|
 ichard
Riordan has made plenty of mistakes in his campaign to win the Republican
gubernatorial nomination in California — mainly by antagonizing
the GOP base whose votes he will need in next week's primary and
then again in the general election. When he was asked recently to
name his favorite California governors, he inexplicably forgot to
mention Ronald Reagan — citing Earl Warren and Edmund G. Brown
instead. (Brown, in fact, is the man Reagan had to defeat in 1966
to win first race for office.) Riordan also drew boos at a recent
speech for criticizing another popular Republican governor, George
Deukmejian.
Over the weekend,
however, Riordan adopted a new cause — or at least returned
to an old one: bilingual education. "It's worse than nonsense.
It's downright evil," said Riordan on Saturday, in reference
to the California state board of education's
recent move to undermine Proposition 227, which eliminated bilingual
education four years ago. "Gray Davis, in the name of God,
in the name of our children, stop this!"
Those are stirring
words, and they can't be underestimated. The assimilation of millions
of children is at stake in this debate. It is critically important
that the state board of education, which is full of Davis appointees,
reverse direction before these proposed regulations are made permanent.
Riordan himself comes to the issue with an enormous amount of credibility.
As mayor of Los Angeles in 1998, he was the only major politician
in either party to endorse Ron K. Unz's initiative, which passed
in a landslide.
It would be
nice to see Riordan's two primary opponents join Riordan in this
crucial fight. Bill Simon, whom NR endorses in its current
issue, and secretary of state Bill Jones have kept a relatively
low profile on the subject. They should speak out loudly, and soon.
If they don't, cultural conservatives will have plenty of reason
to wonder why they didn't — and a very good reason to support
the candidacy of a man they currently view with suspicion.
|
