September 15, 2016
via email. 1 of 2

Re; citizen complaint, City of Atlanta violation of OCGA 50-36-1 and 36-60-6

Dear Attorney General Olens,

The City of Atlanta has admitted that it cannot produce and does not possess affidavits (and other documents) which are required to be collected when renewing business licenses for the Coca Cola Co. and the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials Inc., both of which are licensed to do business in Atlanta and have renewed business licenses each year since applicable laws went into effect.

Using Georgia’s Open Records Act I have requested copies of the required affidavits from the City of Atlanta and eventually (well beyond the three-day time period) received a response that did not include most of the requested documents. I can see an internal note on one of the documents that indicates the City of Atlanta is aware of the missing affidavits.

Included in my request were the SAVE (relative to GALEO) and E-Verify (Coca Cola & GALEO) affidavits for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 mandated in OCGA 50-36-1 and 36-60-6. I am including my request and the entire City of Atlanta response for your education and possible investigation.

Please note, I have also asked for copies of the above documents for “the Georgia Power Co.” but have not received any mention of that entity in Atlanta’s response. That may be because I was incorrect in the proper/business name of a well-known Georgia energy corporation that is doing business in Atlanta. I hope that can be cleared up in any investigation.

* If this initial request for action is directed to your office in error, please direct me to the proper authority.

* OCGA 36-60-6
“(j) The Attorney General shall be authorized to conduct an investigation and bring any criminal or civil action he or she deems necessary to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Code section. The Attorney General shall provide an employer who is found to have committed a good faith violation of this Code section 30 days to demonstrate to the Attorney General that such employer has come into compliance with this Code section. During the course of any investigation of violations of this Code section, the Attorney General shall also investigate potential violations of Code Section 16-9-121.1 by employees that may have led to violations of this Code section.”

* OCGA 50-36-1
“(p) The Attorney General shall have the authority to conduct a criminal and civil investigation of an alleged violation of this chapter by an agency or agency head and to bring a prosecution or civil action against an agency or agency head for all cases of violations under this chapter. In the event that an order is entered against an employer, the state shall be awarded attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation incurred in bringing such an action and investigating such violation.”

I am also forwarding my electronic request and the response from the City of Atlanta in an email to follow marked ‘2/2.’

I look forward to a response from your office.

Respectfully,

D.A. King
Marietta, Ga.

Georgia state Rep Jeff Jones

Insider Advantage Georgia

Rep. Jeff Jones to introduce genius revenue bill – tax-free

D.A.King

Kudos to Brunswick’s Representative Jeff Jones for his coming bill to help strengthen the Georgia budget and increase the funds available for services to hardworking Georgians!

Jones is putting the finishing touches on proven-effective, well thought-out, commonsense legislation that will likely add around $30-$40 million a year to the state coffers – without a dime of a tax increase.

Rep. Jones has found a way to tap into the enormous amount of money that is sent out of Georgia every year without going anywhere near the Georgia economy – and the best news is that the majority of that money comes from drug dealers and illegal aliens!

What is it? A small, 100% refundable fee on funds wired out of Georgia, that taxpayers can easily recoup on their state tax returns. In simple terms, it goes like this: Let’s say you wire $1000.00 to Aunt Martha in South Carolina to help with her upcoming surgery. When you send the helpful payment out, the wire service would add on a small extra fee (around 2%) – which you would get back when you file your tax return or a simple, short form explaining that you are not required to file a return because of low income.

The refundable fee would only be withheld for individuals, not for corporations.

The same fee would be added to the money that illegal drug dealers and victims of borders send out of Georgia. The government of Mexico alone received about $25 billion American dollars last year mostly from its citizens living here in the good old USA. That is reportedly more money than Mexico made on oil revenues. Georgia has more illegal aliens than Arizona. We don’t have figures on how many American dollars are sent out of Georgia by drug dealers, but Atlanta is a known terminus for that insidious organized crime.

The income for the state in this genius plan comes from the fact that the huge majority of illegal aliens and drug dealers do not file a tax return. Get it?

How do we know Mr. Jones brilliant idea will work? Because the same tax-free revenue source has brought millions into the state of Oklahoma since they began this system six years ago. Oklahoma tax officials say that 96 percent of the wire transfer fees are not used as income tax credits — so the great bulk of the funds are additional revenues to the state, all from people who do not pay their duly owed state income taxes.

In the bill language, all of the wire transfer agencies would end up cost-neutral or with a small profit in the refundable fee collection process. It won’t cost them anything either.

With far fewer illegals and drug dealers than Georgia, page 12 of the Annual Report of the Oklahoma Tax Commission shows receipts of $11,322,559 from this source in 2015. That’s an increase of 7.8 percent from the prior year, which was, in turn, a 7 percent increase from the year before. Get it?

