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DEL.ICIO.USA veto liked — by some
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We don’t recall seeing many statements praising Gov. Sonny Perdue from the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. But GALEO liked Perdue’s veto of Senate Bill 15, which would have increased the penalties for driving without a valid license in Georgia.
“We agree with the Governor that SB15 would have had many unintended consequences, similar to the arrest and detention of the Canadian tourist recently in Brunswick, Georgia,” said GALEO executive director Jerry Gonzalez.
Perdue, in his veto statement, said he feared “an unintended consequence” of the bill would be to subject some with valid out-of-state licenses to “stout criminal penalties even absent the commission of a willful act.”
But Republican state Sen. John Wiles, who sponsored the bill, didn’t see it that way.
“I am disappointed that the governor found it necessary to veto this legislation,” Wiles said in a release. “The law would make our roads and highways safer, more secure, and send a clear message to those who choose to repeatedly drive without a license.”
Comments
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By Bubba
May 31, 2007 3:57 PM | Link to this
How commendable that Jerry Gonzalez of GALEO would show so much concern for a Canadian driver!
I guess the streets of Marietta, Buford, Dalton and Gainesville just aint gonna be so safe no more!
It’s gonna be like Mexicano NASCAR!
By Jerry Douglas
May 31, 2007 4:20 PM | Link to this
Making driving without a license a felony while a 10th DUI is a mere misdemeanor? Don’t BS me - this bill isn’t about public safety.
By Glenn, Ben, Jerry, Mark & Barry
May 31, 2007 4:53 PM | Link to this
Hey Sen. Wiles,
Don’t get too worked up over this veto thing. We’re not that concerned.
Remember, the General Assembly is not in session; so just sit tight and maybe the Governor will “un-veto” your bill in a couple of weeks.
Since we don’t go back into session until January 9, 2008; this “un-veto” thing could last for 7 months or more once the Governor gets off his backside.
By Benjie's buddy
May 31, 2007 4:57 PM | Link to this
My lil buddy Benjie sure is glad to hear about the 10th DUI only being a misdemeanor.
Hey Benjie, it’s OK to go out again tonight.
By 4 times?
May 31, 2007 8:49 PM | Link to this
Wouldn’t this bill have made it a felony on the 4th offense of driving without a license? How many do-overs should you get? I’m not aware of many Canadians who have been busted 4 times for driving w/no license.
By Sorry Earl
June 1, 2007 12:09 AM | Link to this
Stae Rep. and overall hater of everything Earl Ehrhart is “thoroughly disappointed”. So Sonny Do did something right.
By lucky
June 1, 2007 10:00 AM | Link to this
Why are the “unintended consequences” of the immigration reform bill; i.e., cost to future generations, loss of values and culture of our country, how to enforce and thoroughly check backgrounds in 24 hrs., etc. not considered by Sen. Chambliss?
This has nothing to do with unintended consequences. It is about corporate greed and favored nation status of illegals over US citizens and taxpayers. We have hundreds of thousands of illegals creating mayhem on our roads while driving without licenses and a rare Canadian tourist. Illegals break many of our laws and do so with impunity from our elected officials and without regard to the health and safety of the taxpayers who are subsidizing their existence. By being too stupid and lazy to demand an end to corruption in their own country and unable to delay instant gratification to delay producing children they cannot afford, they have allowed themselves to become an imported slave labor force of lawbreaking uncivilized and illiterate pawns.
By Joe
June 1, 2007 4:54 PM | Link to this
On the prior post by Lucky, she writes: “Illegals break many of our laws and do so with impunity from our elected officials and without regard to the health and safety of the taxpayers who are subsidizing their existence.”
