English Skills as a Job Requirement for Politicians

Most of us expect our politicians to be confident and well-spoken and we are seldom presented with a candidate who lacks these skills. And when we are presented with such a candidate, the response is pretty basic, usually involving a skit on Saturday Night Live or random commentaries pointing out the candidates inadequacies.

However, in a border town in Arizona, Alejandrina Cabrera, has faced more than a few jabs about her lack of English speaking skills. She has actually been barred from running for a seat on the city council in the town of San Luis, sparking a debate on how fluent officeholders must be.


Cabrera’s candidacy for the city council seat was blocked by a John Nelson, a Yuma County Superior judge who ruled that her inadequate English skills would impact her ability to fulfill the duties expected of a representative of the public. Cabrera, a Yuma, Arizona-born US citizen, is refusing accept the ruling. Late on Friday, she filed an appeal with the hopes of getting her name on the ballot.

According to one of her attorneys, Brandon Kinsey, Cabrera does in fact meet the minimum requirements for reading, writing, and speaking in English. “Whether or not she is the best candidate is a decision left up to the voters. It should not be left up to a judge,” asserts Kinsey.

Many argue that because of the San Luis’ location, Cabrera’s poor English skills are a non-issue. San Luis covers both sides of the US-Mexican border. The US side is home to a population of about 25,000 people while another 175,000 reside on the other side of the border. Many regard both municipalities as a single community. More than 90 percent of the town’s population is Mexican-American and Spanish is the dominant language. Kinsey notes that both English and Spanish are used at city council meetings and former San Luis councilman, Archibaldo Gurrola seemed to reiterate Kinsey’s point. “It’s strange to speak English here. Spanish is what you hear everywhere, maybe with some English thrown in.”

Cabrera, herself, is aware of her limitations. “I speak little English. But my English is fine for San Luis.” However, many disagree and insist that her English is not fine for a San Luis political position. Robert Vandervoot, the executive director of the ProEnglish advocacy group acknowledges that America is a melting pot, but also favors English as the official language for the government.

The issue of Cabrera’s language skills was initially addressed about a month ago, when Guillermina Fuentes, a former San Luis mayor voiced her concern. Fuentes admits that her own English skills are lacking but claims that she has a firm grasp on the language. She further points out that she used to interpret for Cabrera, before they had a falling out.

Glenn Gimbut, the city attorney, took a lead role in the case against Cabrera’s candidacy and argued that when Arizona was granted statehood, it was understood that officeholders would be expected to use the English language in the line of duty. Gimbut, who was both representing the city and suing it, was forced off the case by Cabrera’s lawyers based on a conflict of interest.

According to the court ruling, Cabrera’s candidacy was ultimately barred because it was clear “that she was stymied by many questions, did not understand many questions, failed to comprehend what was being asked, and guessed at answers.” While on the stand on January 13, Cabrera was unable to respond to a question presented by John Minore, her own lawyer, about where she attended school. Although she blamed her inability to answer the question on nerves, Judge Nelson sent her to a linguist and for evaluation.

According to a report presented by William Eggington, a Brigham Young University professor of English and linguistics, Cabrera demonstrated “basic survival level” English and therefore could not “function adequately as an elected City Council member.”

Cabrera, however, also countered Eggington’s findings, claiming that his accent was the cause of one or more misunderstandings during the assessment. Apparently, Eggington, who is from Australia, asked Cabrera about her “summer” but pronounced it as “summa,” which happens to be the nickname for the town of Somerton in Arizona. In all, Eggington submitted the results of three tests to the court.