english-only initiative in Nashville

[Dennis Baron]

from today's Tennessean:

Aug. 15, 2008
English-only ballot drive brings count, robust debate

Should measure gain approval, enforcement questions remain

By JANELL ROSS
Staff Writer

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.

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.

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.

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.

Even some of the biggest proponents of English-only initiatives say  
enforcement is tough.

"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."

ACLU will watch closely

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.

Dean can ask for a legal opinion on the initiative's constitutionality  
and decide how to interpret the amendment's language.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

"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."

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.

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.

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.

Verifying signatures

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.

If they do, the English-only measure will be weighed by a city deeply  
divided about the issue.

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.

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."

"There is not a coherent argument among them," said English-only  
proponent Jon athan Crisp, former Davidson County Republican Party  
chairman.

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.

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.

"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."

The Davidson County Republican Party has not taken an official position.

"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."


http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080815/NEWS0206/808150410


____________________
Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

http://illinois.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
http://illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage







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