The Dustin Inman Society
July 11, 2012

ACTION NEEDED! 5 minutes of your time to fight illegal employment/illegal immigration in Cobb County Georgia!
We need your help to save JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!

Because of work done by the Dustin Inman Society, Cobb County Georgia recently became one of only ten local governments in the nation to sign an agreement with the federal government to become “IMAGE certified.” This is an important step because IMAGE certification requires E-Verify use and an internal audit that verifies identity documents provided by the employee at time of hiring, including Social Security numbers and identity information.

E-Verify is used to verify work eligibility of newly hired employees after the employer signs up for E-Verify only. The added step of an IMAGE audit of all existing records can identify use of false and stolen Social Security numbers and other ID documents and lead to locating and removing black-market labor working for the employer. Becoming IMAGE certified can only protect jobs for American workers. All honest business owners welcome the level playing field provided by identifying and removing illegal labor from the workforce.

ACTION – If you live in Cobb County, We need your help in convincing the County Chairman Tim Lee and the commissioners to proceed with passing an ordinance that will require all contractors and sub-contractors at every level on every taxpayer-funded job, project or service to become IMAGE certified by January, 2014. Such an ordinance has been presented to the counties legal department to be drafted, but pressure from various lobbying sources including the Chamber of Commerce has interrupted the process. This week, instead of an expected vote on an ordinance, the Chairman announced that the concept “needs more study.” This after he implemented IMAGE certification for the county himself.

You can learn more about the federal IMAGE certification process HERE from the official website. You can see a short MDJ news report on IMAGE in Cobb HERE .

IF YOU LIVE IN COBB COUNTY- regardless of your county district, please call, fax and/or email all of the below listed Cobb County officials with the message of gratitude for the Board of Commissioners taking advantage of the IMAGE program but that as a taxpayer you want to see an ordinance passed this month that will require IMAGE certification for all contractors of every level. This is very time sensitive because of the primary election on July 31st.

Something like: “I live in Cobb county and pay taxes here. Thank you for taking action on the federal IMAGE program…BUT- It is astonishing to me to see that we have raised property taxes but not yet required that all public contractors become IMAGE certified as the County government has done.

We are watching carefully to see whether you take the next common-sense step and pass an ordinance with that requirement this month. I agree with the Chairman’s quote when he signed the county’s IMAGE agreement with the ICE officials in May: “…the IMAGE agreement will help prevent possible terrorist attacks and protect employees against discrimination based upon citizenship or natural origin. “The message, if there is one, is that Cobb County takes its responsibility very seriously to make sure that everything possibly that could be done is being done to make sure the laws are being followed in our county, and to make sure there’s an opportunity for equal employment for those that deserve it,” (Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Activist lauds Board of Commissioners role in ICE program ) .

There is no reason for any delay on moving to protect jobs for American workers on public jobs here in Cobb County!” I vote. So does my family. I don’t want to continue to pay illegal alien workers on county projects! Pass an ordinance requiring that all contractors and subcontractors become IMAGE certified by January 2014 or they may not bid on jobs or projects. We are watching!

PLEASE HELP? The contact info is below

Cobb County, Georgia Board of Commissioners’ contact info:

Chairman, Tim Lee
tlee@cobbcounty.org
100 Cherokee Street
Marietta, GA 30090-9679

770-528-3305
770-528-2606 fax

Helen Goreham
District 1 Commissioner

Contact Information:
hgoreham@cobbcounty.org

770-528-3313
770-528-2606 fax
Bob Ott
Vice Chairman
District 2 Commissioner

Contact Information:
bob.ott@cobbcounty.org

100 Cherokee Street
Marietta, GA 30090-9679

770-528-3316
770-528-2606 fax
JoAnn Birrell
District 3 Commissioner joann.birrell@cobbcounty.org
770-528-3317
770-528-2606 fax
Woody Thompson
District 4 Commissioner

Contact Information:
woody.thompson@cobbcounty.org

100 Cherokee Street
Marietta, GA 30090-9679

770-528-3312
770-528-2606 fax

County Manager
David Hankerson

dhankerson@cobbcounty.org

100 Cherokee Street
Marietta, GA 30090-9679

770-528-2600
770-528-2606 fax