Yet another letter to Georgia’s U.S. Senators forwarded to us in opposition to further consideration of GALEO’s Dax Lopez for federal judge. We post U.S. Immigration Service Senior Agent (Retired) Robert Trent’s letter below.

A copy went to both of Georgia’s U.S. Senators.

Sheriff Warren’s letters went to both senators.

You can see both letters HERE.

The audio linked below is from the Cobb County Republican Party breakfast this morning. 2:25 minutes.

CONTACT INFO Georgia’s Senators in Washington D.C.

CONTACT GA SENATORS

* U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson 

ATLANTA OFFICE

One Overton Park

3625 Cumberland Blvd, Suite 970

Atlanta, GA 30339

Tel: (770) 661-099

WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE

Tel: (202) 224-3643

* U.S. Senator David Perdue

WASHINGTON, D.C. OFFICE

Phone: (202) 224-3521

 

ATLANTA, GEORGIA

191 PEACHTREE STREET NE

Suite 3250
Atlanta, GA 30303

Phone: 404-865-0087

I passed out 100 of these flyers this AM. Feel free to do the same. Printable flyer HERE.

AUDIO HERE

UPDATE, January 13, 2016 at 11:20 

Re; the AJC’s Political Insider blog

Greg Williams’ post below has now become a topic on the AJC’s widely-read Political Insider blog. GALEO’s executive director and major-league, race-baiting hate monger, Jerry Gonzalez, has been allowed to create a distraction conversation on the battle over Lopez’s nomination to federal court with a whole-cloth-lie Twitter post accusing me (DAK) of having done an an “anti-sementic post.” It is clear that the Lopez advancement to committee hearing is in trouble and this is what happens when hater liberals like Angry Jerry start losing.

We hope you read William’s post carefully and decide for yourself if writing that he “respects other’s right of religious determination” while professing his own faith is “anti-sementic.” I don’t. We hope you will give consideration to the same on granting Greg’s request for a forum on which to express his objections to Dax Lopez becoming a federal judge.

For the record, I didn’t have any idea and have never given any thought to Lopez’s religious beliefs until I read Galloway’s September 2015 profile of Lopez in which he wrote “Wait — didn’t I mention that Dax Lopez is both Latino and Jewish?”

This was long after our on-going campaign to find a suitable, pro-enforcement federal judge nominee began and was covered, but, does Lopez’s ethnicity and his religion somehow qualify him for federal judge?

On today’s Daily Jolt, Galloway wags a finger at Williams – and from his wording, perhaps everyone who opposes Lopez for federal judge – with “Some opponents of Dax Lopez’ nomination to a U.S. District judgeship are straying close to a line that ought not be crossed.” Presumably because of Greg Williams’ remarks on my website.

The Political Insider goes on to inflame what for most people is a non-event with “All of this to say that opponents of his nomination to the federal bench have heretofore focused on Lopez’ association with the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. Now they are drifting into an area that threatens to strip them of all credibility.”

Would that be Williams even obliquely referring to Lopez’s faith? Like Galloway did?

Tempest, meet tea pot. For the record (again): My own vehement objection to Dax Lopez is based solely on his obvious bad judgement in getting involved and supporting the agenda of the leftist GALEO Inc. that was formed by Sam Zamarripa and handed off to the despicable smear artist Jerry Gonzalez. GALEO is against enforcement of our immigration laws and more. Lopez sees no problem agreeing and helping that mission.

In the very educated opinion of this pro-enforcement American, Jerry Gonzalez is an unhinged slime-ball looking for traction on a way to direct the discussion away from Obama’s nomination of Dax Lopez for federal judge with the usual goop. We are surprised anybody went for it. Welcome to the inside of 21st century “politics.”

We are grateful for Galloway sharing the education on the letter Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren sent to Senator Isakson yesterday.

