Governor Deal #7 in Nation for Job Creation

A little good news first thing in the morning: the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that under Gov. Deal’s leadership, Georgia has added 177,500 new jobs, placing the Peach State seventh in the nation.

Yesterday, Gov. Deal announced the sale of $685 million in AAA-rated Georgia bonds at favorable rates.

The state received competitive bids Wednesday and secured rates of 3.33 percent for the 20 year tax-exempt bonds and 1.03 percent for the five year tax-exempt bonds, with a blended rate of 3.20 percent. The state also sold $163.22 million of five year and 20 year taxable bonds at a blended rate of 3.85 percent and $94.35 million of 20 year taxable Qualified School Construction Bonds at a rate of 4.02 percent. The federal government reimburses the state for the interest paid on the Qualified School Construction Bonds, which is a designation that was created in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act applicable to state bonds which are issued for K-12 school construction projects.

Olens issues Jekyll Island Opinion

Attorney General Sam Olens released his official opinion on a question by the Jekyll Island Authority about computing the land area of the island. This is important because development on Jekyll Island is limited to 35% of the land area, and an increase in the computed land area will make more island property available for development.

U.S. Senate Passes Immigration Bill, Isakson and Chambliss vote No

U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss made the following statements in response to the Senate passage of S.744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act. The bill passed by a vote of 68 to 32 with Isakson and Chambliss both voting No.

Senator Johnny Isakson “I believe that immigration reform is an important issue that our country must address—that’s why I voted to begin debate on this bill several weeks ago. Although this bill is in some ways an improvement from the immigration bill in 2007, I had hoped that the Senate would produce a bipartisan bill that truly solved the many issues plaguing our nation’s outdated immigration system.

“I have said for many years and from day one of this debate that border security is my top priority, and I am disappointed that S.744 does not ensure true border security. I voted against S.744 today because it contained several waivers and loopholes that could allow those who are here illegally to obtain green cards before our nation’s borders are truly secure.

“The Senate vote today is just the beginning of the process. I look forward to seeing what the House produces on immigration reform, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to fix our nation’s broken immigration system.”

Senator Saxby Chambliss “Legal immigration is the foundation of America. Almost every American can point to the moment when their ancestors came to America to forge a better life for themselves and their families. It is with this strong tradition of acceptance that we must look at immigration reform. Any immigration bill must first secure the borders, and then make the path for legal entry smoother. We had a real shot here to do this right. Unfortunately, this bill did not include the verifiable border security piece. Additionally, the agricultural program under this bill had some major flaws.”

“As someone from the heart of ag country in south Georgia, I care deeply about making sure our farmers and ranchers are able to access a stable and legal workforce when sufficient American workers cannot be found. I am disappointed and frustrated my amendments that would have fixed these problems were not considered. Unfortunately, in the end this was a bill I simply could not support.”

“I hope the House can fix some of the problems my colleagues and I have identified in this bill. We still have an opportunity to do this in the right way once and for all.”

Congressman Rob Woodall “Today, I have 180 open cases with constituents having problems navigating the current immigration process. These are folks trying to do it the right way. In the last year I have served 492 families with the same kinds of troubles. I know that real reform is needed for our broken immigration process, and I know that the details in that reform matter. Unfortunately, by tackling immigration reform in a mega bill and refusing to allow important amendments to improve the bill, the Senate is undermining the opportunity for real reform. Just as the Senate jammed through a flawed health care bill, and now years later America is still learning what is in it, the Senate is jamming America with a mega-immigration bill today.”

“I am proud of the House’s approach to immigration reform; focusing on bills individually to allow time for thoughtful debate and bipartisan input. By addressing one issue at a time and ensuring that every American has a voice in this critical process, we can ensure that the brightest minds and hardest workers from around the world are able to contribute to our nation’s success while preserving the values that make America so special. Enacting meaningful immigration reform and enforcing the rule of law are not mutually exclusive ideas, and I am committed to working with my colleagues in the House to strike a balance that will achieve both of those goals and make the American people proud.”