Hooray for Rep. Jeff Jones!

Ms. Snyder: csnyder@atlantahistorycenter.com

Your poster is about as misleading as a document can be. Immigration policy as dealt with by HB 87 is not related to racial policy. It is simple economics. Every illegal immigrant costs taxpayers such as myself significant dollars and diverts resources from otherwise improving education and service for our citizens.

If anything, preventing illegal immigration and the hiring of illegal immigrants will do much to help persons at the bottom of the economic scale – regardless of race or ethnicity – by raising their wages and reducing unemployment. I am shocked that the Atlanta History Center has chosen to display such a biased and inflammatory poster. That poster does nothing to further equality or race relations.
Please remove this offensive poster from your exhibit.
Thank you.

George Nathan
Atlanta, GA 30328

September 15, 2016
via email. 1 of 2

Re; citizen complaint, City of Atlanta violation of OCGA 50-36-1 and 36-60-6

Dear Attorney General Olens,

The City of Atlanta has admitted that it cannot produce and does not possess affidavits (and other documents) which are required to be collected when renewing business licenses for the Coca Cola Co. and the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials Inc., both of which are licensed to do business in Atlanta and have renewed business licenses each year since applicable laws went into effect.

Using Georgia’s Open Records Act I have requested copies of the required affidavits from the City of Atlanta and eventually (well beyond the three-day time period) received a response that did not include most of the requested documents. I can see an internal note on one of the documents that indicates the City of Atlanta is aware of the missing affidavits.

Included in my request were the SAVE (relative to GALEO) and E-Verify (Coca Cola & GALEO) affidavits for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 mandated in OCGA 50-36-1 and 36-60-6. I am including my request and the entire City of Atlanta response for your education and possible investigation. Please note, I have also asked for copies of the above documents for “the Georgia Power Co.” but have not received any mention of that entity in Atlanta’s response. That may be because I was incorrect in the proper/business name of a well-known Georgia energy corporation that is doing business in Atlanta. I hope that can be cleared up in any investigation.

* If this initial request for action is directed to your office in error, please direct me to the proper authority.

* OCGA 36-60-6
“(j) The Attorney General shall be authorized to conduct an investigation and bring any criminal or civil action he or she deems necessary to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Code section. The Attorney General shall provide an employer who is found to have committed a good faith violation of this Code section 30 days to demonstrate to the Attorney General that such employer has come into compliance with this Code section. During the course of any investigation of violations of this Code section, the Attorney General shall also investigate potential violations of Code Section 16-9-121.1 by employees that may have led to violations of this Code section.”

* OCGA 50-36-1
“(p) The Attorney General shall have the authority to conduct a criminal and civil investigation of an alleged violation of this chapter by an agency or agency head and to bring a prosecution or civil action against an agency or agency head for all cases of violations under this chapter. In the event that an order is entered against an employer, the state shall be awarded attorney’s fees and expenses of litigation incurred in bringing such an action and investigating such violation.”

I am also forwarding my electronic request and the response from the City of Atlanta in an email to follow marked ‘2/2.’

I look forward to a response from your office.

Respectfully,

D.A. King
Marietta, Ga.
__

2/2
Begin forwarded message:

From: DOFBusinessOffice
Subject: RE: Open records request –
Date: September 12, 2016 at 4:27:44 PM EDT
To: “D.A. KING”
Cc: “Clerk, Municipal” , DOFBusinessOffice

Greetings Mr. King,

We are in receipt of the Open Records Request you sent on Tuesday, September 6, 2016.

In your request, you asked for the following:

Documents for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 as filed by the Coca Cola Company, the Georgia Power Company and the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, Inc.
* Notarized E-Verify Affidavit
* Notarized SAVE Affidavit
* Copy of government issued ID filed by applicant
* Business license issued for each of the above entities

Attached please find the documents we have that are responsive to your request.

Thanks,
DOF Business Office Team

Department of Finance | Business Office
City of Atlanta | City Hall Tower | Office of the Chief Financial Officer
68 Mitchell Street SW, Suite 11100 | Atlanta, GA 30303
p: 404.330.6430 | e: dofbusinessoffice@atlantaga.gov | w: www.atlantaga.gov

image001.jpg

From: D.A. KING [mailto:DKing1952@comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2016 10:51 AM
To: DOFBusinessOffice
Subject: Open records request –

Sent to City of Atlanta,

Department of Finance | Business Office
City of Atlanta | City Hall Tower | Office of the Chief Financial Officer
68 Mitchell Street SW, Suite 11100 | Atlanta, GA 30303
p: 404.330.6430 | e: dofbusinessoffice@atlantaga.gov | w: www.atlantaga.gov

To whom it may concern,

Please consider this email my official request for public records as designated under Georgia’s Open Records Act.

