Breaking: Arizona governor endorses Handel

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, architect of that state’s controversial illegal immigration policy, has endorsed Karen Handel to be the next governor of Georgia.

Handel’s campaign made the announcement Monday afternoon.

“As a former secretary of state, I know how that office prepares you to be governor,” Brewer said in a statement. “I’ve had to make tough choices. When Congress failed to act on illegal immigration, I took action to solve the problem. Now I’m taking on the Obama administration as they try to stop us. I know Karen Handel. She has the experience, courage and tenacity that make her the best candidate to be governor.”

Brewer said she believes Handel will “fight to pass similar illegal immigration laws in Georgia.”

Handel said Brewer is “an inspiration to conservatives” for her fight against illegal immigration.

“She also made the hard decisions and cut Arizona’s budget to align with today’s economic realities,” Handel said.

Brewer became a hero to many conservatives when she successfully pushed through and signed into law legislation that orders immigrants to carry alien registration documents at all times and requires law enforcement to question anyone if there is reason to believe they are in the country illegally.

The law set off a firestorm of criticism from others who believe the new rules to mandate racial profiling. But many of those seven candidates running for governor in Georgia have vowed to implement similar legislation here.

Several of the Republican candidates, in fact, have made immigration reform a major plank of their platform. Former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal is among those who has vowed to create an Arizona-style program here and former state Sen. Eric Johnson has pitched a wide-ranging immigration policy that would require proof of residency from anyone going to an emergency room or enrolling in public schools.

In response to Brewer’s endorsement of Handel, Deal’s campaign said it wouldn’t make much difference and touted their own endorsement.

“We hope Karen wins every county in Arizona,” Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said. “We’re happier with our endorsement by the Cobb County Association of Educators.”

The association represents 3,000 teachers.

“Nathan Deal is the son of two public school teachers and the husband of a public school teacher. His depth of understanding of the education issues facing our state goes far beyond political talking points,” said Connie Jackson, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators.

48 comments Add your comment

outspoken1

June 28th, 2010
4:08 pm

Enter your comments here

outspoken1

June 28th, 2010
4:09 pm

Ms Handel,

Where do you stand on imigration issues?

Monroe County

June 28th, 2010
4:25 pm

Mrs. Handel is completely unfit to be Governor. She ducked every important decision she had to make as SOS, one of which personally affected my family. Essentially, the taxpayers of Georgia were paying for her to build her resume enough to be able to run for Governor. My statements here have nothing to do with partisanship of any kind, but unfortunately, they have to do with Handel’s indecisive incompetence and the hardships that it has brought upon my family. Vote for anyone but Handel in ‘10. Take it from someone who is painfully aware of her incompetence.

Peat Moss

June 28th, 2010
4:35 pm

Bravo Monroe County. All you did was gobble up a bunch of YOUR time to absolutely NOTHING. I am impressed and saddened by your self-serving and clueless comments.

Be brave enough to state your claims and not hid behind BS of false accusations.

Intown

June 28th, 2010
4:41 pm

Thanks. Because I needed one more reason to despise Karen Handel.

Ron

June 28th, 2010
4:43 pm

Note to Cobb County Association of Educators, Sonny Perdue is the son of two educators as well. How has that worked for you?

Karen Handel

June 28th, 2010
4:43 pm

@outspoken1

I stand wherever the polls tell me to on immigration, and all other issues.

Handle

June 28th, 2010
4:44 pm

Karen Handel is uneducated. She never went to college, and she barely graduated from high school. She is completely unqualified to serve in any office. She doesn’t have the credentials to be dog catcher.

Marcel

June 28th, 2010
4:46 pm

Who gives a crap who someone from Arizona endorses? They don’t vote in GA. Are you kidding me? In addition, who gives a crap who anyone endorses. I’ve never cast one vote for someone just because someone or some group endorsed the person running. Are you kidding me? Read up on the candidates for yourself and vote for who you feel is the best candidate. Arizona??? Are you kidding me Karen Handel?

Sow's ear

June 28th, 2010
4:46 pm

Jan Brewer is a community college graduate. She’s accomplished so much more than Karen Handel.

joe

June 28th, 2010
4:46 pm

Great to hear candidates for governor are making this top priority. For me, it is #1 on my list, so whomever puts illegal immigration first gets my vote, no matter the party.

Peat Moss

June 28th, 2010
4:49 pm

By the way, I am not voting for Karen.

Ron

June 28th, 2010
4:51 pm

Correction. Sonny Perdue’s mother taught me in high school, but his father was not an educator, he was a farmer.

Alphare

June 28th, 2010
5:05 pm

Newt is a conservative, he replaced his wife with a younger woman. Arizona governor is a conservative, she tries to screw Mexicans as much as she can. Hanity is conservative, he screams hypocricy on the radio.

