Thread: CA Assembly speaker Nunez makes very public trip to Mexico

www.mercurynews.com

Posted on Tue, Aug. 23, 2005



Assembly speaker makes very public trip to Mexico
LAWMAKER ARRANGES PRIVATE MEETING WITH PRESIDENT FOX
By Aaron C. Davis
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is seldom upstaged, but it could happen Thursday when one of his chief legislative rivals flies south of the border to hold private meetings with Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said he plans to make the trip -- and miss one of the few legislative sessions remaining this year -- in an attempt to repair relations with California's largest trading partner. Schwarzenegger has been sharply criticized by Mexican media and politicians for supporting private border patrols to curb illegal immigration.

``The tension between the governor and the Mexican government began to boil after his comments about closing the border and supporting the Minutemen. Those things really cemented the idea that I needed to go to Mexico,'' Núñez said. ``I grew up there, I lived there for eight years as a child and I speak the language fluently. I am the perfect person to build a bridge between Mexico and California.''

Filling a vacuum

But with the special election in November approaching, the trip also has a political dimension and could serve to rally the state's Latino voters to oppose the governor's ballot initiatives.

``The governor has spent very little time in Mexico and the speaker is filling the vacuum,'' said Jaime Regalado, who directs the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University-Los Angeles. ``This trip and the meeting with President Fox, it takes something away from Arnold. All things that lead to a weakened governor will have some effect on the November special election.''

Schwarzenegger's press secretary Margita Thompson dismissed that notion.

``We have robust binational discussions,'' Thompson said. ``We are bound to Mexico by ties of culture, commerce and family . . . and the governor has a wonderful relationship with the border governors.''

Fox and Schwarzenegger were scheduled to meet in December. Thompson said Fox canceled that meeting because of a scheduling conflict. She added the two would meet when their schedules next allowed for it. A spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in Sacramento, who has met with Schwarzenegger twice, echoed that sentiment. Thompson pointed to the governor's first trip to Mexico last month, when he attended a private dinner with border governors from both countries, as evidence he is engaged and working on immigration issues. Thompson noted that two of the governor's representatives were in Washington on Monday discussing the state's border patrol issues with the head of the Department of Homeland Security.

Good, bad relations

The Núñez trip is ``fine,'' Thompson said. ``Anything that we can do to cultivate national ties is a good thing.''

California's ties to Mexico have blown hot and cold over the past decade. Relations soured when Gov. Pete Wilson supported Proposition 187, a 1994 California ballot initiative that denied schooling and social services to illegal residents. Relations improved under Gov. Gray Davis, who instituted a yearly state visit between the California governor and the Mexican president.

Several Assembly speakers -- including the recently elected mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa -- have made trips to Mexico during their terms, but the timing of Núñez's trip has fanned criticism. Núñez plans to skip Thursday's Assembly session and meet with Fox in Mexico City. On Friday he will meet with Mexican legislators and business leaders and return Saturday night.

Karen Hanretty, spokeswoman for the California Republican Party, said Núñez's trip is nothing more than a political stunt before the Nov. 8 election.

``It's political grandstanding for Fabian Núñez to go to Mexico and talk about jobs, the economy and border security when he has absolutely no standing in California to do so,'' she said. ``He has done nothing to indicate that he believes illegal immigration is a problem.''

Núñez said the criticism was misdirected. ``There's no, at least where I'm coming from, effort to undermine the governor. It's simply an invitation that we have been working on for a while and this is the right time. The last thing we need right now is a bad relationship with our greatest trade partner.''

www.signonsandiego.com


Speaker hopes to help image of Schwarzenegger


Núñez, Mexican leaders to meet
By Ed Mendel
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 24, 2005

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, who plans to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox and other officials in Mexico City this week, said he wants to change the perception that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is "anti-Mexican."

In a wide-ranging news conference yesterday, the Los Angeles Democrat also suggested that former Republican Gov. Pete Wilson worked to undermine talks that failed to produce a bipartisan compromise that would have avoided an all-out war over the governor's initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The speaker, who is scheduled to fly to Mexico City tomorrow and return Saturday, said he is leaving during the busy final weeks of a legislative session that ends Sept. 9 because Fox found time this week for his long-standing request for a meeting.

Núñez said he learned firsthand from Mexican governors and mayors who attended the swearing-in of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa last month that relations with Mexico have been damaged by Schwarzenegger's support for volunteer "Minuteman" border-watchers and remarks about "closing" the border, later corrected to "securing" the border.

"The Mexican government and the Mexican people are not happy with California because they feel we don't appreciate the contributions of Mexican immigrants in this country, and particularly undocumented immigrants, and that we lack the respect for that country that it deserves," he said.

"That's how they feel about it. I don't necessarily think that that's the case. I don't think the governor is anti-Mexican – in no way, shape or form. But that's the perception in Mexico that we want to change."

Schwarzenegger, who has not yet met with Fox, made his first trip to Mexico last month to attend a border governors conference in Terreon, Coahuila. He flew in by private jet and was there for only a few hours in the evening to attend a private banquet with the governors.

"This governor has had good relations with Mexican governors," said Vince Sollito, a Schwarzenegger spokesman. "He hopes to meet with President Fox himself at some point in the future when their schedules are convenient. But there is nothing to mend here. We are doing great."

