Accusing Seabaugh of "voting with the liberals," the flyer explains

that SR 827 originally established a committee to study the effects (read:

negative impact) of illegal immigration on Georgiaís economy. Instead,

the flyer goes on, the liberals transformed the committee into one studying

the benefits (read: positive impact) of illegal immigration. The flyer blasts

Seabaugh for his support of this change and for the appropriation of three

of the committee's seats to "pro-illegal immigration advocates."

Yet the Ebersbach campaign is guilty of the common but lamentable practice

of massaging information. By doing some simple research, voters can uncover

Ebersbachís half-truths.

Look up SR 827's language on the Georgia General Assembly's website,

and you will find that the "benefit" language was joined with the "effect" language,

not exchanged for it. Thus, SR 827's committee will now study both.

Are we to believe that the committee's study of both aspects of illegal

immigration is a bad thing?

The flyer's claim that Seabaugh supports adding "pro-illegal immigration

advocate" seats to the committee requires closer scrutiny as well. The

amendment gives three committee seats to the Governor's Latino Commission

for a New Georgia, the Mexican American Business Chamber, and the Georgia

Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

I spoke with Lauran Salas, Public Affairs Director of the Georgia Hispanic

Chamber of Commerce. She was surprised that anyone would call her organization "pro-illegal

immigration." In fact, Salas explained to me that the Chamber recently

attended a national conference in Washington D.C. that focused on the Bush

Administration's shared initiatives with Hispanic Chambers of Commerce

around the country. Salas stated that the Ebersbach campaign's language

was misrepresentative of the Chamber and that the campaign obviously did

not understand the Chamber enough to be mentioning it.

The Ebersbach flyer concludes with a final morsel of pandering pathos. Ebersbach

enjoins readers to trust her voting consistency based on the fact that she

is a "former Sunday School teacher."

This language is most egregious, as it implies that believers in the Gospel

are honor-bound to support her political positions.

As a Christian, I fail to see how the flyer's vehemently negative stance

toward immigration is necessarily consistent with the teachings of Jesus

Christ. Perhaps I missed the beatitude that calls blessed those who jealously

guard their economic and social boundaries from their neighbors. The complexity

involved in issues like immigration policy does not belong conflated into

the certain moral and polemical perspective required of a Sunday School teacher.

The race is over; Ebersbach lost to Seabaugh. However, I find it necessary

to resist the sophomoric rhetoric of the Ebersbach campaign. It allows us

to extrapolate a moral for those seeking office.

Many politicians thrive on BINARY language: conservative or liberal; democrat

or republican; patriot or terrorist. Such categorization seeks to eclipse

one position as entirely wrong and another as entirely right. Some issues,

on a varying scale for all of us are that certain. The problem with binary

thinking is that it often ignores genuine analysis and solutions that lie

between two extremes. The true political acumen of some leaders allows them

to recognize the complexities of governing people and establishing law. Let's

hope Seabaugh is one of these.

Patriots, Americans should expect more, both from themselves and from their

leaders, than lowest common denominator binary language.

Pete Rorabaugh

Senoia