By MARIO AGUIRRE
Hispanic Link
Friday, November 30, 2007
What is your candidate's position, if any, on bilingual education?
That's the question posed by Hispanic Link News Service to the 17 politicians competing in the presidential primaries that begin Jan. 5.
So far the issue hasn't become as visible or volatile as in the past, when major drives to make English this nation's "official" language and to eliminate bilingual education in a number of states were political hot buttons. But based on attacks on immigrant rights, "amnesty" and in-state college tuition, it could emerge again as one in 2008.
All five Democrats who have framed positions on the subject - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd - responded to Hispanic Link with expressions of strong support.
Richardson saw it as an essential "equal education" guarantee.
Republican candidates were either silent or negative on the subject. Both who had positions on the pedagogy - Tom Tancredo and Mitt Romney - opposed it.
Tancredo stated unequivocally, "Classes should be in English only."
Romney aide Alex Burgos couched his response, saying Romney supports English immersion as the "best method."
At the same time, the former Massachusetts governor was bragging to cheering supporters in Iowa that in 2002, "I fought for and got a ballot initiative passed ending bilingual education."
Former National Association for Bilingual Education chief James Crawford, now president of the Institute for Language and Education Policy, reacted, "You definitely have to put him down in the 'con' column."
Crawford speculated that other Republican candidates may not want to "alienate Latino voters any more than they have" as the reason why only two of the nine GOP candidates responded to Hispanic Link's inquiry.
"If they take a position favoring bilingual education, they'll get hammered by the right-wingers and their own party," he said. "The easiest thing to do is duck the issue."
Univision TV news anchor Maria Elena Salinas suggested to Hispanic Link that past controversies have made some candidates wary - at least early on, until the campaigns test the waters of public opinion and conduct further research.
"Anything you say can and will be used against you," she said. "You have to be careful. The moment you give a different position later on, you're called for flip-flopping."
Long-time political analyst Andy Hernandez, based in Austin, Texas, added a warning to Republicans. So long as they oppose or continue to avoid such issues that are supported by Latinos, they will be "driving another nail in the coffin," sending the message they "don't care enough about the Latino vote."
Here are summaries of responses received on candidates' stances.
HILLARY CLINTON: "Senator Clinton supports the notion that children will learn more efficiently by being taught in their native language while learning English at the same time." - Fabiola Rodrmguez-Ciampoli, Clinton campaign's Hispanic communications director.
BILL RICHARDSON: "Bilingual education is a part of guaranteeing equal education for all American students." - deputy communication director Katie Roberts, quoting the candidate.
CHRIS DODD: "As a bilingual Spanish speaker himself, Sen. Dodd has long been very supportive of bilingual education." - campaign spokesperson Colleen Flanagan.
JOHN EDWARDS: "We're for bilingual education." - political director David Medina.
BARACK OBAMA: "Obama believes the federal government should be doing more to encourage transitional bilingual education." - e-mail reply from his campaign.
MITT ROMNEY: "He believes immersion is the best method for learning the English language." - spokesman Alex Burgos.
TOM TANCREDO: "He thinks that classes should be in English only. He thinks English should be the official language in the U.S. and everything should be printed in English." - press secretary Alan Moore.
Campaign staffers of Democrats Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel and Republicans Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter said they would respond but even after a week of prompting, none did so. Attempts to obtain responses from the campaigns of other GOP candidates were also unsuccessful.
(Mario Aguirre is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service in Washington, D.C. Reach him at Mario(at)hispaniclink.org.)
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