Where do these conservative come from? some Muslim countries? surely don’t seem to be from some Christian countries.

whatever

June 28th, 2010
5:20 pm

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Bubba

June 28th, 2010
5:21 pm

This not funny enough to be comedy, not noble enough to be tragedy, just a sorry mess.

Matt

June 28th, 2010
5:25 pm

Illegal immigration is very important but moreso would be our public education system which is in the shambles, our economy (Those illegals were working jobs many Americans thought they were above until the financial collapse), more common sense taxes and less corruption. How about term limits for local, state and federal positions to get fresh blood and new ideas into the mix. Less of a shot for corruption and buying votes.

I know illegal immigration flows into most of these but its not like it should be our main concern. We need jobs which help pay more taxes and grow our economy, we need better schools so when our kids go to college they are prepared and ready, we need less corruption so these idiotic tax breaks large corporations get that ship jobs overseas are penalized for doing so not awarded. I don’t care if you’re on the left or right on any issue. If you have a solid platform and you’re not full of poo than you have my vote. people who pigeon hole themselves into one party over the other amaze me. You hardly even know what the issues are unless you’re watching some show thats tilted to the right or left.

Monroe County

June 28th, 2010
5:26 pm

I see I touched a nerve, Peat Moss. Surprising, since you say you aren’t even a Handel supporter.

I am afraid that I do know exactly what I am talking about. There aren’t enough hours in one day, let alone in a few posts on a message board that will quickly get buried, to illustrate to you the months and months of hardship that Handel’s inaction have brought about some of those close to me. I am not interested in whether an anonymous reader of a message board finds me credible. If I can cost Handel even one vote, I feel that I have accomplished something. If you don’t find me credible, please don’t waste anymore of YOUR time responding to me. However, I do hope that you and yours (or any American citizen with rights) are not subject to similar harassment that we have experienced. I am sorry to tell you that if you take Handel to be an honest, capable person, you are being taken for a ride. If you are truly interested, every question you may have will be answered on the website below. I don’t have the time to convince you of anything, but if you are interested in the truth on the matter I talk of, you will certainly find it below. I hope you’ll see the light.

http://www.bibbmonroebattle.com

Patrick

June 28th, 2010
5:28 pm

What’s funny is that Brewer claims that the law will not lead to racial profiling, but then states that most immigrants in her state are tied to Mexican drug lords. I wonder if she’ll be tracking down Canadian or Eastern European illegals too?

Monroe County

June 28th, 2010
5:29 pm

And Peat Moss, here is the most recent tip of the iceberg:

http://bibbmonroebattle.com/sosrulechanges.html

dabo

June 28th, 2010
5:32 pm

Arizona’s governor should shut up !..it’s not her business who we vote for Governor, just as no state official in Georgia just get involved in Arizona’s politics.

Peat Moss

June 28th, 2010
5:34 pm

Shoots fire Morgan County, I am darn sure I am voting for what ever her name is, if only to tick you off. I am going to tell all of my ’social network’ to vote for her as well.

You still talk BS and no meat. make false claims and STILL can’t explain why ‘YOU’ – Morgan County have decided to enlighten the world in exactly why you have a PERSONAL grudge against her.

Thank god we live in a Republic and not a Democracy. For those of you in Morgan county, there is a difference between the two.

Peat Moss

June 28th, 2010
5:36 pm

Wow and biased and antique website. I got several myself. Come on 2006, please you are wasting my time again.

Where’s the beef MC?

Karen Handel

June 28th, 2010
5:47 pm

Now we all know how I got the endorsement of that barometer of the conservative movement out of Macon, Erick “Souter is a goat f___ing child molester” Erickson.

http://bibbmonroebattle.com/sosrulechanges.html

Monroe County

June 28th, 2010
5:48 pm

Um, that would be Monroe County.

It is clear that you refuse to accept facts and look at real evidence and documents provided in the links that I posted. It is also clear that no matter what I tell you or show you, your mind is made up. I will indulge you anyhow.

The short of it is this: a surveyor was appointed in 2005 by the Governor of Georgia to settle a boundary dispute between Bibb and Monroe Counties. This dispute goes back to the 1870’s and everyone involved has always known that Bibb would come out on the losing end of the dispute if a survey was ever done. Monroe County reuquested that the governor appoint a surveyor to settle the dispute after a Bass Pro Shops was built on the legal but currently unrecognized county line, and if the line moves to where it is legally shown to be by this survey, Bibb County stands to lose $1.2 M yearly in tax revenue. The surveyor negotiated his contract with the SOS (Handel) before doing the survey, and since Bibb County lost, as everyone knew they would, they have waged a campaign of intimidation against the surveyor since MARCH 2009, that includes not paying him $173K that they owe him. The surveyor has been foreclosed upon and is out of business. Despite repeated and unacknowledged pleas by the surveyor Handel let all of this happen, and refused to do her duty and settle the line, as she was statutorily authorized to do. It is my belief that she did not want to make such a controversial decision in light of the fact that she intended to run for Governor. That is my opinion, but the fact is that she had a decision to make and she refused to make it. These are facts and everyone of them are documented on the website link I gave you, with hard, verifiable documents. The issue has also been reported on extensively in various mid-state news publications. You can ignore it if you wish, and remain willfully ignorant. The facts are not on your side.

