ProEnglish Funded Nearly All English First Campaign

The Virginia-based organization ProEnglish funded $83,000 of a $90,000 campaign to make English the only language used by Metro Government.

The Davidson County Election Commission made the financial disclosure public today

The English-only charter amendment ultimately failed in last week’s special election. The group Nashville English First delayed making its donor list public until after the vote because some feared a backlash against supporters. The English-only advocates were not fined, despite missing the January 15th filing deadline, because of a loop hole in state law.

In the end, five local donors to Nashville English First accounted for less than a thousand dollars. One – businessman Lee Beaman – contributed six-thousand in the final week of the campaign. Otherwise, the money came from ProEnglish, which has been loosely tied to hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.