Please send me copies of the following documents for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 as filed by the Coca Cola Company, the Georgia Power Company and the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials Inc.

* Notarized E-Verify Affidavit

* Notarized SAVE Affidavit

* Copy of government issued ID filed by applicant

* Business license issued for each of the above entities.

I am happy to pay any lawfully accessed copy fees, but would prefer an electronic response.

Please contact me with any questions. I look forward to your timely reply.

Thank you,

D.A. King

Marietta, Ga. 30066

open-records-request_da-king

Attachment to complaint of September 19, 2016

It has come to my attention that the City of Atlanta has been issuing/renewing business licenses to a substantial, but unknown, number of entities without collecting the SAVE affidavits required by OCGA 50-36-1 since 2012. Earlier this month the City of Atlanta replied to my open records request (well beyond the lawful three-day time period) in which I asked, in part, for copies of these affidavits from the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), which has its business office in Atlanta. I am assuming that GALEO has renewed their business license.

The City of Atlanta was unable to produce these copies for the years 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Please note: I am not sure if the renewal period is over yet for 2016.

In a follow-up request, I am also seeking the same records from the year 2012.

In a response (marked “A”) to my August complaint to the IERB, the City of Atlanta has made it clear that they have knowingly and intentionally made a practice of non-compliance with OCGA 50-36-1 for non-profit corporations since this law went into effect in 2012. GALEO is a non-profit corporation.

The reasoning from the City of Atlanta seems to be that since it is waiving the business license fee for a particular applicant, that it is somehow excused from collecting the SAVE affidavit which is designed to help safeguard public benefits from being administered to illegal aliens and others who are not eligible.

There is no exception for non-profit applicants for public benefits in the language of OCGA 50-36-1.

The City of Atlanta appears to have invented and implemented its own version of state law while acting in clear violation of actual state law over which the IERB has clear enforcement and sanction power.

The City of Atlanta has already provided documents ( marked “B”) that show it is issuing/renewing business licenses for a non-profit applicant (Atlanta History Center) each year – see attached.

These facts indicate that there are a large number of applications for business licenses that have been illegally processed by the City of Atlanta since 2012. It is my intent to quantify that process and learn exactly how many violations have occurred.

I am of the respectful opinion that the IERB can accomplish this task much easier and with much less drain on time and resources than my own efforts by using its authority to gain access to the number of the City of Atlanta’s business licenses that have been renewed for the non-profit entities without collection of a SAVE affidavit as required by law.

Example: If I understand them, the records I have obtained from the Department of Audits and Accounts show that the City of Atlanta issued or renewed around 18,000 business licenses in the year 2015.

These records do not include the Atlanta History Center or GALEO – which are both non-profits.

I respectfully submit that using the information supplied by the City of Atlanta on its policy, the IERB can easily subpoena records from the City of Atlanta that show the number of non-profit applicants for business license renewal that were business license holders before OCGA 50-36-1 became law (not included in that list) for each year since 2012 to learn the scope of the violations.

I respectfully urge the IERB to use its authority to call a hearing on this matter and to impose the sanctions that will prevent or stop other public agencies from fearless violation of law that was carefully vetted by the General Assembly and signed into law by the governor in an effort to safeguard public benefits in Georgia.

According to OCGA 50-36-1 (f) “…an agency or political subdivision providing or administering a public benefit shall require every applicant for such benefit to:

(A) Provide at least one secure and verifiable document, as defined in Code Section 50-36-2, or a copy or facsimile of such document. Any document required by this subparagraph may be submitted by or on behalf of the applicant at any time within nine months prior to the date of application so long as the document remains valid through the licensing or approval period or such other period for which the applicant is applying to receive a public benefit; and

(B) Execute a signed and sworn affidavit verifying the applicant’s lawful presence in the United States under federal immigration law; provided, however, that if the applicant is younger than 18 years of age at the time of the application, he or she shall execute the affidavit required by this subparagraph within 30 days after his or her eighteenth birthday. Such affidavit shall affirm that:

(i) The applicant is a United States citizen or legal permanent resident 18 years of age or older; or

(ii) The applicant is a qualified alien or nonimmigrant under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, Title 8 U.S.C., 18 years of age or older lawfully present in the United States and provide the applicant’s alien number issued by the Department of Homeland Security or other federal immigration agency.

“…the intentional and knowing failure of any agency head to abide by the provisions of this chapter shall:

(1) Be a violation of the code of ethics for government service established in Code Section 45-10-1 and subject such agency head to the penalties provided for in Code Section 45-10-28, including removal from office and a fine not to exceed $10,000.00; and

(2) Be a high and aggravated misdemeanor offense where such agency head acts to willfully violate the provisions of this Code section or acts so as to intentionally and deliberately interfere with the implementation of the requirements of this Code section.

