Sean Braisted does my homework for me. He calls the Chief Clerk of the California Assembly and determines Eric Crafton is, indeed, full of shit.
However, the Assembly is just one chamber of the state legislature. So taking a cue from Braisted, I just spoke to Zach Twilla in the office of the California Secretary of the Senate and was told that no, there are no state Senators who do not speak English either, although he says there are many who are bi-lingual. In addition, since Nov. 4, 1984 English has been the official language of the state of California (as it is here in Tennessee), so unless Crafton happened upon a meeting of the state Senate pre-1984--that's 22 years ago--I'd say he's making it all up.
Eric Crafton: liar liar pants on fire.
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I’m going to call bullshit on this nativist fantasy:
“I happened to see a state legislature meeting in California where several of the state representatives had interpreters at their desk because they couldn’t speak English,” Mr. Crafton said. “That’s not the vision I have for Nashville.”
I’m a native of California. I was born there, lived there for 25 years. I find this charge that there is not just one but “several” California state legislators who need translators to fulfill their duties in the state Senate or state Assembly to not have any credibility.
Then again, maybe he’s talking about Austrian Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So please name them, Mr. Crafton. Please produce a transcript. Please give me a date when this happened. Until I see some evidence, I’m saying you’re full of shit.
More likely, he read about it in one of John Tanton's bullshit propaganda pieces.
