Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Hannan / Politics English-Only Nearly Derailed by...Eric Crafton?
Posted by Caleb Hannan on Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 4:02 PM
Starring Eric Crafton
The year was 1997. Titanic ruled the box office, Elton's ode to Lady Di dominated the airwaves, and English-only was but a twinkle in Eric Crafton's eye.
Over the objections of his constituents, Crafton had just pushed through legislation for a Super Wal-Mart to be built in his district. The natives revolted, demanding Crafton's head on a plate. At which point he decided the rules governing recall votes needed a little tweaking.
With help from a state rep, Crafton upped the minimum number of required signatures from 15% of voters in the district to 15% of voters county-wide. The petition died, Crafton kept his seat, and District 23 residents were left with America's Biggest Welfare Recipient as a new neighbor.
So what does any of this have to do with Crafton's currently floundering Ode to Xenophobia?
Well as it turns out, the law that Crafton superseded in order to save his ass in '97 also addresses the allowance of ballot initiatives like English-only. Had Crafton's law not been reversed in 2005, his current pet project would have faced even higher hurdles. Of course, that still didn't keep Crafton from glossing over the one minor detail that'd prove to be his undoing.
"We made it easier for Eric and English-only to do what they wanted to do," says David Briley, the former councilman whose '05 amendment returned recall requirements to their pre-Crafton levels. "But he had to read the law the right way to do it."
Comments (0)