proficient citizens, to bring an interpreter into the voting booth to read or explain the ballot to them. Therefore having ballots in English alone does not stop any citizen from casting an informed vote.
      McAlpin also hit hard at the following points:
—  Two General Accounting Office (GAO) reports to Congress in 1986 and 1997, found overwhelming evidence that bilingual ballots are a wasteful, un-funded mandate that costs state and local taxpayers millions of dollars every election, and bilingual ballots are scarcely used.
—  Bilingual ballots undermine the integrity of the naturalization process by removing a major incentive for immigrants to learn English.
—   Bilingual ballots are an affront to millions of naturalized citizens, including many members of ProEnglish who have played by the rules and worked hard to learn English.
—   Congress never intended bilingual ballots to be a perpetual mandate. They were adopted as a temporary remedy because proponents claimed the literacy rate of certain groups was below the national average due to an historic lack of educational opportunities. Today the driving factor behind the literacy rates of Asians and Hispanics is the large percentage of each group that is foreign born.
—   Bilingual ballots send the harmful message that it's OK for Americans to be segregated by language.
      People can send a (free) fax to their congressmen expressing their opposition to renewing bilingual ballots by visiting the ProEnglish Fax Center at www.proenglish.org.
      ProEnglish's testimony is posted on ProEnglish's website, and can also be obtained by writing to:

ProEnglish Publications,
1601 N. Kent, No. 1100,
Arlington, VA 22209.

In Congress:
House committee chairman holds keys to official English
      A bill in Congress to make English the official language has attracted overwhelming bipartisan support. The English Language Unity Act, H.R. 997, introduced by Rep. Steve King (R-IA), is the most widely supported official English legislation in the House in nearly a decade.
      One hundred and forty-four congressmen, comprising almost a third of the entire U.S. House of Representatives, have signed on as official cosponsors of the bill. The list includes conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats including one member of the Congressional Black Caucus. With so much bipartisan support, H.R. 997 would likely pass overwhelmingly if it came to the floor of the House for a vote.
      But the bill is currently bottled up in committee and may never have a chance to come to the House floor for a vote. Here is the problem:
      Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) is the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. This is the key committee that has to consider and report H.R. 997 out to the House before it can come to the floor for a vote. Rep. Boehner happens to be a co-sponsor of H.R. 997, which would make it appear an easy thing to get the bill taken up in the Education and Workforce Committee.
      But things in Washington D.C. are rarely as simple as they seem. And thus far Boehner's committee has made no commitment to hold hearings or begin consideration of H.R. 997. This is despite of his co-sponsorship and polls showing an overwhelming 79 percent of voters support making English the official language. Some Capitol Hill observers think that big business interests like the National Chamber of Commerce, as well as extreme multicultural groups, are putting pressure on Boehner to keep the bill bottled up until Congress runs out of time to consider it.
      Others think that Boehner's commitment to official English is sincere and that he does not want to be remembered as the congressman that blocked the passage of such popular badly needed legislation.
      ProEnglish Chairman Bob Park said, "On behalf of ProEnglish's members nationwide I urge Chairman Boehner to use the power entrusted to him by the voters and pass official English legislation out of his committee without delay."

What You Can Do
To call your U.S. Senators or U.S. Representative, call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to their office. To express your views on official English to President Bush, call (202) 456-1414. To send a free fax via the Internet to your congressional representatives and get information about bills in Congress, visit ProEnglish's website, www.ProEnglish.org.

Kings lead opposition to bilingual ballots
      Two champions of official English joined forces last month to urge the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee not to reauthorize the bilingual ballot requirements of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).
      Reps. Peter King (R-Iowa) and Steve King (R-NY) jointly wrote House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), urging him to end Congresses' bilingual ballot mandate. The letter was co-signed by 48 other members of Congress (see list on opposite page).
      [Ed.: Since publication, the number of signatories has risen to 56]
      "We believe [bilingual ballots] encourage the linguistic division of our nation and contradict the 'Melting Pot' ideal that has made us the most successful multi-ethnic nation on earth," the letter stated. "They are a serious affront to generations of immigrants past and present that have made great sacrifices to learn English in order to become naturalized citizens."
      The congressmen's message pointed to the waste of taxpayer funds. "Almost 300 counties in 30 states are required to have [bilingual election materials] costing taxpayers millions of dollars," the letter stated. "But two [General Accounting Office] reports found evidence that in many cases these materials are hardly used."
      The letter went on to point out that bilingual ballots contradict "the requirement that immigrants need to demonstrate the ability to read and understand English in order to become naturalized citizens."
      Both King's have introduced bills in the 109th Congress to make English the official language.

