Sonny Perdue and fear that Georgia ‘not a state to be seen in if you’re of a different color’
Doug Richards of 11Alive has been doing a fine job of covering the impact of Georgia’s new illegal immigration bill. In this clip, he has a former Gov. Sonny Perdue making some careful statements that might be viewed as criticism of the Legislature’s action this spring:
Not all of Perdue’s remarks are shown on video. From the 11Alive website:
“I wanted Georgia to be known as a state that was friendly and welcoming to people,” Perdue said. “And while I absolutely believe in the rule of law and that people should be here legally, I think we should be hospitable and kind and compassionate.”
Perdue said the shortage of agricultural workers is understandable, given that field work has been traditionally the domain of Hispanic migrant workers.
“There’s a real legitimate worker shortage where there is a real fear and perception that Georgia is probably not a state to be seen in if you’re of a different color,” Perdue said. “And I don’t think that’s what Georgia wants to be known as.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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104 comments Add your comment
IntownWriter
June 16th, 2011
8:18 pm
“I wanted Georgia to be known as a state that was friendly and welcoming to people,” Perdue said. “And while I absolutely believe in the rule of law and that people should be here legally, I think we should be hospitable and kind and compassionate.” Excuse me, but has Sonny turned back into a Demcrat??
IntownWriter
June 16th, 2011
8:19 pm
That’s “DemOcrat.”
HCH
June 16th, 2011
8:27 pm
I think Sonny may have found some time for reading his Bible.
Greg
June 16th, 2011
8:30 pm
Thank you Sonny. Now that your financial future is secure based upon your tenure as Governor, you can go back to your core values and belief. It would have been nice if you had shown some this during your tenure as Governor. Maybe we would have predatory lending, massive bank failures and sweet heart deals to your friends and relatives.
Romegaguy
June 16th, 2011
8:32 pm
Boat ramps are the solutions to all of our problems
steve
June 16th, 2011
8:48 pm
What a bum. Our current Governor is so far ahead of this boss hog type political figure its measured in light years. Go make money off your time in office Sonny Didn’t.
Judith
June 16th, 2011
8:49 pm
No is a farmer. Can’t continue making those big profits without illegal labor. Boo hoo.
GallowayIsAHack
June 16th, 2011
8:51 pm
Jim Galloway, have you EVER written a blog entry that isn’t slanted towards the liberal view? Everything you post is anti-conservative. You seek out every bleeding heart story or every anti-conservative soundbite you can find and wrap your snark around it. Hacks like you and Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman are a HUGE reason that the AJC has gone downhill so much. You, sir, are truly a joke. We are an overwhelmingly red state and the AJC has losers like you as writers. The AJC, like you, is utterly clueless.
Centrist
June 16th, 2011
8:58 pm
Just another of dozens (maybe more than a gross?) of attacks on this popular legislation. The AJC and other minority opponents just won’t let go.
tom mitchell
June 16th, 2011
9:01 pm
Sonny Perdue is a thinly-disguised racist who has used illegal immigrants for decades at below-min imum wage to pick his and his pals rops in Houston County What a pig of a man.
Trial Lawyer
June 16th, 2011
9:04 pm
Lester Maddox
Lester Maddox George Wallace and JB Stoner would be so proud of the general assembly. You Repubs don’t realize how much you have hurt this state especially when trying to attract international industry
Doug
June 16th, 2011
9:13 pm
“GallowayIsAHack” is a Flat Footed Redneck Hick.
eatmotacos
June 16th, 2011
9:18 pm
Sonny buys grain from farmers. Now that he is no longer a politician, it is time to schmooze the farmers. He is still using his notoriety to promote his own interest. Nothing new here.
SuperGeorge
June 16th, 2011
9:19 pm
Mr. Perdue looks like a person who understands chicken and egg problems.
What is first; the job or the business?
Some people need to start understanding a few things;
1) At this point States can not create jobs.
2) States can not deport many, (not enough resources).
3) When people move IN to a State a lot of business is created, creating jobs.
When people move out of State empty houses, Apts, and some basic economic activity goes out of State and is not replaced overnight.
The same happen with integration and racial problems.
As Brian Stults of the University of Florida at Gainesville explained: “It’s sort of a chicken-and-egg problem: We need integration in schools to lessen prejudice, which will then reduce residential segregation, but in order to have school integration, we need residential integration.
working stiff
June 16th, 2011
9:19 pm
Come on, guys. Don’t get down on Jim. He has to write that kind of liberal trash or the sisters will fire him from the fish wrapper. You know with the economy being what it is and jobs so hard to come by and all.
working stiff
June 16th, 2011
9:22 pm
And by the way, Sonny has always been a southern democrat. He just waved the republican banner to get elected. He ain’t shtoopped.
james
June 16th, 2011
9:24 pm
Trial Lawyer. attract international industry?? Really? at a time when the US has the highest corporate tax rate, do you really think any company wants to come to the US?