Congressman Phil Gingrey “I don’t want to see another Obamacare. We are already experiencing what happens when Congress passes a massive bill without knowing what’s in it, and today the Senate repeated that mistake. Illegal immigration is one of the most pressing issues facing our nation, but amnesty is not the solution. The Senate bill legalizes millions who have ‘jumped the line,’ cedes border enforcement to unaccountable bureaucrats, and does nothing to stem the tide of illegal immigration.”

Congressman Tom Graves announced his opposition to the Senate immigration bill via Twitter.

Brave New World: Georgia after Section Five of the Voting Rights Act

Atlanta lawyer Bryan Tyson, who has worked on elections law for a number of years, write for InsiderAdvantage.com about how Georgia will adapt to life after Section Five pre-clearance is no longer required. The full article is behind the paywall, but will be open to everyone beginning Monday.

After Shelby County v. Holder was decided, I was contacted by a county elections client who asked whether they could now change precinct locations without federal approval. I replied, yes, there’s no more preclearance of any local decision related to voting. The client then asked whether special elections and referendums also no longer needed approval.

It was then I realized—no one alive and running elections in Georgia today knows what it’s like to make an elections-related policy decision without approval by the federal government. For Georgia jurisdictions, it’s a significant revision to how a bill becomes a law. Before Shelby County, an action of a government related to elections—no matter how simple—wasn’t enforceable until Washington said it was. Now, it becomes a law when the local government decides it does.

Even in the politically-charged area of redistricting, significant changes are unlikely after the Supreme Court’s decision. While the formerly-covered jurisdictions no longer have to meet a magic number of majority-minority districts, they still have to draw districts compliant with the rest of the Voting Rights Act. In most jurisdictions, that means the majority-minority districts currently drawn must remain in place. The doctrine of one person, one vote also puts significant limitations on drawing plans.

 Karl Rove Points to Gwinnett County for Grim Election Math

Republican Party savior or pied piper to the left, Karl Rove does make some interesting points, using Gwinnett County as an example in the Wall Street Journal.

The reality is that the nonwhite share of the vote will keep growing. As the American Enterprise Institute’s Henry Olsen pointed out in a recent speech, the nonwhite vote as a share of total voters has increased in every presidential election since 1996 by 2% (much of it Hispanic) while the share of the white vote has dropped by 2% each election.

If the GOP leaves nonwhite voters to the Democrats, then its margins in safe congressional districts and red states will dwindle—not overnight, but over years and decades.

For example, the Hispanic population in Georgia’s Gwinnett County increased by 153% from 2000 to 2010 while the GOP’s presidential vote in the county dropped to 54% in 2012 from 63.7% in 2000. In Henry County, south of Atlanta, the Hispanic population increased by 339% over the same decade. The GOP’s presidential vote dropped to 51.2% in 2012 from 66.4% in 2000. Republicans ignore changes like these at their peril.

Immigration reform is a top issue for Latinos as it is being debated in Washington, according to a March Latino Decisions poll. But their other major concerns—the economy and jobs, and education reform—are the same as the rest of America.

Nor will support for immigration reform solve all of the GOP’s challenges in appealing to Hispanic voters. Republicans also need compelling messages on jobs, economic growth, social mobility and education. They also must show up. GOP pollster Jan van Lohuizen’s focus groups found a major Latino complaint is that they never see Republicans in their communities to make the GOP’s case.

Rarely does a political party overcome its challenges by improving just one thing. Republicans must now do two things: turn out more white voters and improve their performance among Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans.

Attracting Hispanic Voters begins with not repelling them

At a recent event an Hispanic elected official said “polling has shown that among Hispanic voters, immigration is not the top issue, and sometimes it’s not even a top five issue, but many Hispanics will use what you say about immigration to determine whether they want to hear what you have to say about their top issues.” Can that be true?

A Gallup poll almost exactly a year ago showed that “immigration policies” ranked fifth most important (12%) of six issues among Hispanic registered voters in the U.S., coming in behind healthcare (21%), unemployment (19%), economic growth (17%), and the gap between the rich and poor (16%).