Patrick

June 28th, 2010
5:52 pm

Monroe County-

Don’t waste any more of your time. Peat Moss is about as smart as peat moss. Or a pet rock….take your pick.

Monroe County

June 28th, 2010
5:53 pm

I am also wondering why I am now receiving your unprovoked insults and accusations. Why is it that it is so unbelievable to you that Handel is anything but a saint, that you will attack and belittle a stanger on a message board who is attempting to call attention to an issue that you obviously know nothing about? What do you personally have to lose if anyone believes my comments? Why is it so important to you that Handel gets a benefit of the doubt?

Robert from Phoenix

June 28th, 2010
5:58 pm

The governor wasn’t the architect of the Arizona bill. The white supremacist group FAIR (seriously, it’s that bad out here) and state rep Russell Pearce were the architects. Brewer isn’t considered, how should I say this, isn’t considered very intelligent out here. She basically does what the Republican caucus tells her to do. FYI–the border is actually the safest it’s been in 40 years! Crime, illegal immigration, drug trafficking, gun running, etc. are all at decades long lows! Unfortunately, letting people know this would hurt Brewer’s campaign against Attorney General Terry Goddard. Goddard is generally considered one of the most intelligent politicians in AZ history, and is a leading authority on border security. It’s actually his policies and successful law suits on behalf of AZ that have dropped border crime and trafficking to the low levels it’s at now.

Georgia Voter

June 28th, 2010
5:58 pm

Thank you for this documented information, Monroe County. It is disgusting to see a sitting Secretary of State unfairly discrimate against Monroe Co. just because Bibb Co. has more voters that will turn out in a gubernatorial primary. Not exactly the fairness or the ability to stand up to corrupt political pressure that we should expect from our next governor.

Monroe County

June 28th, 2010
6:02 pm

Thanks for your support, Georgia Voter. This is an issue that is very real, and there have been real people with families that have suffered and continue to suffer because of her inaction. Please remember in November.

drsoul

June 28th, 2010
6:58 pm

Believe me when I say that Handel only sincerely cares about one thing and one thing only…and, that is the reflection that she sees in the mirror..!!! Her real experience base in leading a state as governor is non-existent. A ‘Title’ does not mean that one is qualified to have it; thus, the previous ones she has worn has not added any real intelligence nor qualification for her to be governor. The fact that she lacks a formal education only underscores one of two facts: she could not make it in the classroom due to lack of intelligence; she was too lazy to get an education, which is even worse in the fact that she has no real integrity to make major decisions that impace any form of life and economics of Georgia. I see this as the ‘Oboner’ syndrome: let’s get out and vote the first lady into governorship in Georgia…that reason alone defines the insanity of our voters in Georgia just as it did the voters of the nation to put Oboner in… don’t waste your time with Handel unless you are ready to sit on a burning cross…!!!!

Aquagirl

June 28th, 2010
7:09 pm

I’m sure the outraged surveyors and sock puppets will exact vengeance on Karen Handel. That’s a huge vote block there.

Monroe County

June 28th, 2010
7:21 pm

AquaGirl, demographics and numbers are beside the point. Do you want a Governor who avoids duty because of pressure from special interests, and is documented as having done so?

Alabama Communist

June 28th, 2010
7:23 pm

Nothing like a Republican Gestapo Governor supporting another Gestapo Republican Candiate where her political papers seem to be in order………..

Aquagirl

June 28th, 2010
7:45 pm

I don’t count crap websites set up by somebody with an axe to grind as documentation. Especially when they are pimped by the special interests involved.

Monroe County

June 28th, 2010
8:11 pm

I don’t know what special interests are being “pimped”, as you say.

Regardless of the fonts, layout designs, or any of the other bells and whistles that more sophisticated people might demand, the hard documents that prove the claims that are being made are there for anyone to look at. The crap website was necessary because of the political power of Bibb County and their ownership of the major news outlets in the mid-state area. Forgive us for not being more refined in our presentation of data. The data, however, remains.

The cynicism shown by those like yourself is frightening and is indicative of me to a country/electorate that has lost its very soul.

Aquagirl

June 28th, 2010
9:43 pm

Get over it Terry, or employee of Terry.

Yes, I’m cynical. I’m quite cynical in the age of the internet, where anyone can make a website plugging their own “truth.” I’m VERY cynical when that “truth” is only found on that website, and not in anyone else’s reality.