This new law isnt about Republican-Democrats and what either party sees or doesnt see.
This is about being in the state of georgia illegally. and taxpayers having to foot the bill for most all the extra schooling, hospitalization, welfare that people who are here illegally should not be getting in the first place. not to mention the cost when they are jailed
td
June 16th, 2011
9:27 pm
Trial Lawyer
June 16th, 2011
9:04 pm
I think the latest poll said 70% of the state was in favor of this legislation. Since White are 59%, blacks 30%, Hispanics 9% and Asians 3%, that would mean that if all the whites were in favor then there would still have to be a high % of other races in favor of it. Are all of these people racist?
eatmotacos
June 16th, 2011
9:33 pm
@ jorge estupendo
“1) When people move IN to a State a lot of business is created, creating jobs.”
Jorge, I hate to disappoint you, but moving a lot of indigent people into the state doesn’t translate into creating jobs, unless you are referring to the process of distributing welfare checks.
TruthBe
June 16th, 2011
9:35 pm
AJC employees are racist. Isn’t that so Jim?
eatmotacos
June 16th, 2011
9:42 pm
Jim has a comb over. What do you expect? If he were a straight shooter, he would not try to conceal his baldness.
Reality Sux
June 16th, 2011
9:50 pm
Hundreds, maybe thousands of Georgia farmers will go broke when their crops die on the vines…No illegal immigrants to pick the crops at dirt cheap wages.
But those Georgia farmers can sleep well at night, knowing that the GOP has protected their ability to pass their bankrupt farm to their kids with zero estate taxes.
Go figure !
MM
June 16th, 2011
9:52 pm
James @ 9:24,
First, U.S has high “nominal” corporate tax on paper but “effective” corporate tax rate is lowest in decades and below almost all industrialized countries. That’s what Washington lobbyists are for.
Second, illegals have brought down the cost of labor for themselves and others giving us cheap hamburgers. Just two weeks ago an Hispanic work crew took a large oak tree downed in a storm at about 76% the cost quoted me by a non-Hispanic team. Business interests (mostly Repubs in this state but many Demos too) have liked the idea of making profits from cheap Hispanic labor and then socializing the cost of their employment back to the “public” sector. Your friendly local conservative politician has long supportd this charade but resistance from the public has finally caught up with them.
Purdue was gov under the old system of look the other way but now Deal has to figure how to square the circle. The answer is not going to have anything to do with probationers, either.
Big t
June 16th, 2011
10:05 pm
Framer-Less profit-Pay labor more…do not use illegal workers.
I’m willing to pay more for food, IF we can STOP the illegals from driving up the cost of health and social services and increase cost for crime pervention and incarceration.
The State of Georgia needs HB87.
south ga. possum
June 16th, 2011
10:07 pm
Right on GallowaysAHack. JG and the AJC displayed this same liberal slant during the state election last year. Did everything possible to see to it Deal didn’t win. Still prints all it can find that may be negative about him and his family. I don’t think the AJC will ever leave him alone. And as for Perdue and the immigration laws…He didn’t have what it took to push for legislation to protect Georgia. He left that for Nathan Deal…And he had the intestinal fortitude to sign immigration legislation that finally gives Georgia a law to protect us from the illegals and the drain they put on the states economy. Like it or not JG and you AJC cronies…Nathan Deal is Man enough to stand up for what is right and for what is best for Georgia. If you guys will get off his back and give him a little support he’ll make Georgia a good governor and lead the state in the right direction. With only one session behind them the legislature has already learned this.
Big t
June 16th, 2011
10:08 pm
HB87 for the kids and grandkids, great grandkids
MM is a fool
June 16th, 2011
10:08 pm
@MM, the Hispanic work crew can low ball the bid because they are paying illegal workers’ cash under the table. They avoid FICA and rip off their workers’ compensation company (if they have it in the first place). The result of this behavior falls on the backs of the tax payers. Don’t blame the rich Republican business community either. A lot of these contractors are Hispanic owned businesses which rely heavily on illegal labor. I see it on a daily basis. Shame, shame, shame.
SuperGeorge
June 16th, 2011
10:17 pm
This kind of legislation is based in ideas like
7 Millions or more illegals immigrants are working in the US illegally and those jobs should go to Americans and we are able to invent a law to change the market overnight.
At the same point some people is saying that the problem is due “moving a lot of indigent people into the state”.
Try to say, those illegals are indigent but are working a lot.
A contradiction of course!
Morons? May be.
That’s the reason when I want to create good jobs I do not go to the cheapest
Restaurant, therefore
I DO NOT EAT MORE TACOS !!!!