Posting this update and typing “Hate-group” Jerry-Gonzalez’s name has taken me 30 minutes that I will never get back, and has created the feeling that I need another shower…

Not because I feel the need to indulge anyone concerned, but to illustrate the vile absurdity of the smear from Jerry Gonzalez, I post the e-mail sent from here to Williams when I figured out what Angry Jerry was reaching for in his Twitter smear last night.

HEADS UP

Greg,

It took me awhile to figure out what this crazy POS meant, but I am now assuming he means your OPED on the DIS site from the other day.

My grandfather was Jewish. I am a Christian. I have no concern about anyone’s religion. I only send this to you as a heads up. It never occurred to me that they would try this with your OPED…

These people will stop at nothing and will smear anyone who gets in their way.

dak

***

We are happy to post the below commentary from the well-known Georgia Young Republican and radio personality, Greg Williams. The added educational links are all ours.

The Obama Judicial appointment legacy includes two lifetime appointments of left leaning Supreme Court Justices ( Kagan and Sotomayor ). On the Attorney General specturm, former AG Eric ( Fast & Furious ) Holder and his AG successor Loretta “We gonna track your use of the 1st Amendment” Lynch have shown a propensity for biased and selective prosecutions focused on political vendettas while simultaneously stonewalling GOP efforts to investigate the Executive Branch and its myriad scandals. Based on this sordid Judicial history, it confounds me why anyone would knowingly contribute to the Obama legacy through support of his Federal Judge appointments.

“I question the strategy and logic from anyone with a vested interest in Georgia of approving an Obama appointed Federal Judge with a lifetime term during Obama’s last year. President Obama has demonstrated his lack of respect for the Constution and activist zeal with several missives, recently conveying legal status to 5 million illegal aliens, an Executive Order successfully challenged in Court. This specific Obama Judicial nominee, Judge Dax Lopez, has a palpable lack of experience on the bench and dubious activist alliances.

Of secondary concern, Judge Lopez experienced an undoubtedly transforming religious epiphany during his conversion to Judaism…I can’t claim any expertise in that arena as I’ve never questioned the role of the Lord Jesus Christ in my life but I do respect the right of others in their personal religious self-determination. Dax Lopez has already exhibited a propensity to reinvent oneself via religious convesion and I believe the populace is owed more data before assessing qualifications and competence. While there are nuanced questions about his role advocating for activist organizations, I will leave that for others to debate.

If Dax is truly qualified for federal judgeship, then I’m sure the next POTUS will articulate and explain the nomination and assuage the current negative sentiment against this lifetime appointment.”

Greg Williams

Atlanta

Atlanta Journal Constitution

December 24, 2015

Daniel Malloy

Georgia Latino’s court nomination appears in peril over immigration

Five months after President Barack Obama picked Dax Lopez to be Georgia’s first lifetime-appointed Latino federal judge, his nomination is on the ropes because of the thorny politics of immigration.

Georgia Republican U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Johnny Isakson have yet to sign off on the DeKalb County State Court judge to move forward in the Senate, as Lopez has been under attack from conservative activists for his membership in a Georgia advocacy group that has fought immigration restrictions.
Immigration is a powerful issue for the Republican base, particularly at a time when Donald Trump — he of the mass deportations and the magnificent Mexican border wall — is leading the presidential primary in Georgia and nationally. Perdue campaigned for his first-term win in 2014 opposing any sort of “amnesty” for immigrants here illegally, and Isakson is up for re-election in 2016.

Lopez, meanwhile, sat on the board of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, which supports a path to citizenship for people here illegally. It also has fought tougher state laws on immigration and praised local sheriffs who refused federal “hold” requests for immigrants.

“There would be a political price to pay for either conservative United States senator, one of them running for re-election, letting it go to the committee process with everything that’s been revealed about GALEO,” said D.A. King, an activist who has led the charge against Lopez.

But the price could come due either way.

“Latinos in Georgia are looking at this very closely,” said Jerry Gonzalez, the executive director of GALEO.