I wonder where she gets this information. I can say for a fact that an undocumented alien is not immune from prosecution for a violation of the law. Anyone who suggests otherwise is simply too ignorant of our laws to be taken seriously. While it is true that the Federal Authorities may not be enforcing the Federal Immigration laws as they should, there is a bigger problem that most talking heads do not want to address. If we were to throw out all “illegal aliens” as many have suggested, our economy would collapse. The agriculture industry, the construction industry, the hospitality industry, the manufacturing industry, just to name a few, would be crippled with the shortage of labor. It is interesting to note that those that rail on immigrants fail to mention the very large problem of entitlements for the lazy US citizens that refuse to work! These people come to work, and by and large are law abiding citizens. I would rather banish our lazy americans on welfare, than the hard working immigrants that make our economy work. That would make too much sense for those that want to keep this “immigration debate” going for politica expediency!
By Joe
June 1, 2007 4:55 PM | Link to this
On the prior post by Lucky, she writes: “Illegals break many of our laws and do so with impunity from our elected officials and without regard to the health and safety of the taxpayers who are subsidizing their existence.”
I wonder where she gets this information. I can say for a fact that an undocumented alien is not immune from prosecution for a violation of the law. Anyone who suggests otherwise is simply too ignorant of our laws to be taken seriously. While it is true that the Federal Authorities may not be enforcing the Federal Immigration laws as they should, there is a bigger problem that most talking heads do not want to address. If we were to throw out all “illegal aliens” as many have suggested, our economy would collapse. The agriculture industry, the construction industry, the hospitality industry, the manufacturing industry, just to name a few, would be crippled with the shortage of labor. It is interesting to note that those that rail on immigrants fail to mention the very large problem of entitlements for the lazy US citizens that refuse to work! These people come to work, and by and large are law abiding citizens. I would rather banish our lazy americans on welfare, than the hard working immigrants that make our economy work. That would make too much sense for those that want to keep this “immigration debate” going for political expediency!
By GAMinuteman
June 1, 2007 7:02 PM | Link to this
Joe, I agree that there are people on the gov’t entitlement/welfare roles. However, there are 23 million Americans unemployed. I’m for making every able bodied citizen work or not eat free.
This problem that our gov’t and greedy corperations encourages did’nt happen over night. None of the anti-illegal immigration folks that I know of believe that the solution is to deport 12 to 25 million illegal aliens tomorrow. We need to try the novel idea of “Attrition through Enforcement”.
That is to say, imagine that our federal gov’t actually enforced our immigration laws and began to heavily fine illegal employers. The tax-payer subsidized “cheap labor” will begin to self-deport and go back to their country of origin if we actually enforced our current laws. But for that to happen, we’d have to have legislators and a president who really believed that the Constituition is more than “a gdd*n peice of paper” as Jorge W. Bush has stated.
It seems that you’ve listened to the either/or fallicy that Mr. Bush and his open border/amnesty snake oil salesmen have been peddling. There is a middle ground on the issue of “deport them all today or amnesty for all today. It’s called “Attrition through Enforcement”. What do you think?
By Joe
June 2, 2007 9:20 PM | Link to this
I personally like the bill that has been proposed. It is NOT amnesty, and it goes a long way to securing our borders. We need to put our resourses in fighting terrorism at home, just today a muslim cell was arrested in for plotting an attack on NYC. We need to secure out borders first and foremost; however, we cannot ignore the need for immigrant labor. Having a guest worker program seems like a sensible plan. We can know who they are, where they are, and limit the time they are here. At the same time, we can ensure that they are paying taxes (although I believe the fair tax plan is infinitely better than the graduated income tax system we currently have).
By BackfromIraq
June 3, 2007 1:25 PM | Link to this
Joe, let’s just start with two basic facts that hopefully might make you re-think your position on this bill. If you can chose to accept these two we will continue. Fact 1 - the bill is to be voted on by the Senate even before it is even written! The bill will be written after the fact. That, in and of itself, is unheard of. When is the last time you gave someone a blank check? Specially a politician! Fact 2 – The bill requires the Government to do a background check on every applicant within 48 hours. It is estimated that that will equate to approx 46,000 background checks daily. Have you ever obtained a passport? If so you know that this requirement make the bill a farce from the git-go