This is about a big recession with high unemployment where the gov can not do too much then we have to find a race with not much voice to finger point they are the race causing the problems and jobs went to China where they can compete better.
This happen when legislation is not based in reliable studies but ideas like:
1) We can do better than Arizona.
2)Federal gov will have to do something after this law
3)We think there will be no boycott.
4)The law is so perfect that nobody will fill lawsuit blocking the new law.
5) The State of GA will be seen like a friendly State anyway.
6) We will create overnight jobs for legal people.
But reality is that additional “undesired” problems are coming up.
Al Legal
June 16th, 2011
10:17 pm
Sonny P = the new Jimmy Carter
KissMyArse
June 16th, 2011
10:30 pm
Galloway is just reporting what formerly beloved Republican Governer Chicken Bubba said. You hack conservative pansies are sure a thin-skinned bunch.
KissMyArse
June 16th, 2011
10:35 pm
And South Ga. Possum, I suggest you leave the AJC to the better educated Atlanta folks. You stick to the Hahira News, the Waycross Times, or some such.
eatmotacos
June 16th, 2011
10:40 pm
@MM is a fool
The rich Republican business community is inadvertently creating the opportunity for the Hispanic contractors, while propping open the door for themselves, and they couldn’t care less. They are shortsighted inconsiderate fools who, like the “Carpet Cartel” in Dalton, think nothing of destroying their own hometown, and everyone in it, to make another buck. They would destroy the state, country, or the planet to acheive more personal wealth.
Tom E. Gunn
June 16th, 2011
10:41 pm
Sonny never has lived in Dalton or Calhoun. They picked up 12 today for using FALSE documents at one of the mills. THE OCCUPATION MUST END! Send the illegal invaders home!
Step away from the Kool-Aid
June 16th, 2011
10:41 pm
All of those whining about Georgia’s HB87, take a look at the immigration laws of other nations; start with Mexico! The federal government has an H2A Visa program that allows farmers to get an unlimited number of legal field workers. The main stipulations is that they have to pay the workers a living wage (appx $7/hr), provide adequate working & living conditions and provide the workers with three meals/day. This guest worker program has been in place for years! The reason groups like the ACLU, GALEO, etc. don’t talk about this program is because it deprives them of the opportunity to race bait & push their open borders philosophy. BTW, Sonny, illegal is not a race; so, throw your democrat race-baiting card in the trash & learn that the crime of illegal immigration costs GA $2.6B/year.
Who Said That?
June 16th, 2011
10:51 pm
For some reason Americans hold on to the “myth” of equality and justice, even when the truth is glaring them in their face and eroding their standard of living. This country was built on slave labor and the system is rigged to keep it that way. The wealthy don’t want to share their lives with you, they want to keep you under their heel, and they use the banking system, and lobbyists to keep it that way. After the African Americans shed the shackles of “capitalism”, “equality and justice for all”, and “free enterprise”, a new group of “workers” had to be found. Thus,the government did nothing to stop illegal immigration, because they needed new slaves to work the fields and clean their houses.
Now the rich want to blame immigrants for the economic woes of this state and nation… what a joke. This is nothing but a distraction to occupy your attention,while they continue to send jobs overseas and harbor profits offshore so they are not taxed.
Unfortunately most Americans aren’t concerned about this, they are more concerned about when the next Chinese built iPhone is coming out and what color the case will be. Wake up already!
Lea
June 16th, 2011
10:56 pm
Seriously? People should really worry about thinking if we are going to make it alive the next day! Worry about our love ones. And most importantly about themselves why worry about people who are only trying to help and who are trying to harm anybody in any way god made us all the same and thats why the world is comming to an end because of our bad behavior to the world and the people! Come on people we should really try to work things out and make them better not worse! Just remember..”we all the same through the eyes of god”
Red
June 16th, 2011
11:10 pm
Sonny’s just all about protecting his agribusiness buddies down south…same with Saxby. They’re good ol’ boys who love exploiting cheap labor. “We want to be welcoming. If we can welcome people willing to work for lower than minimum wage, we’ll keep welcoming them with open arms and hug them all.”
Cherokee
June 16th, 2011
11:13 pm
Good for Sonny. Although judging by the bulk of comments here, it’s EXACTLY what Georgians want – to be a state where folks of different colors aren’t welcome.
And if hundreds of farmers go bankrupt, and our food costs go up, so be it!
The Truth
June 16th, 2011
11:18 pm
Take a look around: I don’t think people even did vegetables anymore-who eats them!! (Partially kidding)
deegee
June 16th, 2011
11:40 pm
“I wanted Georgia to be known as a state that was friendly and welcoming to people,”
That’s a lie. He signed two Chip Rogers, anti-illegal immigrant laws into action. One in 2007 and another one in 2009. Now that he has to rub shoulders again with his neighbors in S. Georgia he’s Mahatma Ghandi. What a gasbag.
