‘English-Only’ Appears in the Political Lexicon of Capitol Hill

PLAIN ENGLISH: Do not expect to see congressional debates translated into Spanish, Mandarin or Tagalog anytime soon. An increasing number of lawmakers want to declare English the country’s official language and cut off federal spending for anything that does not promote America’s mother tongue.

That means no more publication of bilingual government documents or establishment of bilingual hot lines, which are already few. Whatever cost savings might be generated by such efforts would go toward teaching non-English-speaking immigrants the English language, officials say.

Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) and Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) have both endorsed the effort, signing on as co-sponsors to the Language of Government Act, but no area Democrats have lent their support.

Most of the bill, introduced by Rep. Bill Emerson (R-Mo.), is merely symbolic. English would be deemed the country’s official language. It has already been declared as such in 22 states, including California. And in case it ever becomes a problem, the bill specifies that discrimination against anyone for communicating in English would be verboten .

Immigration-rights advocates consider the movement unnecessary and divisive, saying its sponsors are really lashing out at immigrants.

“We’re in a very divisive, polarized, scapegoating climate,” said Raul Yzaguirre, executive director of the National Council of La Raza, a Washington-based Latino advocacy group. “We’re looking for someone to blame for our very real problems. It’s become OK to become mean and hateful.”

Bilingual education is also under attack, with separate bills introduced by Rep. Toby Roth (R-Wis.) and Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) proposing to end the federal mandate requiring bilingual education.

McKeon considers such efforts reasonable.

“When you have a place like L.A., with so many different languages--one school in the Valley has like 23 different languages--how do you teach?” he asked. “We have tried to bend over backwards for non-English-speakers. But what happens if you don’t force people to learn English is that they fall behind and don’t ever become a full part of this country.”

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) has parted with his Democratic colleagues in the past in opposing the printing of bilingual ballots. As for declaring English the country’s official language, he considers it a meaningless symbolic gesture.

When it comes to bilingual education, Beilenson said he supports it as a bridge to mastering English.

“I believe that we should have bilingual education at least for a short period when immigrants arrive to help them learn English,” Beilenson said. “If you teach in another language year after year after year, you’re not helping students learn English, which is so essential to success in this country.”

Buoyed by support from Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R.-Kan.), Gov. Pete Wilson and other GOP presidential hopefuls, backers of the English-only movement are pushing for House action this year. They won a small victory this week, when House Republicans scheduled a hearing on the issue for Oct. 18.

BOMBS AWAY: McKeon had his doubts about whether the United States ought to be represented at the United Nations-sponsored World Conference on Women held in Beijing this week. But it turns out that he could not be happier that U.S. officials were there in force.

It seems that a handful of the congresswomen who traveled to China for the conference were opponents of the B-2 Stealth bomber, which McKeon is fighting to preserve in the 1996 budget. With those “no” votes away, McKeon and other B-2 backers Thursday were able to narrowly defeat an amendment that would have cut $493 million out of a $244-billion defense appropriations bill to pay for additional B-2s. Every vote counted: The final tally was a nail-biting 213 to 209.

AN AFFIRMATIVE VOTE: The Los Angeles City Council’s most heated debate in months broke out this week during a confirmation vote on Mayor Richard Riordan’s appointment of Michelle Park-Steel to the powerful Airport Commission.

Key in resolving the debate was the about-face Councilman Richard Alarcon did during the discussion.

At issue in the racially charged debate were Park-Steel’s views on affirmative action.

Citing a newspaper editorial she wrote calling the city’s affirmative action plan “Draconian,” several council members charged that Park-Steel, a Korean American, didn’t support or understand the city’s efforts. Park-Steel was a member of the Fire Commission when she wrote the commentary piece for The Times last year.

Despite several attempts to reach a decision during a nearly hourlong debate, the confirmation was deadlocked on a 7-7 tie, with one member absent. The stalemate was broken when Alarcon announced he would switch his vote from opposing to supporting Park-Steel’s confirmation.

Alarcon’s switch angered some of the more vehement opponents of the confirmation, including Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, and sparked questions about Alarcon’s willingness to stand up to Riordan. When discussion of the confirmation began, Alarcon appeared to be among the harshest critics of Park-Steel.

“If anybody is creating disharmony, it is people who take advantage of their position to provide misinformation to the public, and that’s what you are doing and that’s why I can’t support you for a commissioner for the city of Los Angeles,” he told her as she sat in the council’s center table fielding questions.

But later, after both sides aired their views, Alarcon adopted a different tone.

“Miss Park-Steel is a victim of circumstances and I think it’s unfortunate that you’ve been placed in this position,” he said. “I’m going to reverse my vote and I’m going to do that, first, because I don’t think the votes are there to stop you from becoming a commissioner. But I’m also going to do it in the spirit of affirmative action because you are a woman and because you are a Korean American.”

Nonetheless, after the vote, Alarcon called the debate a victory for affirmative action because it put the mayor on notice that the council will closely scrutinize his nominees’ affirmative action views in the future.

TOGETHERNESS: Riordan, who assembled a group of advertising execs and others last spring to promote the city, angered top school district officials recently when he said the city’s school system is one of the worst in the nation.

Schools Supt. Sid Thompson and Board of Education President Mark Slavkin took umbrage. Slavkin immediately called the mayor’s office to talk to Riordan directly about his comments.

But Thompson’s staff clearly didn’t let the mayor’s remarks get in the way of what they thought was a good idea: The staff bought $2,480 worth of promotional buttons from the Los Angeles Marketing Partnership--Riordan’s public relations group--and handed them out to administrators at Thompson’s back-to-school address.

The buttons, which cost 24 cents apiece, read: “Together we’re the best. Los Angeles.”

Oh, and school district spokesman Brad Sales said the superintendent paid for the buttons with leftover cash from a donation he received from Blue Shield. Never mind that the donation was made for earthquake recovery. “It was discretionary money,” Sales said.

APOLOGY FOR FUHRMAN: In response to the tape-recorded comments by retired Los Angeles Police Detective Mark Furhman, Councilman Joel Wachs took an extraordinary step to make sure the public knew his feelings: He bought an ad in The Times apologizing to the city for the racial slurs.

In the ad, which appeared on Tuesday, Wachs said: “The Mark Fuhrman tapes have disgraced us all. Good and bad alike, we have all been scarred by his bigotry, violence and racism.”

To make sure the media did not miss the ad, Wachs also issued a news release, explaining why he felt obliged to take out the ad and noting that it cost him nearly $10,000.

Later in the ad, Wachs said: “If I had the resources, I would put this letter in every newspaper, as well as on radio and television. I don’t.”

The ad was paid for out of his officeholder account, a reserve that each council member has, funded by contributions from companies, individuals and other supporters.

As of June, Wachs had $86,790 in that account.

Lacey reported from Washington, D.C.; Martin and Shuster reported from Los Angeles.