Caught up in Senate process

After Lopez was appointed a judge in 2010 by Gov. Sonny Perdue, he abstained from GALEO’s policy votes and fundraising, Gonzalez said.

Lopez declined to comment while his nomination is pending, but he is making backup plans. Lopez recently launched his re-election campaign for the state court post in 2016.

By custom, home-state senators must approve of a nominee before he or she goes to the full Judiciary Committee, a process known as providing a “blue slip.” Georgia’s senators are noncommittal about Lopez’s future.

“It’s going to be taken up in the Judiciary Committee early next year,” Perdue said.

“We’re in the process of evaluating that whole situation. … I take it very seriously. We have a process with our staff and in Georgia to make sure we do the right thing, both for the people of Georgia and the people who get nominated.”

Isakson added that “we are doing our due diligence.”

Perdue roadblock first seemed unlikely

While both senators say they are still vetting Lopez, and both recently met with the judge, the holdup appears to be coming more from Perdue, who sits on the Judiciary Committee. And even if Georgia’s senators allow Lopez to go to committee, the panel includes Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. — two of the Senate’s biggest immigration hawks — who would likely get tough on Lopez.

At first glance, Lopez seemed unlikely to meet a Perdue roadblock.

The judge is a Republican and a member of the conservative Federalist Society. He volunteered for Bob Barr’s successful run for Congress as a Republican in 1994.

Lopez was first appointed to the Georgia bench by David Perdue’s cousin. And the counsel for Perdue’s Senate campaign, Josh Belinfante, served on the panel convened by the senators to vet potential nominees that sent Lopez’s name to the White House.

Belinfante, state Republican Party counsel Anne Lewis, former state House Majority Whip Ed Lindsey and a slew of other prominent GOP attorneys signed a letter to the senators in support of Lopez in September.

“As conservatives, we recognize that the constitutional obligation of a judge is to decide cases based on the text of the law and not policy preferences,” they wrote. “We know that Judge Lopez views the law the same way.”

In an interview, Belinfante said he stands by the letter but adds of the panel: “We certainly did not have the authority to bind the senators to anything.”

Lopez has avoided policy votes

Lopez, 40, was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Cobb County as a boy. A Vanderbilt University graduate, he rose quickly through the legal ranks and was tapped for the state court judgeship at age 34.

In 2004, he joined the GALEO board. Gonzalez called Lopez a “great strategic thinker” who helped guide the organization, but since he became a judge in 2010, Lopez has focused on civic engagement and leadership development for Latinos — and avoided policy.

Lopez resigned from the board after his July nomination, which Gonzalez said is a “protocol” for federal nominees started when George W. Bush nominated Luis Aguilar to serve on the Securities and Exchange Commission.

King, the founder of the Dustin Inman Society, an anti-illegal-immigration group; and Phil Kent, a conservative pundit and member of the state Immigration Enforcement Review Board; have been the chief instigators against Lopez. Sheriffs from Cobb County and elsewhere have joined them with similar immigration-based concerns.

“I think the nomination is drifting away,” Kent said. “I was obviously gratified to see this outpouring of opposition.”

King said he had gotten the brush-off from Isakson’s office, but Perdue’s staffers were generous with their time.

“I went away with the confidence that this has gone as far as it’s ever going to go,” King said.

Conservatives learn from liberal model

The conservatives have taken a page from the playbook of liberals who kept this Northern District of Georgia post vacant.

In late 2013, after years of back-and-forth, Obama nominated a package of judges to fill several Georgia slots. The most conservative nominee in the bunch was Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs, a former Democratic state legislator from Waycross with socially conservative views who voted to keep the Confederate battle emblem on the Georgia state flag.

Civil rights leaders and groups such as NARAL Pro-Choice America helped turn Democrats against Boggs and torpedo his nomination, while the other six nominees were approved by the Senate. After the new Congress convened, the Georgia senators put together a group of six people to come up with a suitable replacement, and the group sent Lopez’s name to the White House in mid-2015.

