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With a Republican president in the White House

While the Democrats are pushing another immigration amnesty, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told congress yesterday that the ability of the strongest nation on the planet to protect its own borders is collapsing and that the security system has been successfully overwhelmed.

With little mention of Americans who at one time trusted their government to protect the nation from invasion, in her letter to congress, Neilson expressed her concern for the migrants who are illegally moving from Central America and seeking out Border Patrol agents to happily “turn themselves in” with the knowledge that they will soon be on their way to the interior of the United States.

Americans will soon see these same ‘victims of borders’ being organized by corporate-funded anti-borders groups with angry marches in American cities demanding open borders, U.S. citizenship and the right to vote.

Breibart News has more on the story here . The Washington Examiner reports that Border Patrol is now releasing the illegal aliens directly into the U.S. Even NBC News has taken note that illegal border crossings have hit thirteen-year highs.

Including by the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society, pro-borders Americans are being urged to contact the White House to demand and support any and all action necessary to end the incursion.

This writer is on his way to the southern border and will periodically post photos and short insights here on IPG, on Twitter ( @DAKDIS ) and on the Dustin Inman Society Facebook page.

Updated typo: 6:54PM

Image: GDOT

by D.A. King | Jan 30, 2019 | The Forum | 0 comments

Re; “Will the General Assembly reverse the 2018 GDOT carve-out on E-Verify for contractor bids?”

GDOT has easily wrangled an exception in the E-Verify verification – contractor bidding law with an irritated and stern “trust us.”

With her response, a writer from GDOT, Meg Pirkle, has publicly accused me of offering up “omissions and factual inaccuracies” in my recent IAG column  about a law and E-Verify usage verification for public contractors system I have been working with since its creation in 2006.

I described a successful move by the Georgia Department of Transportation to put special rules for their contractor bidding process into law via Section 3 of 2018’s SB455. Admittedly, this is an “in the weeds” issue that very few people – including most legislators – are familiar with. I hope that will change. It is important to note however, that if they are following the law, all other public employers now have a different system for this process than GDOT.

State law, OCGA 13-10-91, which, as I wrote, was put into place by then Senator Chip Rogers’ Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act of 2006, governs the public employers/contractor bidding process that involves E-Verify.

This Act originally created state law that read: “No public employer shall enter into a contract for the physical performance of services within this state unless the contractor registers and participates in the federal work authorization program to verify information of all new employees.”

Because of loop holes, that part of the law was adjusted in 2009 (See line 33) with the addition of: “Before a bid for any such service is considered by a public employer, the bid shall include a signed, notarized affidavit from the contractor attesting to…” All emphasis mine.

There is a great difference in the two schedules for deadlines for potential contractors to verify use of E-Verify.

Pirkle’s interpretation of my piece is that I question the ethics of the 2018 GDOT legislation that excludes GDOT from the process of contractors submitting proof of E-Verify authority before consideration of their bids. On this, Pirkle has shown a firm grasp of my intent.

 “Omission”

I confess: Pirkle’s accusation that I omitted the response from GDOT’s spokesperson, Natalie Dale, is true. I didn’t take up space in the write-up to feature Dale’s multiple responses because she did not answer most of my questions. Instead, I reserved much of my limited column space to include several news-story examples of GDOT’s past documented violations of exactly the same law on exactly the same bidding process issue. I did however post our entire email thread here.

“Factual inaccuracies”

Pirkle wites that “King suggested that the (E-Verify) affidavit could be submitted electronically; however, the Georgia Department of Transportation’s legal office maintains a strict interpretation of Georgia Code requiring the affidavit to bear the actual inked signature for notarization.”

What I wrote was “…the existing law is clear that bids and E-Verify affidavits may be submitted electronically. If a contract bidder is indeed an E-Verify user, he can easily send that documentation along with his bid from his computer.”

I even linked to the text of the law. That doesn’t seem to have been enough, so I will post the exact language: “(11) Documents required by this Code section may be submitted electronically, provided the submission complies with Chapter 12 of Title 10.” It’s down near the bottom of the page.

Memo to Meg Pirkle and GDOT: I didn’t “suggest” the affidavit can legally be sent electronically, I stated it as the fact that it is. There is a qualifier that reads “provided the submission complies with Chapter 12 of Title 10.” What does the relevant part of that law say? Here’s what.

