Georgia follows SB1070 lead

by David Safier

It will be a source of pride for some Arizonans that we got out there first, before the deep south could beat us to it. After all, they had slavery and the Civil War. Russell Pearce and his crew need some bragging rights.

The first Spawn of Satan SB 1070 is heading for the Georgia governor's desk.

Welcome to the Wild, Wild South: Georgia Passes SB 1070 Copycat Bill

. . . The bill, which closely resembles Arizona’s embattled SB 1070, is the first copycat bill to pass through another state legislature.

[snip]

The 11th hour vote came amid mounting pressure from a diverse coalition to kill the bill. In the two weeks leading up the vote, Georgia immigrant rights advocates and civil rights groups collected 23,000 signatures opposing the legislation. Protesters rallied in at the capitol in Atlanta this week with signs reading, “RIP Dr. Kings Dream” and “RIP Georgia Economy.” Business groups, fearing the truth of the later, joined the opposition, forcefully rejecting the requirement that employers implement the E-Verify program to check the immigration status of all employees.

Yet, despite the broad opposition, conservative state legislators ended the week with a victory.

“It’s a great day for Georgia,” Rep. Matt Ramsey, the Republican who authored the bill told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

I gotta find a positive here. As I heard Grijalva say recently, the problem with prorgressives is: When something goes wrong for conservatives, they get mad. When something goes wrong for progressives, they get sad. How right you are, Raul, but no tears here at BfA.

The positive is, business groups worked against the Georgia bill, and they got shut down. They're beginning to realize "pro-business" takes a back seat to crazy-base ideology in the Republican Party these days. The business community is in the early stages of buyers' remorse. Cracks in the coalition are beginning to show.