hrlich Calls Multiculture Idea 'Bunk'
Radio Show Remarks Offend Latino Leaders
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 8, 2004; Page B01
Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. thinks that multiculturalism is "bunk" and that immigrants should assimilate to their new surroundings by learning to speak English.
And he said so on Baltimore talk radio this week, wading without hesitation into the controversy triggered by Comptroller William Donald Schaefer's earlier public complaint about an awkward encounter he had with a Spanish-speaking fast-food worker.
"I reject the idea of multiculturalism," Ehrlich (R) said on WBAL-AM (1090) radio. "Once you get into this multicultural crap, this bunk, you run into a problem. With respect to this culture, English is the language. Should we encourage young folks here to be assimilated, to learn the culture and values? Of course."
Ehrlich said his views on this topic are "very similar" to those of Schaefer (D), the cantankerous former governor who often uses meetings of the Board of Public Works as a public forum to gripe about the daily indignities of life. In this case, that meant sounding off about not being able to communicate with a Spanish-speaking McDonald's employee as he tried to buy a breakfast sandwich.
"I don't want to adjust to another language," Schaefer, 82, said Wednesday. "This is the United States. I think they ought to adjust to us."
Perhaps because of his age or his penchant for grumbling, Schaefer's comments did not raise the same level of ire as did those made by Ehrlich a day later.
"You've heard my views, and they're very similar to the comptroller's," Ehrlich said.
The governor's comments entered the political arena with lightning speed. Hispanic leaders called the remarks divisive, destructive and shocking.
Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery), a first-generation immigrant from El Salvador, said she believes the governor and comptroller need diversity training.
"I think what the governor said absolutely is offensive," Gutierrez said. "It's also a dangerous comment. What I am sensing is that these kinds of comments from leadership, from people who are in high-level positions, are really fueling an environment that is very dangerous and negative. It says it is okay to consider people who are different as something less."
The governor's office did little to quell the response, which it confirmed has been substantial.
"I've been talking about this all day," said Shareese DeLeaver, the governor's press secretary, when asked to explain what the governor meant by multiculturalism, a word she said has been misinterpreted.
"The governor believes that other ethnic groups are essential to the fabric of life in Maryland," DeLeaver said. "However, he believes that ethnic groups need to develop a singular culture as Americans and speak English."
How Ehrlich's remarks translate into policy decisions is unclear. He vetoed legislation last year that would have allowed some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Maryland's public colleges and universities. At the same time, he allowed a study on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants to go forward.
He appointed a Latina educator to the University System of Maryland's Board of Regents and applauded the creation of the Hispanic Republican Caucus. But he backed efforts to oust the caucus's original leader, who complained that no Latinos held Cabinet-level positions.
Political scientists from two Maryland universities differed on the political significance of the remarks in the face of the state's rapidly expanding Latino community. According to the 2000 Census, 227,916 Hispanics live in Maryland, or 4.3 percent of the state's population.
Prof. Matthew A. Crenson of Johns Hopkins University said Ehrlich "may have miscalculated, because there are many Americans who just are not comfortable with talk like that."
But James G. Gimpel of the University of Maryland at College Park has been studying the state's immigrant voting patterns and said Ehrlich's remarks will do nothing to harm his standing with voters.
"I don't think it's that much of a risk, because the Latinos who are going to be troubled by it are not the ones who would be voting for him," he said.
If reaction at Schaefer's Annapolis office is any sign, Gimpel might be right. Of 220 phone calls and e-mails that poured in on the subject, only 10 criticized the remarks, said his spokesman, Michael Golden.
Luis E. Borunda, president of Hispanic Republicans of Maryland, a group recently formed by the Maryland Republican Party, said he did not believe the governor intended to endorse a society that is monolithic.
"I believe what the governor did say is, we are Americans and that is our culture -- and I agree with that," Borunda said.
But even that message did not sit well with Ehrlich's political critics. Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D), for instance, said that his county is home to nearly half the state's foreign-born residents and that the views espoused by Ehrlich will be widely viewed as offensive.
"People from different backgrounds, different religions, and different parts of the world are what make this country strong," said Duncan, who is considering a challenge to Ehrlich in the 2006 election. "It is troubling to hear anyone degrade our diversity and multiculturalism."
Staff writer Tim Craig contributed to this report.
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Duggy Duncan is the Executive of where Sheppy lives...and the guy is
Dirty as fuck, he takes kickbacks from the developer of Seizure World...
err...Leisure World, a retirement community so they can build more
condos and shit so that old people can die in condos that allowed
them to blow their last money on it, fuck the grandkids....
And it continues!!!!!!!!
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... May11.html
Immigrant Remarks By Ehrlich Still Burn
Local Leaders Want an Apology
By Darragh Johnson and Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 12, 2004; Page B01
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s remarks last week dismissing multiculturalism as "crap" and "bunk" echoed across the state yesterday, as Democratic and Latino leaders demanded an apology and Ehrlich defended his comments as "utter common sense."