Regardless of very clear state law, we are now told that GDOT lawyers have quietly “interpreted” that E-Verify affidavits must be sent in via hard copy. And that this is the impetus for SB445 and the carve out for GDOT. How handy.

Why didn’t GDOT ask that the law be changed to accommodate their concerns with sending notarized documents electronically in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 or 2013?

Legislators and Legislative Counsel in the 2009 committee process fully vetted the carefully crafted language on sending electronic versions of all documents when the security on the contractor bidding process was tightened. I was there and participated in that process. Where was GDOT?

Indeed, it should be noted that GDOT lawyers also did not bring forth concerns when the same code was in committee in 2010, 2011, 2012 or 2013.

 Legislators should be very curious to hear what objections the apparently shy lawyers at GDOT have with all this. And they should be interested in what other departments have quietly adopted their own contractor bidding system outside law passed by the General Assembly.

Pirkle should apologize

Pirkle on “inaccuracies” again: “King also insinuates that legislators and/or GDOT had secretly inserted questionable affidavit language into a bill on the last day of the session. This is also inaccurate.”

Nice try. I wrote that “in the haste and bedlam of 2018’s Sine Die, Senate Bill 445 sailed through both the House and Senate.” Perhaps Pirkle doesn’t fully understand the workings of the legislature.  SB445 passed on the last day of the 2018 session with very few “Nay” votes in either chamber. Pirkle should point out the supposed “insinuation” or any mention of any amendment anywhere in my column, or have the integrity to apologize and publicly correct her accusation. “Inaccuracies” indeed.

For readers who are not familiar with endless smoke-and-mirror ways of the Gold Dome Swamp, it may be confusing to read GDOT’s reply to my column on the change they have created in the bidding process they use when Pirkle begins her defense of GDOT’s 2018 SB445 with “The bill included the extension of a deadline to submit a required affidavit as one provision in that bill.” Then ends it with the assurance that “the bidding system did not change.”

Finally, on the lack of lawmaker’s objections to GDOT changing the bidding process rules back to where they were before the added security language was added in 2009, Pirkle notes that “not once in this process did a single lawmaker raise any concerns with the affidavit language.” This is what can easily be labeled “sadly amusing.” Finding any legislator in the Capitol – who, even now – can offer a lucid explanation of the E-Verify statutes would be an interesting, if all but futile mission. When GDOT says they want legislation passed, the response from far too many legislators in leadership is “how high?”

I have spoken to many now-concerned and surprised lawmakers who have taken a second look at the changes in the contractor bidding system created by their votes on SB445. All of them express surprise and regret – and all of them point to the fact that such things happen when rushed Day 40 votes are taken without time for proper debate or education.

Executive version

 GDOT has easily wrangled an exception in the E-Verify verification – contractor bidding law with an irritated and stern “trust us.”

Gold Dome Republicans will not allow voters to decide on constitutional official English

The liberal Gainesville Times is reporting today that the Hall County elections board is again investigating the possibility of foreign language ballots.

Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act requires that counties with large enough populations of minority groups provide election materials in their population’s native languages. Voters who are not proficient in English have the option to bring a translator with them to the polls.

Hall’s elections board voted last year to reverse plans to provide ballots in Spanish, but now that the busy election season is over, board members said Tuesday that they wanted to devote some time to studying how the county could offer ballots in Spanish.

The corporate-funded anti-English Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) in Atlanta has long lobbied against English as Georgia’s constitutional official language of government and has led the attack on English in the voting process. The Republican-ruled Georgia House killed legislation in 2016 to allow Georgia voters to answer a ballot question on amending the state constitution to make English the state’s official language of government.

The ability to read, write, and speak basic English is a requirement for naturalization.

Gwinnett County is already using foreign language ballots.

“GALEO is very glad about the designation by the U.S. Census Bureau and the requirement to provide much needed Spanish language assistance to Latino voters in Gwinnett County,”  Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, said in a news release Monday afternoon.

“Voting is an important right we have as U.S. citizens, regardless of English language proficiency. As we had mentioned over one year ago, the need for Spanish language assistance and information is certainly a reality,” GALEO Executive Director Jerry Gonzalez told the liberal AJC.