In Washington, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the Democratic-dominated Congressional Hispanic Caucus have publicly pushed the Lopez nomination. But Republicans drive the agenda, and the clock is working against Lopez.

While the Senate has agreed to vote in the coming weeks on five judicial nominees who already have cleared committee, the nomination process typically grinds to a halt in an election year. In this case, the Republicans controlling the Senate can hope for more conservative nominees under the next president.

“When you’re in the eighth year of a two-term presidency and talking about judicial employment, that’s a legacy issue,” Isakson said. “That’s a policy not about a specific judge.”

Glenn Sugameli of Defenders of Wildlife, who works with left-leaning organizations to track judicial nominations, said election-year politics are no excuse to slow-walk a nominee.

“If the Georgia senators really want to say ‘We do not approve this person,’ they should do it, and there’s still time to get someone else in that spot,” Sugameli said. “The most irresponsible thing would be to let this thing linger.”

HERE

The AJC recently did a story on the apparent dead end to the Obama nomination of GALEO’s Dax Lopez for federal judge. Jerry Gonzalez, the GALEO Executive Director – and former MALDEF stooge – didn’t let anyone down. We post a small part of the AJC story (paywall) below along with some educated insight.

Georgia Latino’s court nomination appears in peril over immigration 

Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015

By Daniel Malloy – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WASHINGTON —
Five months after President Barack Obama picked Dax Lopez to be Georgia’s first lifetime-appointed Latino federal judge, his nomination is on the ropes because of the thorny politics of immigration.

Georgia Republican U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Johnny Isakson have yet to sign off on the DeKalb County State Court judge to move forward in the Senate, as Lopez has been under attack from conservative activists for his membership in a Georgia advocacy group that has fought immigration restrictions.

+Georgia Latino’s court nomination appears in peril over immigration photo
Dax E. Lopez, a DeKalb County State Court judge, has been nominated to the federal bench. But five months after the … Read More
Immigration is a powerful issue for the Republican base, particularly at a time when Donald Trump — he of the mass deportations and the magnificent Mexican border wall — is leading the presidential primary in Georgia and nationally. Perdue campaigned for his first-term win in 2014 opposing any sort of “amnesty” for immigrants here illegally, and Isakson is up for re-election in 2016.

Lopez, meanwhile, sat on the board of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, which supports a path to citizenship for people here illegally. It also has fought tougher state laws on immigration and praised local sheriffs who refused federal “hold” requests for immigrants.

“There would be a political price to pay for either conservative United States senator, one of them running for re-election, letting it go to the committee process with everything that’s been revealed about GALEO,” said D.A. King, an activist who has led the charge against Lopez.

But the price could come due either way.

“Latinos in Georgia are looking at this very closely,” said Jerry Gonzalez, the executive director of GALEO.

“Caught up in Senate process

*After Lopez was appointed a judge in 2010 by Gov. Sonny Perdue, he abstained from GALEO’s policy votes and fundraising, Gonzalez said.”

Uh, uh. Nope. (We hope you read the rest of the report.)

Always loose with that inconvenient truth, GALEO’s Jerry Gonzalez has misled the AJC reporter, Daniel Malloy here.

As anyone (but likely not the AJC’s Politifact editors) will see, according to GALEO’s online invitation Dax Lopez was the keynote speaker at the May, 2011 8th annual GALEO “Power Breakfast” – which GALEO describes as “one of the principle fundraising events for GALEO & the GALEO Latino Community Development Fund.”

Lopez was appointed to state court in August, 2010.

May, 2011 is after August 2010. Keynote speakers serve as the draw for attendees (donors) to fundraisers and help the corporation increase attendance and thereby operating revenue.

Judge Dax Lopez helped anti-enforcement GALEO Inc. raise money well after he was on the bench. And Jerry Gonzalez is well aware of that fact when he spoke to the AJC’s Malloy.