In Montgomery County, the County Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing "deep concern" over the governor's "ill-chosen remarks" and suggested "the phrase 'I'm sorry' as appropriate to the occasion."
In Baltimore, Mayor Martin O'Malley (D) addressed the issue -- in Spanish -- during his weekly radio address, saying, "Few of us would be here if our non-English-speaking relatives hadn't struggled for a few years -- or decades -- to learn English."
In Takoma Park, a half-dozen state and local Latino leaders and about 50 immigrant advocates gathered to decry Ehrlich's "far right" remarks and call for more resources to teach immigrants English.
And in Annapolis, reporters crowded around Ehrlich in the State House foyer, asking him to explain the comments he made on a call-in show on WBAL-AM radio Thursday.
"The words stand on their own," Ehrlich (R) replied. "It's a common culture, and the last message we want to send out is for people to separate themselves. We should celebrate the common American culture, the common American values and the common American language. I think that's common sense."
Ehrlich's original remarks about multiculturalism came in defense of a political ally, state Comptroller William Donald Schaefer (D). Schaefer had been criticized for his announcement a day earlier that he would no longer eat at McDonald's because of an uncomfortable encounter with a cashier struggling with English.
On the radio, Ehrlich said his views are "very similar to the comptroller's" and added, "I reject the idea of multiculturalism. Once you get into this multicultural crap, this bunk, you run into a problem. With respect to this culture, English is the language."
Ron Smith, who hosts the conservative talk show on which Ehrlich spoke, said he was surprised at the governor's candor and said the station has received e-mails from listeners "glad to hear a politician tell the truth."
Retired Chief Master Sgt. Ken Witkin, a 66-year-old Air Force retiree who lives in Fort Washington, is among Ehrlich's supporters.
"I spent 30 years in the Air Force fighting communism," he said yesterday. "I gave up 30 years of my life, and I didn't give it up so I could start learning Spanish." He added, "Every single veteran I've talked to feels the same way."
At the same time, some of the governor's critics have been pilloried for their positions.
Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery), who spoke out against Ehrlich's comments last week, said she has received five "nasty messages," including some telling her and her "people to go back home."
CASA de Maryland, a Latino advocacy group, received two similar voice-mail messages, including one that insisted Schaefer "had it right" and they should "ship us to Iraq so we can be bombed on the front lines," CASA's Kimberly Propeack said.
Yesterday, Ehrlich said that the issue has "been hijacked by a politically correct crowd" and that he did not want "to get into this politically correct game."
He declined to wade back into a discussion of Schaefer's complaints about Spanish-speaking immigrants, but he did not back off his contention that immigrants should learn English.
Latino advocates agreed with that goal yesterday, but they said that Maryland is not providing enough resources. In Montgomery alone, 105,000 residents have "limited English" skills, yet the classes for adults who want to learn can accommodate only about 24,000 people, council member Tom Perez (D-Silver Spring) said at the afternoon news conference in Takoma Park. Last year, according to a county report, 2,000 adults were on waiting lists for those classes.
"It's time to put your money where your mouth is," Perez said. "If indeed you want everyone to learn English, support the funding."
Politically, Ehrlich's remarks have provided fodder for his Democratic opponents, with two likely contenders in the governor's race, O'Malley and Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, weighing in.
But one political scientist doubted that the controversy would do much harm to Ehrlich's standing with voters, especially his Republican base. "It's probably not something he should harp on all the time, but it doesn't seem to be a huge risk in the short term," said James G. Gimpel of the University of Maryland.
Still, the governor's remarks could hurt the GOP's efforts to bring more Latinos into the party, said Jorge Ribas, a Hispanic Republican from Montgomery. "The Republican Party is not going to grow with those kinds of comments," he said. "Those comments alienate people."
Last year, Ribas formed the Maryland Hispanic Republican Caucus. But after he complained publicly that the governor had no Latinos in his Cabinet, GOP leaders ousted his group from the party and formed their own Hispanic caucus.
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At work, I found this old newspaper from December 2001, and it
featured a meeting by Maryland GOP politicans and one of the stars
was Rep. Robert Ehrlich, and he said that activists need to learn that
real political power comes from winning elections.
God I love Maryland, where a Democratic former Governor is
a political ally of the first Republican Governor in 30 years...
ALL HAIL DONALD SCHAEFER!
It's interesting. Schaefer had this fountain dedicated on the governor's
mansion's grounds to his late companion, as he was leaving office. Now
Parris Glendening (D), the next governor after Schaefer, ordered the
fountain turned off to "save the environment" and that pissed Schaefer
off.
Oh yes, Glendening was a Clinton clone, right down to him having
an affair with his secretary while he was governor, getting her pregnant,
then divorcing his wife of 20(?) years on their wedding anniversary so
he could marry the secretary.
One of Bob Ehrlich's first acts as Governor of MD was to have
that fountain turned back on in a ceremony with Schaefer.