RGB
June 16th, 2011
11:42 pm
Law enforcement officials can “be hospitable and kind and compassionate” as they make the arrest.
eatmotacos
June 16th, 2011
11:42 pm
@cherokee
“And if hundreds of farmers go bankrupt, and our food costs go up, so be it!”
The government subsidized international corporate farmers aren’t going bankrupt. They will just ship in crops from their farms in Latin America. Don’t you ever look at the country of origin on the produce? It is very rare to find anything from Georgia?
RGB
June 16th, 2011
11:48 pm
Jim,
Perhaps tomorrow you can post an entry about the interview Hugh Hewitt (HH) had with Bernie Marcus (BM) concerning turning America’s economy around.
Here’s an excerpt:
HH: Let me ask you, Bernie Marcus, people will be very interested in this, do you think we can turn this around? Can this economy go back to the era of growth that Home Depot experienced in the 80s and 90s? Is that possible again?
BM: Listen, the American people are very resilient, unlike other people in the world. We just have to get out of their way. We just have to allow them to grow. And if we don’t do that, and we can’t keep putting in impediments. Look, I know so many small business people today. Nobody wants to expand. They’re not willing to expand today. There’s such uncertainty out there. You have a group of people in Washington today, where they’re the bad guys. I mean, if a man has a successful small business, and he’s making $200,000 dollars a year, he’s the enemy of the world.
HH: Yeah. Do you think the President understands this at all, Bernie Marcus?
BM: I…look, look. I’m sure this guy is, I’m sure his head is in the right place. He just doesn’t understand it. He never worked for a day in his life. How would he know it?
HH: Yeah.
BM: He never had to make a payroll, and he has surrounded himself…there’s a statistic that’s very important. They had a statistic on how many businesspeople worked in every administration. The typical one, the smallest one was something like 35% were in the business world. This administration, it’s 8%. He’s surrounded by college professors, he’s surrounded by economic professionals, but nobody has ever created a job in this administration.
(Go to hughhewitt.com/blog/)
Way to tell it like it is Bernie!
cs
June 17th, 2011
12:00 am
Piss on Perdue
Jay
June 17th, 2011
12:12 am
Sorry folks but Nathan Deal is a racist….you can take that to the bank.
vatiildal
June 17th, 2011
12:14 am
I know I’m not from your state but it seems you all are missing that cheap labor. Ilegal aliens were working under conditions and for pay that you think are beneath anyone else. I guess you feel that semi-slave labor is o.k. as long as they are illegal aliens. After all they aren’t going argue if they are under the “whip” of being sent back home if they do. You can all just sit in the porch sipping sweet tea and watch the little brown children run around the fields with their family cooking in the sun for you. What open hearts you have for these people, to let them work your fields for the honor of being there. How noble you are to fight for their right to stay and sweat for you. Makes we want to run down to L.A. and some of our illegals in the sweat shops.
Mad as Zell
June 17th, 2011
12:15 am
At first I thought the new law was a bit mean-spirited and perhaps went a little too far, but now that Mexico and South America has the audacity to try to tell us how to run our state, I’m glad they made the law. Who are they to tell use how to run our state? I’m glad the law pissed you off. Why don’t you concern yourself with the citizens in your own d!@# country?!
SuperGeorge
June 17th, 2011
12:34 am
HEEYY GA !
JUST SAY YOU DON’T LIKE BROWN PEOPLE AND STOP TRYING TO HIDE YOUR RACISM. WHY NOT ?
I DO NOT LIKE; YELLOW, BLACKS, SPANISH-BROWN, SPANISH-BLACKS, WHITES AND… ANY HUMAN FACE !!!
BECAUSE HUMAN RACE NOT GOOD !! .
HUMAN CAN NOT SOLVE :WARS; POVERTY , GLOBAL WARMING, RACISM. ETC…
I AM DAMMM RACIST. AND I LIKE IT AND I LOVE GA,……IS IN MY MIND !
SUPER-GEORGE/SUPER-RACE
VoiceOfReason
June 17th, 2011
12:48 am
SuperGeorge, Call your DR tonight, get back on the meds asap.
Dave
June 17th, 2011
12:48 am
A lot of teachers are jumping for joy this summer, from the quick results of HB87. God bless them. They have worked under difficult circumstances to try to bring illegal alien children up to speed on every subject under the sun, an impossible task. Over the last decade teachers have been beaten up, because they have not been able to raise average testing scores (nearly impossible with the invasion seen in Cobb, Gwinnett and DeKalb). Maybe US born children will be the beneficiaries of HB87 in Georgia. It will not take too long to know.