Bilingual Ballot Opposition Letter Co-signers (48)
Rep. Peter King (R-NY)
Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO)
Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.)
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD)
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Rep. John Boozman (R-AR)
Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-NH)
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
Rep. Henry Brown (R-SC)
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN)
Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. John Campbell (R-CA)
Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC)
Rep. John Culberson (R-TX)
Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA)
Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA)
Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)
Rep. John Duncan (R-TN)
Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA)
Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX)
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO)
Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-MN)
Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN)
Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC)
Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK)
Rep. William Jenkins (R-TN)
Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC)
Rep. John Kline (R-MN)
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL)
Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-IL)
Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA)
Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN)
Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA)
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA)
Rep. Jim Ryun (R-KS)
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA)
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA)
Rep. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
[Additions since publication:
Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-WY)
Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
Rep. J. D. Hayworth (R-AZ)
Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-MN)
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA)
Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) ]

New official English bill would revoke bilingual ballots
      Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced new official English legislation that also repeals the bilingual ballot requirements of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). The bill number is H.R. 4408.
      Rep. King introduced his bill in the middle of a debate in Congress about whether to renew the bilingual ballot provisions of the VRA. The bilingual ballot provisions will expire in August 2007 unless Congress votes to extend them.
      But getting Congress either to revoke or to let bilingual ballots expire will be an uphill battle, thanks to the strong support they have from the Bush Administration.
      ProEnglish Executive Director K.C. McAlpin welcomed the move by Rep. King and pledged the organization's full support for H.R. 4408.
      "I'm hard pressed to think of a more consistent champion for official English over the past decade than Congressman Peter King," said ProEnglish Executive Director K.C. McAlpin.
      During his 14-year career in Congress, Rep. Peter King has introduced official English bills four times. On other occasions he has been an enthusiastic cosponsor of official English bills.
      Rep. King is also the author of a bill revoking Executive Order 13166. Issued by President Clinton and backed by President Bush, the order requires federal agencies and recipients of federal funds to provide translations and interpreters for non-English speakers.

Activist judges use bilingual rules to block citizen initiatives
      A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that recall petitions and citizens' initiatives are subject to the bilingual ballot requirements of the Voting Rights Act. The judges said petitions used for such campaigns must be translated into other languages or risk being held invalid.
      The controversial decision came in a lawsuit challenging a successful 2003 recall election in Santa Ana, California that removed a member of the school board. The recall campaign was led by Hispanic parents upset over the school's efforts to keep their children in bilingual classes despite statewide passage of a citizen's initiative in 1998 to end bilingual education. The recall election resulted in a 70 percent vote in favor of removing the school board member.
      The lawsuit's opponents argued that applying bilingual ballot requirements to citizens' initiatives and petitions would unfairly burden and chill efforts at grass roots democracy. They pointed out that printing petitions in English alone did not obligate anyone to sign such petitions, and should not be used as an excuse to invalidate the signatures of those who signed.
      The ruling did not affect the outcome of the Santa Ana school board election. But unless overturned, it sets a chilling precedent for future initiative campaigns.
      A month after the Ninth Circuit decision, another court granted the mayor of Rosemead CA an injunction to stop a scheduled recall election aimed at removing him from office. That recall campaign had been organized by citizens upset at the mayor's support for the construction of a Wall-Mart Super Center in Rosemead.

NYC mayor tries to block multilingual report cards
      New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appears to have blocked - at least temporarily - a city council bill that would have required city schools to translate report cards in as many as eight languages in addition to English.
      The bill passed the city council on a 35-11 vote at the council's final session in 2005. It would have provided for the translation of report cards and other school communications into Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, Urdu, and Arabic. But the mayor pledged to veto the bill on the grounds that the expected price tag - $20 million - was excessive, and that under New York law only the state had the right to pass a measure.
      The council's Republican minority leader, James Oddo, called the bill "misguided" and labeled it, "an attack on the most fundamental and common bonds that Americans have."
      But the mayor's victory may be temporary. Democratic leaders who control a solid majority of the city council seats have vowed to override his veto early in 2006.

Bush asks for (yet another) Puerto Rican vote on statehood
      The Bush Administration has asked Congress to authorize another referendum on Puerto Rico statehood. It would be the fourth time Puerto Rican voters have considered the issue since the island nation became a U.S. commonwealth in 1952. And every time a majority of Puerto Rico's voters rejected statehood.
      The request came on the heels of a report by the Administration's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status. The report did not endorse any of the three possible options - statehood, full-independence, or staying a U.S. commonwealth. Instead it urged Congress to set a vote by the end of the year.
      But ProEnglish Board Chairman Bob Park said the Administration's action is clearly aimed at advancing the idea of statehood. "Despite the fact that statehood has been rejected by Puerto Rico's voters in three separate elections, the Bush Administration and the big business interests it represents want them to keep voting until they get the answer right," said Park.
      "We are strongly opposed to admitting Puerto Rico as a state," he added, "because it has two official languages. So if Puerto Rico becomes a state it will force a de facto bilingual government on the people of the United States against their will."
      Pro-statehood and pro-commonwealth parties have battled for control of Puerto Rico's government for decades, while pro-independence parties have failed to win significant backing. The 2004 election resulted in a divided government with statehood forces winning decisive control of the legislature, but the commonwealth party winning the governor's office.