If you really think there’s a Black Helicopter Conspiracy, I suggest you contact one of the AJC reporters. Oh, wait, they’re all part of the grand conspiracy, run by the all-powerful Bibb County! Well, too bad, you’ll have to confine your whining to hijacking blogs with more readership, trying to lure people to your axe-grinding website. Hey, it worked for the 9/11 truthers, maybe you’ll have some luck.

Please, save your grandiose notions about souls for church. On second thought—You’re hijacking a blog by posting anonymously about a financial dispute in which you obviously have a stake. Maybe you should spend a little more time on the thought of lost souls. Start with your bathroom mirror.

IndependentsVoteToo

June 28th, 2010
10:57 pm

I’m from Arizona. I am going to vote for the Democrat, Goddard, for Governor. I have no harsh words for Jan Brewer. It was Napolitano who left her with the state, taking a job with Obama. Brewer was Sec of State. I will not be backing many Democrats, but whereas I think Brewer is just trying to do what she thinks is right, I will back her opponent, Goddard, in all likelihood.

IndependentsVoteToo

June 28th, 2010
11:01 pm

Hi, Robert from Phoenix. I do have to agree that our Governor Jan Brewer follows and as you know, we have some whackjobs in the Arizona House and Senate. I’m so weary of the fights in Arizona that I am going to Augusta Georgia next week for a visit!!!!

lexo

June 29th, 2010
8:13 am

It’s impossible to stop illegal immigration, it is impossible to deport 100% illegals, those are just fantasies. Hope that High Court will deal in a more intelligent way.
share your opinion at http://immigration.civiltalks.com

Monroe County

June 29th, 2010
9:41 am

Aquagirl, so your position is that if it isn’t printed in the AJC, it isn’t real. Right.

You are looking for truth to be in someone else’s reality, and NOT only on the website?

Try this (forgive the URL, these are news paper articles photocopied and put on the website):

http://www.bibbmonroebattle.com/docMonroeCoReporter100709.html

http://www.bibbmonroebattle.com/docMonroeCoReporter101409.html

Be sure to take a look at the law firm representing Monroe County (and echoing my arguments here) in the top article I posted. How is that for a source other than the website?

Here is a response to an editorial posted by someone in Macon, just last week. Scroll about 2/3rds of the way down in the response section, and read the response titled “Ask Handel”

http://www.macon.com/2010/06/24/1173108/this-is-viewpoints-for-thursday.html

I am sorry if this is a new story to you. Karen Handel’s inaction on this issue is widely documented and most everyone in the mid-state knows about it. I hope that if you are on the fence about who to support, you will take a hard look at what I am trying to show you.

The Raven

June 29th, 2010
4:42 pm

According to the ACLU, no human is illegal: http://www.aclu.org/immigrants-rights

Thank you, ACLU for clarifying where you stand on civil liberties for legal immigrants and AMERICANS.

Here is what the ACLU represents in Tennessee:

ACLU-Tennessee Executive Director Hedy Weinberg urged the governor to veto the legislation, calling it “un-American.”– http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/jun/2...

In Nebraska: http://www.ketv.com/news/23973910/detail.html

In Arizona: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/17/natio...

Just how American do you think the ACLU is? Oh, you’re not convinced yet? Will the ACLU defend these illegal invaders?

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondea...

What say you, ACLU? Do you defend Americans, or do you just defend those who are not white? When will the ACLU represent Americans (all of them)? Who’s the racist now? It’s not me.

Doubt me not. The ACLU is composed of communists that needs properly investigated.

Jayne M. Barker

July 6th, 2010
2:05 pm

I like the “Bring it on Girl”….

Jayne M. Barker

July 6th, 2010
2:07 pm

I like the “Bring it on Girl”!

Monroe Countian also

July 6th, 2010
11:24 pm

I too will remember what has NOT been done at election time. She may think Bibb has more voters, but do they vote? This is a contentious issue and should have been settled months ago. She has had her chance.

Arizona’s Long Reach | KPLU

July 15th, 2010
3:38 pm

[...] when a Georgia gubernatorial candidate, former Secretary of State Karen Handel, made a Brewer endorsement a major talking point of her [...]

Jayne M. Barker

July 31st, 2010
7:36 pm

“Birds of a feather flock together”… I have three teachers in the Atlanta area and one in Middle Georgia in my immediat family. Last count I had, there are 158 others counties. My families live in Fulton and are big Handel supporters. I’m shocked at the GOP legislators but in
the final analysis it is people like you and me that will decide….

Jayne M. Barker

July 31st, 2010
7:47 pm

Among other things, Brian Robinson is a “smart mouth” and keeps his
foot there most of the time. My Cox ancestors were from Cobb
County and some, including my Grandfather, are buried there. I doubt
you can speak for all 3,000 teachers??? Suppose he loses????