Benton backs 'birther' legislation

Ninety-three House members, including Benton, signed on as co-sponsors. However, 23 House members had second thoughts about the legislation after they learned that Speaker David Ralston did not want to see the bill reach the floor of the House, and removed their names.

“I signed onto the bill. I thought it was a good idea,” said Benton. “When I signed on to run for state representative I had to prove I was a citizen of Georgia, a citizen of the United States and a citizen of the district I was running in.”

The birther movement alleges that Obama, born of a Kenyan father, was not born in the United States. Hawaiian birth records say otherwise, but Hatfield has complained that he’s never seen documentation that Obama is eligible to serve. Nonetheless, Hatfield claims his bill is not about Obama.

As for Benton, consider him a birther.

“I think he’s (Obama) the only one who has refused to show his birth certificate,” Benton said.

Asked if he thought Obama was born in the United States, Benton replied, “I have my doubts about it.”

House Bill 401 would also prohibit from being on a Georgia presidential ballot any person who at any time had dual citizenship — a standard not required of presidential candidates by the U.S. Constitution.

The law would require all candidates for president or vice president to submit “a certified exact copy” of their “first original long-form birth certificate that includes the candidate’s date, time and place of birth; the name of the specific hospital or other location at which the candidate was born; the attending physician at the candidate’s birth; the names of the candidate’s birth parents and their respective birth places and places of residences.”

In the event that the “certified exact copy” of a birth certificate is not available, the candidate will be asked to produce “certified exact copies” of other documents, including birth or adoption records, baptismal records, Social Security records, medical records, school and college records, military records and passport records.

The bill also requires evidence attesting that the candidate has never been a citizen of any other nation “and that the candidate has never owed allegiance to any country or nation other than the United States of America.” It also requires affidavits identifying the candidate’s places of residence in the U.S. for the preceding 14 years.

In addition, the bill makes it illegal for a Georgia elector to cast his or her electoral college vote for a candidate not approved by the secretary of state as having met the bill’s eligibility standard.