Friday, April 25, 2008

Whose English?

POSTED BY ARNOLD HAMILTON

OK, call me an elitist if you must, but I think state lawmakers embracing the English-only initiative ought to at least be able to speak proper English.

After all, we already have enough laws the Legislature ignores. The April 1 deadline for funding education? Not once have lawmakers met that requirement. What about the law that state employees who fail to file and pay their taxes can be fired? The last time I checked, Oklahoma legislators draw a state paycheck. Yet, none of the recently identified scofflaws have been canned -- though voters get the chance to play The Donald ["You're Fired!"] in November.

The King's English, as my grandmother used to call it, is mangled early and often in the Legislature.

Many lawmakers have been heard to ask: "Is there a physical impact on this bill?" Not unless someone throws a copy at your head. There may well be a fiscal impact, however.

The presiding officers frequently call upon members to speak by declaring, "You are reck-uh-nized." Alas, there is no recognition the word is being mispronounced.

A silly complaint? About as silly as amending the Oklahoma Constitution to memorialize English as the official language.

English already is the official language. I've been in most of Oklahoma's 77 counties during my lifetime and I don't recall ever seeing bilingual or multilingual government signs, documents or records like I saw on my visit to Quebec.

[Yes, I'm aware of efforts to help Spanish speakers secure driver's licenses ... but perhaps many of them are working hard to develop their English skills. Why would we make it more difficult for them to drive to school and work in the meantime? Will we soon be giving tests to non-English speaking tourists before we allow them to rent cars in the U.S. and drive on our roads?]

The English-only proposition isn't about helping -- or even forcing -- newcomers to participate fully in American society. It's about making a small, but rabid group of nativists feel superior.

They don't get it that strength can be found in this wonderful tapestry of the world's peoples, coalescing to create a magnificent land of opportunity, welcoming those who hunger for a chance to be all their creator made them to be.

The xenophobes offer a glass-is-half-empty view of the American dream. They trace their roots other lands, but are afraid new immigrants will displace them on the socioeconomic pecking order. They want to slam the door shut.

It's an age-old fear, playing itself out again.

Won't we ever learn?

Thursday, April 10, 2008

House 'Borders On A Dictatorship"

POSTED BY ARNOLD HAMILTON

So much for Speaker Chris Benge's more open, collegial House.

The wingnut wing of the Republican caucus is firmly in control once again, stifling debate with impunity and force-feeding its far-out legislative agenda with parliamentary trickery.

The kinder, gentler House that Benge promised collapsed in a Democratic walkout today, all 44 minority-party members showing their disgust with Republican heavy-handedness that House Minority Leader Danny Morgan said "borders on a dictatorship."

Somewhere, former GOP Speakers Todd Hiett and Lance Cargill must be smiling.

The walkout came the morning after two contentious committee meetings. Without allowing discussion, Republicans in the House Judiciary and Public Safety Committee substituted a 133-page "tort reform" package for a four-page rural hospital bill and rejected a measure in the House Economic Development and Financial Services Commitee that would have required insurance companies to cover costs related to autism.

It also came one week after Rep. Guy Liebmann, R-OKC, chairman of the General Government and Transportation Committee, refused to allow Cherokee Nation Chief Chad Smith to speak in opposition to the wingnuts' English-only initiative.

House Democrats have two beefs, both legitimate.

First, not only is the general public -- at the whim of the committee chair -- being denied the right to speak in "public" committee hearings, but legislators themselves are being silenced, thwarted from asking questions or debating issues. Bottom line: Duly elected representatives are being prevented -- by fiat -- from carrying out their official duties.

Second, House rules are set up so that GOP chairs are now the sole arbiters of whether amendments are germane to specific legislation. House rules are supposed to prohibit rolling separate and discrete subjects into a single piece of legislation. When an amendment is submitted on the House floor, lawmakers can challenge whether it is germane. If the speaker rules it is, a lawmaker -- with the support of 15 others -- can demand the entire House vote on the matter. If an amendment is submitted in committee, however, the chair decides whether it is germane -- a ruling that cannot be appealed in committee or later on the House floor.

In the Judiciary Committee, Chairman Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, ruled the tort reform language was germane to the rural hospital bill. Never mind that civil procedure is found in an entirely different section of Oklahoma law. Tort reform -- essentially locking the courthouse door to ordinary Oklahomans who have been wronged -- is a Holy Grail for the reactionary right. Duncan marched in lockstep, basically ruling it was germane because he said so.

Don't be misled into thinking this is just so much inside baseball, a typical parliamentary skirmish between partisans. What is taking place in some House committees meets the definition of fascism.

House Democratic leaders met with Benge to discuss the matter, asking for specific rules changes to ensure democracy is not stifled. Benge promised an answer by Monday.

Don't hold your breath that anything will change. Benge is a captive of the House's reactionary right, the old Hiett-Cargill cabal that is so convinced of the righteousness of their cause that they're willing to steamroll anybody or anything in their path, including children with autism.

The sad thing is, Benge is a nice guy. A conservative, yes. But not mean-spirited. He's always been willing to let opponents be heard. And unlike some of his wingnut colleagues, he doesn't think he's smarter than everybody else or that he's on a religious crusade to remake Oklahoma in what he considers to be God's image.

Benge, though, is on the hot seat. He's trying to hold together a fractured caucus, currently driven by about three-dozen of the loudest, most extreme rightwingers in recent memory.

Most House speakers rule with an iron fist. The committee chairs do what the speaker commands -- or else. Benge meekly demurs to his committee chairs, saying repeatedly they're given "certain discretion" in conducting committee business.

How Benge handles this crisis will determine whether he's a token, caretaker speaker -- or a speaker to remember.