Marietta Daily Journal
February 19, 2013

D.A. King
Columnist

Opposition to IMAGE offers lessons on commissioners

“Sec 2-143. Contractors, protecting jobs for eligible workers, bidding requirements and reducing unemployment.”— Official caption outlining the purpose of Cobb’s pending IMAGE-for-contractors’ ordinance.

The three Cobb Commissioners saying “no” to the Cobb IMAGE ordinance should all be thanked for showing us their true character and integrity level.

As a candidate last summer, Chairman Tim Lee made a very large deal of publicly signing an agreement with ICE to start the process of the county becoming IMAGE certified.

“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,” Lee said after signing the IMAGE application.

Candidate Lee promised, in writing, that “it is our intention to bring forward an addition to the county code this January that will require those doing business with Cobb to also enroll in the IMAGE program. This process will require several public meetings in January and your support on this important addition to the county code would be appreciated.”

Lesson: Tim Lee’s word has little worth. And he is willing to prove it.

Most people, including this writer, took a wait-and-see attitude with newly elected Democrat Commissioner Lisa Cupid on the job-protection ordinance. The obvious question was, “Will she vote to protect the unemployed, poor and working poor who are the first hit by the ravages of illegal immigration?” Or would we see the identity politics and the “group-think” for which the left is so infamous?

Cupid removed all doubt with her recent remarks in this newspaper that the people who had been caught working illegally on the Cobb Courthouse construction multiple times were really no big deal. Most Georgians are outraged to learn of even one American losing a job to identity theft and illegal hiring. Not Cupid. It was pointed out to her that the first Americans affected by illegal immigration were black Americans and native born Hispanics, Her response? “Cry me a river.”

Lesson: Cupid’s reaction would likely be quite different if the illegal aliens who are lowering wages and stealing jobs were English-speaking, potential conservative voters coming from Manitoba.

Which brings us to Commissioner Helen Goreham. Bless her heart.

Just last month Goreham supported having contractors “and subcontractors” who do business with the county become IMAGE certified “because it ensures that official citizens of the U.S. are afforded job opportunities that might otherwise go to illegal immigrants, and in today’s economy it’s very important that our citizens are gainfully employed,” she said. This was before the Cobb Chamber of Commerce spokesman said they had no position on protecting jobs with use of IMAGE. Good one, ehh?

Goreham’s sadly hilarious guest column in Sunday’s MDJ to “set the record straight” and grace us with her expert insight on what we have all been missing on E-Verify and IMAGE should be its own lesson on Helen Goreham.

We don’t have the space here to fully cover all the nonsense inaccuracies in Goreham’s little “I need cover” missive, but this one shines: According to Goreham “the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) introduced the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986.” Umm … no. The 1986 amnesty legislation was sponsored by then U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson and U.S. Rep. Romano Mazzoli. ICE was not formed until 2002.

It gets worse.

Someone should sit Goreham down and try hard to explain — again — that IMAGE certification involves mandated use of E-Verify. And that E-Verify is only used on new hires going forward. And that E-Verify can be fooled by fake and stolen ID. And that identity theft is one of the fastest growing and serious crimes in the nation. Goreham says verifying ID documents is somehow a presumption of guilt. What?

Someone needs to try — again — to make Goreham grasp that IMAGE I-9 audits expose the use of ID fraud at hiring for all employees and that IMAGE is the ultimate tool to stop illegal employment. Someone needs to tell Goreham that her YES vote to raise taxes in Cobb, but her refusal to protect tax dollars on public jobs, is very unproductive at re-election time.

We think her district voters will form a task force to evaluate the situation and take a practical course of action very soon. And, on behalf of American workers everywhere, we desperately want to help.

D.A. King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal – Opposition to IMAGE offers lessons on commissioners