Jerry Gonzalez. Pants on Fire.

photo: AJC

October 5, 202

He said, though, that GALEO and the other groups lacked the standing to make the case. Ray said in his order that the individuals who said they weren’t sent Spanish-language ballot applications were able to get them from the county, and did vote. He added that a Spanish-language ballot application was accessible on the county website.

Jerry Gonzalez, GALEO’s executive director, said he disagreed with the judge’s analysis…. Read more here.

Note: I have no idea why the text above is so screwy…

_

Beginner’s Guide to GALEO from the 2015/2016 Dustin Inman Society campaign to stop the conformation of former GALEO board member Dax Lopez for federal court here.

______

Update: Dustin Inman Society board amber Everett Robinson just sent me the below letter to the AJC editor he sent in 2 weeks ago. Believe it or not, they ran part of it! Thanks Ev. Thanks, AJC!

Ev, our neighbor for 35 years and DIS board member addressing the room.

 

Dear AJC,

In a stunning abuse use of the term, the AJC recently referred to the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) as a “civil rights group” in a news report on their failed lawsuit against Gwinnett County involving foreign language voter ballots.

GALEO, funded by corporate-Georgia, is notorious for its long history of actively fighting against official English for government, voter ID and marching in the streets of Atlanta against immigration enforcement. GALEO has actually lobbied to convince local governments to refuse to honor ICE detainers when dangerous criminal illegal aliens are found to be in local jails and organized rallies against state laws to require public employers to use the federal E-Verify program aimed at insuring illegal labor does not take taxpayer-funded jobs.

As a proud, long-time board member of a citizen-funded group that advocates for an equal application of the law on immigration and for official English for government, this sixty-something, pro-enforcement Black conservative knows a civil rights group when he sees one.

Regarding GALEO: Being anti-official English and anti-enforcement on immigration does not a “civil rights” group make.

Everett Robinson

Canton

Board member, the Dustin Inman Society

Originally posted on ImmigrationPoliticsGA.com

GALEO infamous in state politics for its extreme positions on immigration and radical leadership

Jason Anavitarte registered to run for state House in 2006 as a Democrat.

Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan office phone – 404-656-5030

Republican Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan has endorsed a candidate for state senate who is a former board member of a leftist organization that lobbies against immigration enforcement, voter ID, ICE holds and official English for government.

State Senate District 31 hopeful Jason Anavitarte served on the board of directors of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) from 2006 to 2009. During that time, GALEO lobbied against passage of the nationally noted SB529, the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act which established a requirement that public employers and their contractors sort out newly hired blackmarket labor with use of the federal employment verification system now known as E-Verify.

The legislation also required state use of the federal 287(g) program that allows local law enforcement to screen jail inmates for immigration status and report illegal alien prisoners to ICE for deportation proceedings. The bill, now law, that GALEO vehemently opposed also requires that local and county governments verify the legal status of people applying for local, state and federal public benefits.

GALEO Executive Director and former Democrat fundraiser, Jerry Gonzalez, drew much attention during the lobbying frenzy against the 2006 state immigration enforcement measure when he escorted self-described illegal aliens into the gold-domed state Capitol telling legislators they should regard the illegal aliens  as “constituents.” Gonzalez described the illegals as merely “immigrants.” The staged and pre-announced GALEO transporting and encouragement of the illegals made a memorable note for pro-enforcement groups and news in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

As has been reported elsewhere, GALEO was established in 2003. Along with Jane Fonda, Anavitarte is also listed as a GALEO “Founding Friend.”

A February Twitter post from Lt. Governor Duncan describes Anavitarte as a “proven conservative…”

 

The endorsement from Duncan has raised eyebrows in conservative quarters of the state’s Republican Party not only because GALEO is well known for its corporate-funded opposition to immigration enforcement, but because candidate Anavitarte, now running as a Republican,filed to run for state House in 2006 as a Democrat.

The Lt. Governor also serves as president of the state senate.