Of course, polling is time-sensitive, and what may have been the case a year ago is not necessarily true today. A Latino Decisions poll released this month showed immigration the top issue among Latino respondents (55%), followed by the economy (35%). This almost perfectly flips the numbers from the same company’s November 2012 Exit Poll, which found the economy the top issue (53%) with immigration second (35%).

Going a little deeper into the polling results, we find this gap between the two parties in Congress: among the Latino respondents, 68% had a positive opinion of Democrats in Congress while only 33% had a favorable opinion of Congressional Republicans. This might reflect the old story of American voters hating Congress but loving their own Member of Congress, if Latinos are more heavily concentrated in Democratic Congressional Districts.

Job approval ratings are similarly split with 65/25 approve/disapprove for Congressional Democrats and 26/59 for Republicans in Washington. A generic ballot test for 2014 asking if voters are likely to choose the Democrat or Republican for Congress shows a 4:1 advantage for Democratic candidates.

But here’s the real money question on immigration reform for Republicans:

Would you be more or less likely to vote for a Republican candidate in the future if Republicans take a leadership role in passing comprehensive immigration reform including a pathway to citizenship, or would it have no impact on your vote?

To which 45% of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for a Republican candidate for Congress under those circumstances.

Immigration is also a top issue covered by the Hispanic media in the United States.

The candidates’ ability to work effectively with the Hispanic media, which tends to take an advocacy approach to news reporting of Hispanic issues such as immigration, will be critical.

“The Hispanic media is more aggressive in getting at the heart of the issue than mainstream media,” said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the non-partisan Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO).

Among all the U.S Hispanic media, Univision, which maintains a declared pro-immigration stand, is the largest and most trusted news outlet.  It competes with the three major English-language broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) and in 2011 was the only network among the top five to see an increase in audience (6 percent), according to a PEW report on Hispanic media.

Given the openaly-activist stance of some Hispanic news outlets in the United States, Republicans ought to be seeking and cultivating Hispanic Republicans who are available to speak to Spanish-language media, especially in areas like Georgia where Spanish-speaking media is highly visible. Then we ought to train them to be media-savvy and in communicating the positive Republican message of jobs and economic growth.

Ends & Pieces

Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson will not seek higher office in 2014, according to a story in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Elections for the Macon-Bibb County consolidated government, delayed by the United States Department of Justice under the now-moot pre-clearance procedure of the Voting Rights Act, have been tentatively scheduled for November 5, 2013.

A Special Election to fill a seat vacated by the death of Thomaston City Council member Coach Rhodes will be held September 17, 2013.

HOT lane rates hit a new record of $7.00 on Thursday morning for Gwinnett commuters.

Kennesaw City Council appointed Matthew Riedemann to an open seat until the Nov. 5 election; in doing so, they rejected the application of Suzanne Thrash to serve out the term of her late husband.

The story of Byron “Low Tax” Looper may not have finished with his death in prison, as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been asked to investigate.

State Senator Buddy Carter, who is running for Congress in the First District, writes in the Newnan Times-Herald about the need to protect the ballot in Georgia.

In 2009, Georgia passed SB 86, requiring proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration. Under this bill, voter registration applications that are not signed in the presence of the county registrar or deputy registrar must be accompanied by satisfactory evidence of U.S. citizenship such as a Georgia driver’s license, a copy of a birth certificate, a U.S. passport, or several other acceptable identifications.

SB 86 only applies to those persons registering to vote after Dec. 31, 2009, and stipulates that proof of voter registration from another state does not constitute satisfactory evidence of citizenship.

Although SB 86 was passed in 2009, it has never been enforced because Georgia has not been given access to a federal immigration database it could use to confirm the U.S. citizenship of those seeking to vote.

In response to last week’s ruling, a number of federal legislators have introduced amendments to allow states to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

While it is important to note what last week’s ruling by the Supreme Court said, it is also important to note what it didn’t say. It didn’t say that non-citizens should be on voter rolls and it didn’t say that a proof of citizenship requirement is an undue burden on citizens who want to register to vote.

Last week’s Supreme Court decision was about the federal voter registration form and who has the authority to make changes to the form.

This battle is far from over.