Candidate Proposes Conservancy Adopt English-Only Policy : Politics: Richard Sybert, a Republican congressional hopeful, wants agency to stop spending for bilingual programs. Some officials are outraged.

A Republican congressional candidate is proposing that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy adopt an English-only policy for its publications and programs, a proposal that has surprised and outraged some conservancy officials.

Richard Sybert, a former senior aide to Gov. Pete Wilson and a candidate for the 24th Congressional District seat that includes Thousand Oaks, is a member of the conservancy board and will ask the panel to adopt the policy at its meeting Monday.

In addition to acquiring mountain property for parkland, the conservancy, a state agency, also provides funding for educational programs aimed at promoting park use.

Sybert, who was appointed to the conservancy by Wilson in December, said he wants the agency to stop spending taxpayer money on bilingual programs and to stop issuing grants to other organizations that do the same because he believes that it only promotes division.

“I think people’s desire for diversity has gone too far,” Sybert said. “We need to focus more on what unites us. And one of those things is the English language.”

But some of Sybert’s colleagues on the conservancy board said his proposal may be going too far. Speaking as chairman of the conservancy, Jerome C. Daniel said he supported Sybert’s right to bring his plan before the 10-member panel for consideration.

However, from a personal standpoint, Daniel said he was outraged by what he viewed as Sybert’s insensitivity to others. He said the conservancy spends a minimal amount of money on bilingual programs and yet is responsible for promoting park use to a vast audience, which includes a large Spanish-speaking population.

“This would be a tremendous disservice to a major part of our population,” Daniel said. “How can we ignore the Spanish-speaking people of California? It’s ludicrous. . . . If we can’t spend a few dollars on them, then what the hell good are we?”

John C. Hisserich, another member of the conservancy, said he was particularly upset by Sybert’s protest over the funding of a toll-free bilingual parks information number and plans to turn a state park office into a bilingual visitors center.

“It irked the hell out of me,” said Hisserich, who wrote a two-page letter to Sybert stating that his proposal would only discourage public participation in parks programs.

In May, Sybert had expressed concerns about the $1,762 spent by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, an arm of the conservancy, for bilingual publications and services in connection with the Los Angeles River restoration project.

In a letter to Sybert, conservancy Director Joseph T. Edmiston said: “Because I am the responsible official authorizing this expenditure, I am prepared to personally reimburse the authority for the cost of these bilingual services should they be considered an improper use of public funds.”

Edmiston, who is on vacation this week, could not be reached for comment. In his letter to Sybert, Hisserich said he too would be willing to pick up some of the costs for the bilingual publications associated with the river restoration project.

Some conservancy officials, who did not want their names used, said they believed that Sybert’s proposal was politically motivated. Sybert is competing in Tuesday’s Republican primary for the seat held by Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills).

But Sybert said “it was not my intent for this to cause any fireworks.” He noted that his proposal was made public only after the conservancy’s Monday agenda was published.

“If I had wanted to make this a public issue, I would have called a press conference,” he said.

Sybert, whose wife Greta is originally from Brazil, said he strongly believes that to promote assimilation not only in California but throughout the United States, immigrants must be required to learn English.

“I think for the good of the country and the future success of immigrants themselves, they should make the effort to learn English,” he said. “If they live here, that is how business is conducted and they better learn it.”

As for his colleagues on the conservancy board, Sybert said he respects their views but added that he stands by his proposal.

“There are no bad guys in this; there are no black hats,” Sybert said. “It’s a clash of policies. And reasonable people can disagree.”