then voted “NO” on the floor after we sent this column to the entire GOP Senate caucus. More here.

___________

 Update:  A phone conversation with the Senate President Pro Tem’s Chief of Staff, Steve Tippins

12:05 PM MARCH 9, 2022. I just got the promised call from Steve Tippins, Sen Butch Miller’s Chief of Staff who said he is pretty comfy with the unworkable and poorly researched language (his, apparently) they concocted on almost excluding illegal alien students from SB 601. He did not want to talk about the illegal alien parents who would be involved in handling state money and could easily have oversight on the spending rules. Tippens told me he was getting calls from members who don’t want to deal with the illegal immigration issue at all. For clarity, I asked him “you mean you are hearing from senate members who do not want to answer questions about excluding illegal aliens from Sen Miller’s “school choice” bill?” – “yes,” was his answer. It was very enlightening. But not surprising.

Tippins allowed that he would check with “lawyers here” to ask if they agreed with my recommended fix – which he judged far too involved even though he would not let me finish my short explanation of what needed to be done. I did not ask if he would be checking with the same lawyers who helped him create the unworkable “exclusion” wording in the bill now. I was assured that SB 601 is meant to become law and not a campaign ploy.

He told me he wanted any change on the illegal immigration topic in “school choice!” to be “as surgical as possible” – meaning he didn’t want to draw attention to that matter in SB 6o1. There is more.

While I have only been involved in drafting numerous pieces of legislation (many of those bills are now law) and immigration politics under the Gold Dome since 2005, this was the most incredibly arrogant conversation I have ever had with any staffer – or legislator. It was very educational. SMH

Contact info here.

dak

Text of SB 601 here.

_____

Update: My favorite exchange is when Sen Miller tells Sen. Jackson that the legislature may not a budget any money to the “school choice!” project that so many people think is going to allow all K-12 students in GA to access state funds for private schools.

“Senator Jackson: (04:47)
What’s the estimated cost? this how much do you think this will…

Sen. Butch Miller, “Mr. Pro Tem”: (04:50)
Well, it’s just within appropriation. So it might be, I mean, they might not appropriate anything.”

____

Our view is that providing taxpayer funded benefits not already mandated by federal law to illegal aliens does not represent conservative values.

____

SB 601 passed out of its senate committee about 10:00 AM this morning. I will post a transcript of the hearing and access to video soon.

Update: Video here then March 8, 2022 then 27:26 on the counter.

Transcript here.

Update: Transcript cost to me: $57.50. Total time for all this: 15 hours.

Audio: at player below.

• Related: American Federation for Children & Corey A. DeAngelis include illegal alien children and “parents” in model legislation for “school choice!” 

It is important to share the fact that many well-funded “conservative” groups in Georgia are pushing hard for “school choice!” and leaving out many of the realities of the actual legislation. Some do not care about illegal immigration. Others, many others, say about the inclusion of illegal aliens in private school benefits that “if we have to educate them, we may as well give them the best education we can…”

The sound you may hear is the stampede from the southern border into the increasingly welcoming Republican state of Georgia.

Unless the Georgia state senate leadership makes some easy changes to SB 601 (the ‘Georgia Educational Freedom Act‘) the Republican-ruled upper chamber may be about to pass a bill that will include illegal alien students and “parents” in state-funded access to a private K-12 school education.

In his SB 601, Senator Butch Miller has adopted most of the model legislation language being pushed nationwide by the American Federation for Children that was contained in the now failed HB 999 and HB 60 from Rep Wes Cantrell. As we wrote yesterday, Miller’s bill was dropped in the senate on Thursday, March 3, assigned to the senate Education and Youth Committee on Friday, March 4 and scheduled for an 8:00 AM hearing on Monday, March 7. Apparently time ran out on the Monday hearing and the bill was heard and quickly passed out 6-4 this morning in a 9:00 AM committee meeting. Although there were at least two pages of names on the sign-up sheet to speak on the bill, no public comment was allowed.

I was signed up (on page 2) to speak against passage of the bill in its current form and was ready to offer a real “fix”-  and alternate language. Again: SB 601 was passed out of Dalton Sen. Chuck Payne’s Education and Youth committee without any public comment. This is an increasingly common occurrence in Republican committees under the Gold Dome.

Fact: Many, if not most, supporters of the “school choice!” bill – including many legislators, do not know what is in it.

Below I list some of the points I intended to share with the committee and the public if I had been allowed to speak.

• According to the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than Arizona. And the leftist GBPI says we host more illegal aliens than green card holders.
•  “The news” tells us that lots more are on their way here.
•  Illegal immigration, like elections,  has consequences.
•  This bill does not allow an unlimited number of K-12 students to access the $6000 scholarship to attend private school. The term “subject to appropriations…” is written in various places in the bill. This means the number of students who will receive the promised state funding to pay towards a private school education is limited to how much money is allocated from the budget by the legislature. Put another way, a lot of students are going to be left out of the promised taxpayer-funded private school benefits.
•  The above fact is easily illustrated by the prescribed method of deciding who is chosen for benefits when funding runs out: See lines 220-224 for that method; It’s a lottery.
• Why would legislators vote to pass a bill that will surely put illegal aliens in front of Americans in the line for the touted “school choice” process?
• Lines 71- 75 in the bill do not spell out a real exclusion in state scholarship benefits for illegal aliens. The language is poorly researched and written, incomplete and unworkable.
• The 1982 Plyler v Doe SCOTUS decision says states must provide a K-12 education to all children regardless of immigration status in public schools. It does not in any way require that taxpayers fund a private school education for illegal aliens.
• K-12 students are not the only concern in SB 601. According to the language of the bill, it is the “parents” (“biological parent, legal guardian, custodian,” or other person with legal authority to act on behalf of a student”) who have the power to handle and distribute the state funds deposited in an account for the student. “Parents” also make up the committee that would be authorized to have oversight power on the funding approval process for expense items.
• There are 307 lines of text in the bill detailing every conceivable action and responsibility involved in the “school choice!” process. There are only 4 lines that allegedly deal with keeping illegal aliens out of the system. That is because the model legislation from Corey DeAnglelis and the American Federation for Children intentionally contains no section or text on excluding illegal aliens. Somebody in Georgia who doesn’t know the immigration issue tried to create a “fix.”
• Because there its no real language that would exclude illegal aliens in the current version of the bill (LC 49 0911) it can and would likely happen that Georgia taxpayers watch as their money goes to put illegal alien students in private schools while Americans are left behind in public schools and while illegal alien “parents” distribute state funds and have official power over state money and the scholarship program.

