July 16, 2010

Barnes backs Arizona-style immigration law
By SHANNON McCAFFREY - Associated Press Writer
18 comments

ATLANTA -- Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Roy Barnes said Friday if elected he would sign immigration legislation similar to what Arizona passed.

Meanwhile, four Republicans running for the state's top job said they'd allow local communities to decide whether to permit Sunday alcohol sales.

With just five days remaining until Georgia's July 20 primary, 12 of the 14 candidates seeking the governor's mansion met in separate Democratic and Republican debates sponsored by WSB-TV on Friday.

Barnes said he opposes the Obama administration's decision to sue Arizona over its tough immigration law.

The former governor said state officials are already enforcing some federal laws, a key element of the Arizona law that empowers local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws.

"Would I sign a law that had some of those elements? I would," Barnes said. "But I would want to make sure it was not a racially profiling bill.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker - who is trailing Barnes in a poll released this week - said the federal government needs to do a better job of enforcing immigration laws. After the debate, Baker told reporters he would need to see any legislation the state Legislature passed before he could say whether it would win his signature.

Former Georgia National Guard Commander David Poythress and House Minority Leader DuBose Porter each said that they need to see whether the Arizona law survives an ongoing legal challenge. After the panel, both men told reporters they'd likely support a similar law in Georgia passed constitutional muster.

The Arizona law has become a flashpoint this election season in Georgia and elsewhere. All the Republicans running for governor in Georgia have backed an Arizona-style law.

The Arizona law requires law enforcement officers conducting traffic stops or questioning people about possible illegal activity to inquire about their immigration status if they had "reasonable suspicion" they are in the country illegally. The law also makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally.

Following the debate Barnes said he wasn't sure he would go as far as the Arizona law did in making illegal immigration a state crime.

"I don't want us to pay the cost, that is a federal government cost," he said. "If it is a state crime, then you have to house them."

Barnes said the state could combat racial profiling through law enforcement training.

"That's the way we did it with blacks and we overcame it there," Barnes said.

On the GOP side, John Oxendine, Nathan Deal, Eric Johnson and Ray McBerry each said they would sign Sunday alcohol sales bill if it arrived on their desk. Each expressed personal misgivings about the measure - which would give local communities the ability to permit Sunday alcohol sales - but said they came down on the side of local control.

In a primary where each is appealing to religious conservatives, each went out of their way to say the Sabbath should remain holy.

A fifth GOP candidate - state Sen. Jeff Chapman - said Friday he would veto a Sunday sales bill

Georgia is one of just three states that bans the sale of alcohol in grocery stores on Sunday. Outgoing Gov. Sonny Perdue - who doesn't drink - has threatened to veto a Sunday sales bill.

Republicans Karen Handel and Otis Putnam did not attend Friday's debate.

Handel has refused to share a stage with McBerry over allegations that he had an inappropriate relationship with a teenager when he was a youth pastor. McBerry has denied the charges.

Both Deal and Oxendine have gone after Handel with television ads and mailers attacking what they say is her liberal record on issues like abortion funding and domestic partner benefits for gay couples.

Asked about the negative turn the campaign has taken, both Oxendine and Deal - while refusing to use Handel's name - said she started it.

"Every television spot that person has done has been a negative attack," Oxendine said. "Every mailer that person has done has been a negative attack of me and other conservative Republicans and I felt like it was finally time to set the record straight."

Deal agreed.

"I think some of us just got to the point that we thought Republicans in the state of Georgia deserved to know the truth," he said.

Johnson repeated his call that the candidates stop negative campaigning then went on to say that he is the only one of the top four candidate who is not under active ethics investigation.

"I have plenty I could be firing back on but I have focused n the real enemy - Barack Obama and the liberals in Washington," Johnson said.

The debates are set to air Saturday on WSB in Atlanta.

In other campaign news, Barnes on Friday picked up the endorsement on Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. Barnes had backed Reed's bid for mayor.

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