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Posted on Wed, Dec. 06, 2006email thisprint thisEnglish First is opposing Mel Martinez as GOP chairmanBY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com
WASHINGTON - A group that wants to establish English as the official language of the United States is urging members of the Republican National Committee to reject U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida as chairman.

The Cuban-born Martinez was tapped as general chairman last month by President Bush, but his appointment touched off complaints from a conservative base that opposes Martinez's embrace of immigration reform.

His appointment must be confirmed by the RNC at its meeting in January, and English First, a Virginia-based group, has established a website -- wwww.stopmartinez.com -- to register a litany of complaints about his selection.

''Sen. Martinez is wrong on official English and wrong on amnesty for illegal aliens,'' said Jim Boulet Jr., executive director of English First. ``Asking Sen. Martinez to run the Republican Party is like asking Mrs. Phyllis Schlafly to run Planned Parenthood.

''Should Martinez win the RNC post, reporters will encourage him to do nothing but argue with his fellow Republicans about immigration and language issues,'' Boulet said.

Martinez sided with Bush and championed a Senate bill that would have extended citizenship to millions of undocumented immigrants after they learned English and paid fines and back taxes.

''Border security only, enforcement only, harshness only is not the message I believe that America wants to convey,'' he said after Bush nominated him for the RNC post.

Martinez, who repeatedly warned during the congressional immigration debate that Republicans risk losing a fast-growing voting population if they alienate Hispanics, has suggested that his critics will ``get to know me and come to understand that I'm the kind of person they can work with.''