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Marietta Daily Journal
Opinion

D.A. King

August 5, 2016

D.A. KING: Transparency policy should result in a legal contractor work force

Hearty and sincere congratulations to retired U.S. Marine Colonel Mike Boyce on his decisive election victory over Tim Lee to become Cobb’s next chairman. It was a well-deserved win — and a well-deserved loss.

Col. Boyce and his corps of volunteers not only overcame an entrenched establishment incumbent and bully tactics, they beat the deep pockets of the business lobby and other unelected special interests who have far too much authority in government. Take it from a reluctant, longtime denizen of the Gold Dome: In 21st century Georgia, this happy outcome is the exception rather than the rule.

With his platform of transparency in governance, budgeting and county services, we are confident that incoming Chairman Boyce will ignore the Chamber of Commerce crowd on one of the most pressing issues in the county, the state and in the nation, illegal immigration, which is a direct result of the crime of illegal employment.

We do confess disappointment that the topic was not part of the debate during the campaign, as Cobb ranks No. 4 in its population of “undocumented workers” among Georgia counties. Georgia has more illegal aliens than Arizona.

Readers with memories that go back to 2012 may remember the flip-flop from Tim Lee on his use of an available tool used to insure taxpayers are not paying contractors who employ black-market labor. At issue was the no-cost federal program called ‘ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers’ program (IMAGE).

Created in 2006, the IMAGE program provides an employer certification process that roots out the past use of fraudulent ID in job applications and makes it extremely difficult for employers to claim they had no way of knowing they are using illegal labor, while they assist in the battle against ID theft.

Readers may also remember the well-covered scandal when illegal aliens were discovered working on construction of the Cobb County Courthouse on multiple occasions.

As an employer, Cobb County applied for certification in the IMAGE program thanks to a resolution introduced by Commissioner Bob Ott in 2010.

After the county was formally awarded a certificate of IMAGE certification by federal ICE agents in 2012, Ott offered a commonsense explanation to a TV news reporter. “When the county built the new courthouse, some issues came up … the E-Verify system didn’t catch all the loop holes. So, we had some folks that were not legal, who got the jobs. The long-term goal would be requiring everyone the county does business with to be IMAGE certified,” Ott said.

Still in a primary race at the time, Lee also had some remarks for the press on the wisdom of use of IMAGE certification that evening. “The IMAGE agreement will help prevent possible terror attacks and protect employees against discrimination based on citizenship or national origin … Cobb County takes its responsibility very seriously to make sure that everything possibly that could be done is being done to make sure that our laws are being followed in our county and to make sure that there is an opportunity to equal employment for those who deserve it,” Lee told this newspaper then.

Apparently, the IMAGE program and safeguarding taxpayer-funded jobs and ID theft prevention somehow lost its luster after Chairman Lee won the 2012 primary.

After Commissioner Ott and Commissioner JoAnn Birrell sponsored a second ordinance that would require county contractors to at least apply for IMAGE certification, Lee flipped from support to opposition.

“As I dug deeper into the program and the circumstances surrounding it, I felt that it raised a concern on my part as to whether or not it was right for local government to require a voluntary federal program onto businesses,” Lee said. “That was my first concern. So I re-evaluated it and came to the conclusion that it may not be the best solution. We need to meet the objective of making certain that our tax dollars are not being utilized for illegal aliens.”

It’s anybody’s guess how many illegal aliens are working on the new Braves stadium construction at this very moment.

Along with the support of Sheriff Neil Warren and District Attorney Vic Reynolds, the ordinance to require contractors to apply for IMAGE certification was endorsed by this newspaper at the time.

With his transparency promises, the installation of Col. Boyce as Chairman should result in renewed and successful interest in the board’s responsibility to protect Cobb’s tax dollars from going to illegal labor.

Congrats again to Col. Boyce!

D.A. King is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society. He assisted in the creation of the contractor IMAGE-for-county contractors ordinance in 2012.

Original commentary HERE (paywall)