<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">from today's <i>Tennessean:</i><div><br></div><div>Aug. 15, 2008</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 16px; "></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; "><p><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">English-only ballot drive brings count, robust debate</span></font></font><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br></span></font></font><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br></span></font></font><font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Should measure gain approval, enforcement questions remain<br></span></font></font><font><i><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">By JANELL ROSS<br></span></span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">Staff Writer</span></span></font></i></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Davidson County Election Commission workers will launch the painstaking process of verifying 12,503 signatures today, ultimately deciding whether an English-only measure makes the Nov. 4 ballot.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Metro Nashville Councilman Eric Crafton dropped off signed petition postcards Thursday, well before Saturday's deadline and with what he said is enough margin of error to account for unqualified voters or signatures that can't be verified. Crafton's measure needs 10,103 valid signatures to be included.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">The measure would prevent city business from being done in any language other than English. But exactly how it would be carried out — if at all — upon passage is up for debate.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">President Bill Clinton signed an order in 2000 that made reasonable translation services a protected civil right to prevent discrimination based on national origin. Governments must publish ballots in other languages, and any program that accepts federal dollars must work with people who aren't English-proficient.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Even some of the biggest proponents of English-only initiatives say enforcement is tough.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">"An official English language resolution is often treated a lot like a 'we love the spotted owl' resolution," said Jim Boulet Jr., executive director of the Springfield, Va.-based English First. "It's there, but it has no power because it's not enforced."</span></font></p><p><font><b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">ACLU will watch closely</span></font></b></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">While the Metro Nashville charter does not give the mayor authority to decline to implement voter-approved charter amendments, Mayor Karl Dean has options, said George Cate Jr., a former vice mayor who also served on a charter amendment committee.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Dean can ask for a legal opinion on the initiative's constitutionality and decide how to interpret the amendment's language.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">"I guess in some respects he could try to put a very restrictive interpretation on it and not apply it anymore often than he has to," Cate said.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">The American Civil Liberties Union in Nashville indicated that it would closely examine the constitutional questions raised by the measure. And Crafton said he would do what he must to see that the law would be enforced.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">A similar English-only measure passed the Metro Council but was vetoed last year by then-mayor Bill Purcell. This time, to bypass the possibility of a mayoral veto, Crafton opted to attempt to amend the Metro Charter.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">At his media conference Thursday, Crafton and two initiative supporters carried three sealed plastic storage containers full of petition postcards into the clerk's office.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">"To me, these cards represent thousands of voices crying out to be heard on this issue," Crafton said. "The citizens are not going to be held hostage by the threat of lawsuits."</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Davidson County Election Administrator Ray Barrett said four to six members of his staff would compare the signatures and addresses on the petition cards to scanned images of voter registration cards.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">In general, the names and signatures need not be exact matches. For instance, a petition card signed "Janice R. Smith" and a corresponding voter registration card with the same address and signed "Jan Smith" can be verified, as long as the addresses and writing match in some way.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Barrett said he does not believe monitors interested in the verification process will be allowed inside areas where the work takes place. People on either side of the petition and ballot initiative that ultimately brought the Titans to Nashville watched the verification process through a window.</span></font></p><p><font><b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Verifying signatures</span></font></b></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Crafton said he expects 2 to 4 percent of the signatures will not be verified. If he is correct, the petition would appear on the November ballot. Crafton and his supporters must have 10,103 verified signatures, a figure equaling 10 percent of the voters who participated in the last general election.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">If they do, the English-only measure will be weighed by a city deeply divided about the issue.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">A Web site is selling T-shirts and bumper stickers that say, "Crafton es un tonto" (Crafton is a fool) next to a picture of a sombrero-wearing man.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Some of the signed petition cards included messages like "Councilman Crafton, thank you!" and "Thanks for helping us take our country back." Others were returned unsigned with obscene messages, including, "Go (expletive deleted) yourself Crafton."</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">"There is not a coherent argument among them," said English-only proponent Jon athan Crisp, former Davidson County Republican Party chairman.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">But Mayor Dean, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the Nashville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Davidson County Democratic Party and others have issued statements or resolutions condemning the ballot initiative.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">The Metro Council also overwhelmingly approved last week a measure calling on voters not to sign the petition cards or support the measure if it appears on the ballot.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">"As we look to grow existing business and to attract new business, this affects our ability to do that," said Debby Dale Mason, the Nashville Area Chamber's chief community action officer. "I know this has been said before, but this … is not who we are."</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">The Davidson County Republican Party has not taken an official position.</span></font></p><p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">"There is a pretty strong divide as I am sure there is in the Democratic Party on this," said Tom Lawless, Davidson County Republican Party chairman. "So it is probably going to be difficult for us to take a position as a party."</span></font></p></span></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><a href="http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080815/NEWS0206/808150410">http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080815/NEWS0206/808150410</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>____________________</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">Dennis Baron</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">Professor of English and Linguistics</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">Department of English<span class="Apple-converted-tab"> </span><span class="Apple-converted-tab"> </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">University of Illinois<span class="Apple-converted-tab"> </span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">608 S. Wright St.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; ">Urbana, IL 61801 </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">office: 217-244-0568</font><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica">fax: 217-333-4321</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 12px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></font></div></span><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000EE" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(72, 72, 72); font-size: 11px; "><a target="_new" href="http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron" title="My faculty home page" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 128); text-decoration: none; ">http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron</a></span></span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><br class="khtml-block-placeholder"></font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3">read the Web of Language:</font></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#144FAE" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(72, 72, 72); font-size: 11px; "><a target="_new" href="http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage" title="The Web of Language blog" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 128); text-decoration: none; ">http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage</a></span></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000EE" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><br></span></font></div></span></div><div><div><br></div></div></div></span></div></span></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></div></body></html>