Perhaps the most jarring surprise for pro-enforcement voters in Duncan’s endorsement is the fact that in 2016, U.S. Senator David Perdue terminated the Judiciary Committee’s confirmation process of another former GALEO board member and State Court Judge, Dax Lopez, who was nominated for a federal judgeship by former President Barack Obama. Perdue made it clear that his office investigated the nominee’s ties to the controversial GALEO and ended the chances of confirmation because of that relationship.

“After a thorough review of the professional and judicial record of DeKalb County Judge Dax Lopez, I have become uncomfortable with his longstanding participation in a controversial organization including his service on its board of directors” Perdue wrote in his statement on the matter.

The obvious – and many say troubling – difference in judgment between Georgia’s Republican Lt. Governor and its senior U.S. Senator is not going un-noticed by grassroots GOP voters.

According to the left-leaning Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia is home to more illegal aliens than green card holders.

Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, snared a primary endorsement from President Donald Trump in 2018 due in large part to Kemp’s tough talk and campaign promises on illegal immigration. Kemp has not mentioned immigration since the November, 2018 election.

Ballotpedia lists four Republican candidates for Georgia’s senate District 31.

 

 

 

Image: ImmigrationPoliticsGA.com

Breibart News
June 3, 2020

Neil Munro

Immigration politics are shaping primary races for two state Senate seats in Georgia, allowing local voters to impose their priorities on their politicians until the polls close on June 9.

In State Senate District 54, GOP voters can choose between newcomer Dan McEntire or incumbent Sen. Chuck Payne, who voted with Democrats to block a law that would make it easier for people to recognize the illegal migrants who get state-approved drivers’ licenses.

In State Senate District 31, west of Atlanta, voters can pick between a local former mayor, Boyd Austin, and Jason Anavitarte, a “founding friend” of the Latino pressure group, GALEO, and a favorite of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

AnavitArte dismissed his member of the GALEO group, which has long opposed curbs on migration into Georgia. “As a Latino officeholder, I was once a member, but disagreed with them on many of the policy positions like outlined above and left that organization because of that,” he told Breitbart News.

But AnavitArte’s membership in GALEO is a problem, in part because it has opposed immigration updates pushed by reformers, including Sen. David Perdue. In 2016, Perdue blocked President Barack Obama’s appointment of another GALEO member, Dax Lopez, to a lifetime judgeship.

In May, Anavitarte did not mention illegal migration on his website. After responding to questions in late May from Breitbart News, however, he added a section, saying, “I believe in curbing illegal immigration through any and all means necessary.”

Anaviterte has endorsed several federal anti-migration proposals but has declined to identify any recent or new state-level measure that would curb migration into Georgia. He told Breitbart News:

I do not support open borders. I oppose amnesty and illegal immigration. I even believe there are serious loopholes in legal immigration that can be improved to strengthen the American workforce. Most of these are federal issues and we have limited options to remedy on a state level.

He told Breitbart News that he “would support that type of legislation if elected,” referring to the 2009 HB2 law.

That law was pushed by D.A. King, the founder of the Dustin Inman Society, which champions the enforcement of existing migration laws that help Americans to earn decent wages. “It is easy enough to say you support a bill after it has passed: The question is, will you support enforcement of the bills?” responded King responded to AnavitArte’s statement. “These laws are not being enforced,” he added.

“As a state legislator, we are very limited in the things we can do” about immigration, said rival Boyd Austin, a former mayor who is running for the open 31st district seat. So, he said, “one of the primary areas we should focus our attention on is sanctuary cities.” He explained:

“We’ve had several, large and small [sanctuary cities], in Georgia … [The legislature should] get rid of the magnets [for illegal aliens] and the ability for them to hide in plain sight, start taking away their state funding, and hit them in the pocketbook where it hurts.”

“I am not the establishment’s candidate,” Austin said. “The Georgia chamber [of commerce] has endorsed my opponent. He has powerful people who want to continue his [migration] process, with a lot of money coming from out of state,” said Austin, who is a former president of the Georgia Municipal Association. Read more here.