Thread: Cobb County, Georgia ,business license check ‘about face`

25 Jul Cobb County, Georgia does business license check ‘about face’ After D.A. King sues


Cobb wants proof of residency for all business applications

Chairman Sam Olens will ask county commission to approve change

By TOM OPDYKE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In an aboutface, the chairman of the Cobb County Commission said Friday that county government wants to begin requiring proof of legal residency for all business license applications and renewals.

Sam Olens, who previously said the residency proof only was required for about 10 government-licensed occupations — such as sales solicitors, carnivals, and taxi driver, now says it should extend to all businesses.

“From a public policy perspective, everyone ought to be treated the same,â€

Elise Shore...read the Constitution...and not the communist manifesto

Watch the power a State has!

Elise Shore, regional general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund in Atlanta, said county and state government should stay out of immigration law.

Read about each State, Ms. Shore.

Each State is different and that is the best. Always, respect each State visiting, and be a good representation of the State you are from.

So do illegal criminal aliens respect per State?

And there is a lack of good representation on the illegal criminal aliens as soon as they enter the United States.

Status whoa!

Published: 07/26/2008
By Jon Gillooly
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer



MARIETTA - Mayor Bill Dunaway took issue with Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens for taking credit for being the first government in Georgia to verify the immigration status of every applicant for what is commonly referred to as a "business license."


A duel of e-mails between Dunaway and Olens began after a story that appeared in the Journal on Friday morning in which Olens said the county will change its policy verifying immigrant status by checking all licenses - business licenses and occupational tax certificates. He said Cobb is the first government in Georgia to institute this policy.

Dunaway challenged Olens in a Friday e-mail, claiming Marietta has been verifying business licenses since 1996.

"Please give credit where credit is due: to Marietta," Dunaway said in an e-mail he sent to Olens and the Journal.

"Marietta has been doing this as a matter of good government way before there was any controversy in the press," Dunaway said.

Olens responded: "Please tell the Mayor to stop whining. If he wants to clarify something, he can send a Letter to the Editor."

Dunaway then accused Olens of going "into an attack mode."

"You should appreciate what Marietta has been doing and not be disappointed that the county was not the first government to do so," Dunaway told Olens. "The city did not have to have a lawsuit filed for us to recognize what we should have been doing."

Marietta activist D.A. King, who writes a frequent column for the Journal that is mostly centered around immigration issues, filed a civil suit against the county last week seeking to halt all applications for public benefits until the county begins verifying each applicant's immigration status. A business license is a public benefit.

King indicated in Friday's Journal report that he may drop the suit after Olens announced the county will check the status of all business license applicants.

King, however, who helped write the 2006 Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act introduced by state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), said Marietta is not following the state law.

King said to be in compliance with that law requires a sworn affidavit that the applicant is in the county legally. Noncitizens must provide their alien registration number, which the local government runs through a federal database called SAVE, for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements.

Marietta does not use SAVE, King said.

"There is no such thing as partial compliance," King said.

Dunaway responded: "The SAVE system now may/may not be mandatory under the new Georgia law. Whether or not its is depends upon which lawyer you are talking with."

King said he has met with both Dunaway and City Hall staff to explain this to them, and called city attorney Doug Haynie. King said he did not hear back from Haynie.

Dunaway, however, defends Marietta's policies.

"We have been verifying using all the methods available to us since approximately 1996," he said. "The city has not played word games about the difference between business licenses and occupational tax certificates. The city has also required all city contractors to sign affidavits as to their employees.

"This has way way before it became an issue in the press and before D.A. King or anyone else asked questions. I think the SAVE system has only been in place a few years or months.

"When D.A. King called me on this several months ago he seemed to satisfied with the city's efforts. He has not spoken with me since then and I have no knowledge of his current thoughts or conversations with others.

"The fact remains, the City of Marietta has been doing its best to make sure that only legal residents get buiness licenses and OTC's since 1996. Marietta should be congratulated for its efforts, not criticized. If there is a way we can improve, we will."

The city put out a press release last year talking about how the city was using a federal database to verify that all newly hired city employees are eligible to work legally in the United States called E-Verify.

Dunaway said the city checks for "false documents" and individuals by running their information through the GCIC as well as the INS database. He was not sure what GCIC stands for.

"I think anyone would have to admit that this is very thorough, especially in light that Marietta has been doing this for years. Our safeguards could be superior to the SAVE system, I don't know. These methods were definitely superior to anything else prior to the SAVE system," Dunaway said.

On Thursday, Olens told the Journal that the county will require the affidavit of applicants for both business licenses and occupational tax certificates. Both have been commonly known as business licenses. The county had contended they are different.

The county initially insisted the 2006 law only required it to verify the business licenses - and not the occupational tax certificates. The county issues 1,098 business licenses, and 27,668 OTCs. Marietta issues 250 business licenses and 7,500 occupational tax certificates.

www.mdjonline.com