Please contact me with any questions. I look forward to your reply.

I am attaching all the documents from the City of Atlanta referred to above.

D.A. King

IERB Attachment to complaint of 18 August, 2016 – City of Atlanta

I have reason to believe that the city of Atlanta is and has been in violation of OCGA 50-36-1 since 2013 by not verifying eligibility for the issuance and renewal of business licenses, which are public benefits in Georgia.

On July 25, 2016 I made a lawful request for public records from the City of Atlanta’s business license department for multiple affidavits from an Atlanta-operated business that are required to be collected before a business license is issued. The business entity in question is the Atlanta Historical Society, which operates the Atlanta History Center.

My request was for copies of the E-Verify and SAVE affidavits pertaining to Atlanta Historical Society business license renewal applications for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 as well as other documents required by state law. Please see my original request via email and some of the various responses from the City of Atlanta representatives attached.

The SAVE affidavit requirement falls under the authority of the IERB as it is mandated in OCGA 50-36-1.

(5) “SAVE program” means the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security or a successor program designated by the United States Department of Homeland Security for the same purpose.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this Code section or where exempted by federal law, every agency or political subdivision shall verify the lawful presence in the United States under federal immigration law of any applicant for public benefits.

As of today’s date, I have not received any of the requested copies of the documents in question, including the notarized SAVE affidavit. I suspect that the reason Atlanta officials have not forwarded the requested copies to me is that the original documents which are required by law do not exist.

To be clear: My complaint does not involve public records laws but only the requirement that all agencies that administer public benefits collect the SAVE affidavit before processing applications for or issuing such benefits, including business licenses.

Being that Atlanta city officials refuse to comply with my open records request, perhaps the IERB will consider use of its subpoena power to discover the existence – or absence – of the requested SAVE affidavit.

Because of past experience with the IERB, I feel obligated to add that I have little expectation of enthusiastic or effective oversight, investigation or meaningful sanctions if my suspicions of violation of state law were ever proven valid.

D.A. King – citizen
Marietta, Ga.
404-316-6712

Sent to City of Atlanta, Information Management (via email)

25 July, 2016

To whom it may concern,

Please consider this email my official request for public records as designated under Georgia’s Open Records Act.

Please send me copies of the following documents for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 as filed by the Atlanta Historical Society
* Notarized E-Verify Affidavit

* Notarized SAVE Affidavit

* Copy of government issued ID filed by applicant

* Business license issued for Atlanta Historical Society

I am happy to pay any lawfully accessed copy fees, but would prefer an electronic response.

Please contact me with any questions. I look forward to your timely reply.

Thank you,

D.A. King
2984 Lowe Trail
Marietta, Ga. 30066
404-316-6712
__
Greetings,

We are in receipt of your email and evaluating your request. We will follow-up with you regarding our findings by Friday, August 11, 2016.

Thanks,

Lolita R. Ferrell, MBA | Management Analyst
City of Atlanta | Department of Finance | Office of the CFO
68 Mitchell Street SW, Suite 11100 | Atlanta, GA 30303
t: 404.330.6901 | m: 404.323.6273 | f: 404.589.2782
e: lrferrell@atlantaga.gov | w: www.atlantaga.gov
__

On Aug 12, 2016, at 1:34 PM, DOFBusinessOffice wrote:

Greetings,

Attached you will find the final response to your Open Records Request.

Thanks,
DOF Business Office Team

Department of Finance | Business Office
City of Atlanta | City Hall Tower | Office of the Chief Financial Officer
68 Mitchell Street SW, Suite 11100 | Atlanta, GA 30303
p: 404.330.6430 | e: dofbusinessoffice@atlantaga.gov | w: www.atlantaga.gov

From: D.A. KING [mailto:Dking1952@comcast.net] 
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2016 2:50 PM
To: DOFBusinessOffice
Cc: Phil Kent
Subject: Re: Open Records request

Ms. Ferrell,

Thank you for a response. However, this reply in no way matches the lawful open records request I made On July 25.
I am now working on the assumption that because you have not forwarded copies of the documents I have requested, they do not exist.

If the City of Atlanta has indeed issued and renewed a business license for the Atlanta Historical Society without soliciting and receiving the affidavits I requested, there is a serious violation of state law ( OCGA 50-36-1, OCGA 50-36-2 as examples) to be addressed in addition to the fact that the open records request saw no action in the three-day period clearly required by separate state law.

D.A. King

Cc;
Mr. Phil Kent, Publisher, Insider Advantage Georgia
Member, Georgia Immigration Enforcement Review Board