Talking Out of Both Sides of His Boca

Washington, DC, May 26, 2005—This week, Mayor Mike Bloomberg launched a expensive Spanish-language radio advertising campaign promoting his record as mayor.  But Congressman José E. Serrano (D-Bronx) expressed his hope for “a little more substance to match the symbolism coming from the Mayor” and questioned the depth of his commitment to immigrants and multilingualism.

“Mike Bloomberg is trolling for Hispanic votes with slick new ads in Spanish,” said Serrano.  “It’s classic Bloomberg.  He talks a good talk about inclusion and multilingualism, and then turns around and pulls the plug on bilingual education and fails to take his party to task for its immigrant-bashing and aggressive English-Only agenda.  You can’t have it both ways, Mike.” 

On September 17, 2004, the Daily News reported that Mayor Bloomberg was “quietly working to erase bilingual education” in New York City.  This news came just days after Bloomberg hosted the controversial Republican National Convention in New York, when the Mayor and his Republican friends tried to put a moderate face on their party.  But several of Bloomberg’s Republican buddies in Congress have been pushing “English-Only” legislation that would, among other things, roll back protections of the rights of people of limited English language proficiency and prohibit the use of government funds for the use of languages other than English. This could mean that candidates receiving matching campaign funds would be barred from putting out political advertisements in other languages like the Mayor’s recent radio spots in Spanish.   

“The fact is that since Bloomberg became a Republican, Republicans in Congress have launched twelve different proposals to force English-Only policies onto the nation,” said Serrano.  “Mayor Bloomberg keeps telling us how his being a Republican helps New York because it gives him credibility in Washington.  But he never takes his party to task on the issues that matter to ordinary New Yorkers.  Where was he when his party was limiting immigrants’ rights through such measures as the REAL ID Act?  Why has he been putting out ads in Spanish but hasn’t taken a firm stance against English-Only?  Where was he when his Republican colleagues were pushing to cut access to services for people of limited English proficiency?  Why wasn’t he fighting harder when his President and his party’s leadership tried to slash federal homeland security funding for New York?  Mike Bloomberg throws some Spanish into his campaign pitch on the streets of New York City but he’s speechless when it comes to standing up for Latinos within his party and on the national level.”