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Republican: Speaking Spanish is Bad

A hearing for Rep. John Piscopo's, R-76, bill to make English the official language of Connecticut has been denied by the Government Administration and Elections Committee. Piscopo said he has introduced the bill nine times before and has only received one hearing in the late 1990s, when the legislation came under fire and was not sent to the House for a vote. "I was hoping for a public hearing this year out of colleague courtesy," Piscopo said. "But it doesn't look like its going to happen." Piscopo said that opposition to the bill comes from those who feel it is mean-spirited, divisive and even racist - something that he strongly denies. Piscopo also said there are those who wish to bar legislation that has economic interests at stake. "There's an entrenched bureaucracy in the state that makes a living off of printing and education, and other agencies that are entrenched in multilingual endeavors," he said. The bill, which according to Piscopo is largely symbolic, would declare English as the state's official language. As far as changes to the way the state or educational curriculum is run in Connecticut, Piscopo said that driver's licenses, voting ballots and voter registration documents would be printed only in English. "We want to state that Connecticut is a state with English as the official language so that everybody can assimilate and learn this universal language of commerce and to get ahead faster," he said. Piscopo said that bilingual education, once thought to benefit children raised to speak foreign languages, is in fact holding those children back. "You do not help a non-English speaking student by keeping them at least three years in their native tongue," Piscopo said. "The best way we can help someone that does not speak English that comes to this country and this state is to teach them English as quickly as possible through English immersion, or just English as a second language, not teach them in their native tongue." [more]