With his entry into the race for Atlanta mayor, Vincent Fort is described by the AJC as “shaking up the crowded race with a pledge to bring populist policies to the campaign.” Fort says he’s running to restore order to what he called a stagnant City Hall.
Democrat Fort is running as a man of the people. Which includes, we assume, American workers – including the real, legal immigrants who have obeyed the law and are hoping for a fair shot at good jobs and wages on city-funded jobs.
It will be interesting to see which version of Vincent Fort shows up during the campaign if the topic of illegal immigration and black market labor comes up in the Capital City of a state with more illegal aliens than Arizona.
Will it be the Vincent Fort who for years relentlessly opposed immigration legislation under the Gold Dome designed to protect jobs, benefits and services for legal residents as a 21st -century state senator?
Or will it be the 20th-century version of Senator Vincent Fort who introduced a common sense bill intended to keep illegal aliens off all state Public Works jobs? That is not a typo. The first reader summary for Fort’s 1997 SB 257 went like this:
“SB 257 – Public Works – prohibit illegal alien employment
A bill to amend Chapter 80 of Title 36 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to local government in general, so as to prohibit the employment of illegal aliens on public works for the state or any authority, county, municipality, school district, or other local government unit or political subdivision; to provide for an oath relative to the employment of illegal aliens on such public works; to provide for a penalty. Fort, Vincent D (39)”
Fort’s entire bill can be read here from the General Assembly website. It reminds us of the long ago days when Democrats were regarded as “the party of working Americans…”
What could be more “populist” and restorative than standing up for the rule of law and to protect honest, hard-working, legal Atlanta workers and their tax dollars from the ravages of the crime of illegal immigration? Most observers – including U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow – note that illegal immigration disproportionally harms the job prospects and wages of black Americans.
So, will illegal immigration be debated and will the pro-enforcement Vincent Fort make an appearance during the Atlanta mayoral campaign?
Our advice? Don’t hold your breath.
D.A. King is the president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society.