Metro-Atlanta’s DeKalb County School system alone deals with 140 languages

The Times’ story on Hall County and foreign language ballots can be read here.   

North Georgia voters reject former Democrat Party local chairman in Georgia’s House District 5 run-off 

Despite a reported $4000.00 campaign donation from Georgia’s Republican Speaker of the House, former Democratic party local chairman Jesse Vaughn has lost the race to fill an empty seat in the Georgia House to opponent Matt Barton.

Barton will replace State Rep. John Meadows, R-Calhoun, who died Nov. 13.

Defeated candidate Vaughn said he switched parties around 2008. His voting record shows he first cast a ballot in a Republican primary in 2010, according to the Chattanooga Times.

He is a former member of the board of directors for the Gordon County Chamber of Commerce.

Editor’s note: The below column was sent here yesterday from Senator McKoon and we post it with several links to further educate the reader. Full disclosure: Senator McKoon is a personal friend.

By Josh McKoon

As I wind up my eight years of service in the Georgia State Senate I cannot leave without commenting on the resistance of the administrative state to conservatives, even when requesting basic information.

In February of 2018 I made a basic request of the Georgia Department of Drivers Services for information relating to the types of driver’s licenses and official ID Cards they issue. I asked DDS for images of every format of drivers license and ID Card.

Almost one year later my request continues to be ignored.

Thankfully, due to the efforts of citizen activist D.A. King, we finally have that information. Why is it important?  Because for years, Georgia has been issuing these credentials to individuals the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services tells us are illegal aliens.

This, while DDS gave partial information on the issue and only assured the public and legislators that only non-citizens with “legal status” could obtain a drivers license or ID Card. DDS refused to educate legislators on the entire issue or reveal that under the REAL ID Act, illegal aliens with special deferrals in deportation are granted “evidence of legal status” along with their deportation delays – for purposes of drivers licenses and ID Cards only. They are nonetheless illegal aliens.

DDS was careful to never offer inquisitive lawmakers the full story on the fact that USCIS says these aliens have no legal status or lawful presence.

My goal was to create a new design for the drivers licenses and ID Cards we are issuing to officially document these “undocumented” immigrants, including vertical orientation to set them apart from legal immigrant’s IDs and licenses.

Those who opposed my idea claimed that DDS did not issue licenses or ID Cards that are vertically oriented or printed with other distinguishable features other than the documents given to legal immigrants. We were told it would “be cost prohibitive” to design a special and unique license for the people that USCIS says lack legal status.

DDS prints all sorts of specialty drivers licenses and ID Cards that do include vertical orientation, including for American citizens under age twenty-one. In all, DDS issues about twenty-four different drivers licenses and ID Cards. Some are specially marked for inmates in state correctional facilities. Even CDL inmate drivers licenses.

This is information DDS refused to disclose to a duly elected representative of 175,000 Georgians and information we only now have because of Mr. King’s efforts under the Georgia Open Records Act.

Who exactly is in charge of our government? Is it the legislators you elect to represent you or unelected and anonymous bureaucrats who simply deny, delay, and wait out the elected officials who come and go?

Sadly this pernicious resistance to a policy maker attempting to acquire information relevant to formulating public policy isn’t limited to DDS.

I have requested and been told twice that the Board of Regents would send me information regarding policies on reduced tuition rates for illegal aliens in our state colleges and universities. But here we are with one week left in my term and they still have failed completely to turn over this information which is vitally important to understand what public benefits are being conferred on illegal aliens while the children of Georgia residents and U.S. citizens are subjected to ever higher tuition rates and fees.

If they can ignore these requests from me, it can happen to any elected official. I am making this public now as a last resort after patiently waiting for months for these requests to be fulfilled.  While I have no expectation that these bureaucrats who sought to frustrate my efforts to obtain basic information at every turn will finally comply instead of waiting for my term to expire, I do hope this starts a conversation on how much longer the people of Georgia will put up with bureaucrats who comprise an administrative state largely hostile to the aims of common sense conservatives.

Republican Josh McKoon represents District 29 in the state senate and was first elected in 2010.