FL solon wants Spanish mandatory in schools
      A Florida legislator is pushing a bill that would require Spanish to be taught as a core subject in kindergarten through second grade in all Florida schools.
      State Senator Les Miller (D-Tampa) introduced the legislation, Senate Bill 522, this fall. But educators said finding enough money and teachers would pose problems that the bill fails to address. "Even if they gave us the money, finding the teachers would be very difficult," said Dorothy Carregal, the superintendent of foreign languages in Hillsborough FL schools.
      Miller who is a candidate for the 11th congressional district being vacated by U.S. Rep. Jim Davis (D-FL) said that he had not talked to other politicians or educators before introducing his bill.

ProEnglish adds two to national board
      Two distinguished Americans recently accepted invitations to join ProEnglish's national board of directors. They are: author and educator Rosalie Pedalino Porter, Ed.D., and doctor of orthopedic surgery, Clifford W. Colwell, Jr. M.D.
      Dr. Porter is a naturalized citizen who arrived in the United States at age six speaking hardly a word of English. She is an accomplished author and scholar who specializes in English as a second language (ESL) education. She has been a fellow at Harvard University, a Spanish bilingual teacher, a director of bilingual/ESL programs in the Newton, MA public schools, and chairman of the Massachusetts Commission on bilingual education. In 2002 she co-chaired English for the Children Massachusetts, which led the successful statewide campaign to abolish bilingual education programs in favor of English immersion teaching techniques.
      Dr. Colwell is Director of the Shirley Center for Orthopedic Research & Education at the world-renown Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, CA and founder of its division of orthopedic surgery. He is a clinical professor at the University of California at San Diego and team physician of the San Diego Padres major league baseball team. Dr. Colwell has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles and delivered more than 200 professional presentations. He is a long-time ProEnglish member and the lead plaintiff in ProEnglish's current lawsuit challenging the Department of Health and Human Services rules implementing Executive Order 13166.
      ProEnglish Chairman Bob Park said, "It would be hard to find two more able and distinguished Americans. Their experience and backgrounds will be tremendous assets for ProEnglish's board as we continue the drive to make English our official language."

Another CA school system opts for immersion
      This fall the Vista Unified School District in California announced that it was giving up on failed bilingual education programs in favor of proven "structured immersion" methods for teaching students English.
      Vista Unified Trustee Steve Lilly said, "There is no question that the only thing we can do to benefit English learners the most is to move into English (immersion) instruction as quickly as possible."
      School officials said testing required by the No Child Left Behind Act showed too many students in the district's bilingual education classrooms were lagging behind while their counterparts in immersion style classrooms tested well.
      Californians voted overwhelmingly to end bilingual education in a 1998 statewide referendum. But under intense pressure from the bilingual education industry, many school districts like Vista Unified resisted changing to immersion. These schools used a loophole that allowed parents to sign waivers keeping their children in bilingual classrooms. By encouraging parents to sign, Vista Unified succeeded in keeping up to half of its English learners in bilingual programs.
      ProEnglish Chairman Bob Park said, "This decision means that all children in the Vista Unified School District will now have a real chance to learn English and grow up to lead far more successful lives. We are very, very pleased." Vista Unified joins a long list of school districts that have given up on bilingual ed - one of the most costly and disastrous educational experiments in American history. FL solon wants Spanish mandatory in schools
      A Florida legislator is pushing a bill that would require Spanish to be taught as a core subject in kindergarten through second grade in all Florida schools.
      State Senator Les Miller (D-Tampa) introduced the legislation, Senate Bill 522, this fall. But educators said finding enough money and teachers would pose problems that the bill fails to address. "Even if they gave us the money, finding the teachers would be very difficult," said Dorothy Carregal, the superintendent of foreign languages for Hillsborough FL schools.
      Miller, who is a candidate for the 11th congressional district being vacated by U.S. Rep. Jim Davis (D-FL), said that he had not talked to other politicians or educators before introducing his bill.

Santa Ana Chamber helps immigrants learn English
      The Santa Ana CA Chamber of Commerce is embarking on a massive program to help teach English in a city with one of the highest concentrations of Spanish speakers in the nation. The Chamber's plan named "English Works" has an ambitious goal of raising $20 million to teach 50,000 non-English speaking adults to speak English over the next five years.
      The idea is to raise the money from local businesses that recognize that improving the job skills of Santa Ana's workforce is vital to the region's future economic prosperity. According to the 2000 Census, 79 percent of Santa Ana's residents speak a language other than English at home.
      The innovative program, dubbed a "Marshall Plan for English," plans to send English-as a-second-language (ESL) teachers into the neighborhoods where residents live rather than simply add classes at faraway, centrally located locations. Another of the Chamber's goals is to offer the classes for free.
      Local officials have received the plan enthusiastically. Santa Ana City Councilman Jose Solorio said, "We have so many English learners that anything the business community and other partners can do to promote English is to be commended."
      ProEnglish Chairman Bob Park agreed. "This is great news for the people of Santa Ana. The Census shows that immigrants who speak English well earn almost one and a half times as much as those who don't," Park said. "We salute the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce and hope their example will be duplicated by business groups and other organizations throughout the country that are concerned about the well-being of their communities."

"There is no political agenda here. We are not talking about getting rid of Spanish. We are talking about an additional tool to reach the American Dream."
- Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce vice chairman Alfredo Amezcua