UPDATE, 8:10 PM: I forgot to include all of this: “To repeat: A landmark SCOTUS decision in 1982 (Plyler v Doe) requires states to offer K-12 education in public schools (not private schools) regardless of the student’s immigration status. It also prevents legally asking a K-12 student about immigration status – same for the student’s parents. You can read a summary or the syllabus.

I tried repeatedly to get a minute with the Lt. Governor’s Chief of Staff Macy McFall to explain all this but never received the hoped for phone call after two visits to the LG’s office today. I was successful in getting about a minute with Sen Miller and a staffer at an elevator to make it clear that his bill does not exclude illegal aliens. I have not yet received the promised follow-up phone call. Update, 8:43 AM March 9: I just called the Lt. Gov’s office and tried to give a heads up on all this to CoS Macy McFall – I got the brush-off. I sent her and other staffers this page via email. Update, 10:40 AM, March 9: Ms. McFall has emailed me to say she is reviewing my write-up.

Thank you Senator Mike Dugan

I am grateful to Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan for interrupting his lunch to speak to me in the hall so that I could give him and his CoS a heads up. My announced goal was to insure that there are no pleas of ignorance if the Republican senate passes SB 601 without major changes involving illegal immigration.

We have a real “fix”

While I am happy to send line-specific language, the general idea is that the scholarship should be made available to U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents only. The term “lawful presence” should be struck and there must be wording that requires the “parent (s)” of the eligible student to provide proof of the same status as the student.

I wrote it up here more than month ago.

If you don’t hit the links, you will not learn much.

Correction made on bill numbers in the copy below and the headline: 7:40 PM, Feb 10. My fault. I apologize for the typos.

Note to all concerned: The model language for HB 60 & HB 999 came from the Federation for Children. The flyers attacking Republicans who didn’t immediately swoon and support the bills came from…the Federation for Children.

More info on HB 932 here & HB 999 here , here and here.

Info on HB 120 here.

Related: A Breitbart news report on the entire train wreck: Georgia Republicans draft legal giveaways to illegals.

Mark Zuckerburg’s FWD.us is lobbying for Rep Wes Cantrell’s “Americans Last” (HB 932 here.)

It may help people to “get it” if they realize that the corporate-funded FWD.us lobbyist under the Gold Dome lobbying against immigration enforcement is an illegal alien.

Former Gwinnett Republican state Rep Buzz Brockway at the Georgia Center for Opportunity is pushing hard for HB 999. So is state Rep Chuck Eftrastion (R). See also Erick Erickson.

The Coalition of Refugee Services (CRSA) put on a large lobbying event in the Georgia Capitol today for HB 932 & HB 120. It was also available online. CRSA is part of the “BIG” partnership and works closely with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.*

Info on the CRSA (part of the refugee resettlement industry) Capitol lobbying event for Rep Wes Cantrell’s HB 932 & Kasey Carpenter’s HB 120. (click on “view details” on top)

HB 932 is a product of a special House committee chaired by Rep Wes Cantrell

A “Progressive” woman named Darlene C. Lynch works for both CRSA and the “BIG Partnership” and organized and ran the Georgia House Special Committee “Innovative ways to Maximize Global Talent” that saw three 2021 Summer and Fall meetings – with two in Georgia’s public colleges. HB 932 is a product of those committee hearings. The special committee was created by a resolution that passed unanimously in the House at the end of the 2021 session. Rep Wes Cantrell was the sponsor of the resolution (be sure to see all cosponsors) and served as the chairman of the agenda-driven committee that took zero pubic comment and arranged the witnesses.

*Updated, 5:25: PM Some of the agenda items from the hand-picked, pre-screened witnesses at the special committee mentioned above:

• Changing state law so as to allow foreigners to be law enforcement officers in Georgia
• Reciprocal agreements on occupational licensing rules with other states and foreign nations.
• “Relaxing” state law that requires immigration verification of applicants for occupational and professional licensing.
• Lower tuition rates in public colleges for illegal aliens living in Georgia with DACA  status than the rate Americans and legal immigrants fro other states pay.
• Removing the existing 12 month residency waiting period before new Georgia residents can access instate tuition in public colleges for refugees – but not for Americans moving here from other states.
• Reducing the educational period to become a medical doctor by two years, student loan forgiveness for foreign medical students and “relaxing the immigration issues for foreign medical graduates.”
• Creating a new state bureaucracy to accommodate “an office or a division of cultural and linguistic responsiveness.”

I lost track of the number of times “…the number one state for business” was tossed out.

I covered the meetings extensively here.

Related: Where do refugees resettle in the U.S.?

Related: The Libertarian Cato Institute is pushing the “school choice” concept in Cantrell’s HB 99 & HB 60  (see Corey DeAngelis). What is the Cato Institute and what else do they push? Open borders, that’s what. Bonus info: The liberal AJC on open borders.

No public comment allowed on HB 60 committee substitute in the House Education Committee – at Rep Cantrell’s request.