Núñez again urged Schwarzenegger to join the governors of Arizona and New Mexico in declaring a border emergency, which he said would focus attention on the need for more federal funding to increase the number of Border Patrol agents.

Schwarzenegger said during an interview with a radio talk-show host in Los Angeles yesterday that it's a "misconception" that calling an emergency would produce more federal money for the border.

The governor said two of his top aides on homeland security and emergency services are in Washington, D.C., to seek more federal money for California for costs such as imprisoning undocumented immigrants convicted of various crimes. The state expects to spend $734 million on more than 18,000 such prisoners this year, while receiving $112 million from the federal government.

Asked about a proposed initiative for a state-funded border patrol, Schwarzenegger said the federal government, not California taxpayers, should pay for patrolling the border. Instead, he advocated a guest-worker program.

Núñez said it was "tragic" that people outside the Capitol worked to undermine negotiations that might have produced a bipartisan compromise on the governor's initiatives for a state spending limit, new legislative and congressional districts and a longer time for teachers to earn tenure.

"I didn't realize that former governors still played a role in Sacramento politics," Núñez said, apparently referring to Wilson.

Schwarzenegger's press secretary, Margita Thompson, said any conversations between the current and former governors are private. She said talks failed because Democrats didn't begin negotiating until near the deadline for placing compromise measures on the ballot.

"It was their inability to engage in a debate," Thompson said. "It wasn't some outside player. They need to take responsibility for their own actions."






http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... EC0JL1.DTL

CALIFORNIA
Speaker to visit Mexican president
Trip meant partly to show up Schwarzenegger
- Carla Marinucci, Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Political Writers
Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez heads to Mexico on Thursday to meet with President Vicente Fox, attract attention from Latino voters at home -- and provide a stark contrast with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Schwarzenegger, who had promised to improve ties with California's lead trading partner, has found that tough going after endorsing the Minutemen, an ad hoc border patrol group, and with a hasty suggestion -- later retracted - - that California should close the border with Mexico.

"In no way is this trip an effort to undermine the governor's relationship with Mexico," said Núñez. "We do know the relationship has deteriorated, we have to be honest about that. My hope is to strengthen it. ... My hope is that I can help build a bridge for the governor ultimately to go down there and mend ties.''

Núñez's packed three-day itinerary includes meeting Fox and his Cabinet at Los Pinos, the presidential residence, in Mexico City, followed by a session with Mexico City Mayor Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez. On Friday, he has back-to-back meetings with a who's who of the nation's highest ranking political and business leaders, including the influential Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, the Mexican Congress and the Mexican Foreign Trade Council.

"We feel really good that in this short 2 1/2-day trip we will have an opportunity to mend our ties with California's number one trading partner, which is Mexico," said Núñez, who lived in Mexico when he was growing up and is fluent in Spanish.

With a Nov. 8 special election looming and buzz increasing about the likelihood of a Schwarzenegger re-election bid, Núñez's high-profile agenda may not only help the speaker steal the spotlight among the state's fastest- growing voter bloc -- Latinos -- but could also reap long-term benefits for both the young Democratic leader and his party.

"When an American politician goes to Israel, it's not to court Israelis. It's to cement relations to American Jews,'' said Phil Trounstine, the communications director for Gov. Gray Davis, who went to Los Pinos to meet with the Mexican president within days of his election. "Schwarzenegger has left a gaping hole, which Núñez is about to fill,'' Trounstine said. "It's not with Mexico -- it's with Latino voters in California.''

Hector Preciado, a Latino political analyst with the Greenlining Institute, said the trip "demonstrates a different political agenda...because Schwarzenegger's agenda doesn't include doing outreach to the Latino community. ''

But Schwarzenegger's press spokeswoman, Margita Thompson, said that the governor has had a solid working relationship with border governors in Mexico, and a positive relationship with Mexican diplomats here and abroad. And, she said, he's worked hard to secure additional funding for matters that concern Californians -- including $30 million in additional federal funding for border security.

Other Republicans also scoff at the notion that the speaker will be able to upstage Schwarzenegger among Latino voters here or Mexican officials abroad.

"Núñez hasn't quite been able to articulate the urgency of his trip to Mexico other than to say that Mexican citizens are offended that Gov. Schwarzenegger wants to close the border to illegal immigrants and that trade relations must be maintained,'' said GOP spokeswoman Karen Hanretty, "though there are no signs that trade between Mexico and California is taking a hit. In fact, quite the contrary.''

Still, grassroots Latino activists say Núñez's trip could resonate among voters who will compare his activities to the governor's fund-raising travels.

"Look at the contrast,'' said Democratic National Committee member Gloria Nieto. "Where's Arnold been for the week? Watching the Rolling Stones and raising money around the country. And Núñez is going to Mexico. So whose priorities are correct?''

In his 21 months as governor, Schwarzenegger has crossed the border briefly for conferences, but has never gone to the Mexican capital -- though he has made high-profile trade trips to Austria, Israel, and Japan.

Mark Mosher, who heads the California Commission on Jobs and Economic Growth -- a non-profit committee founded by Schwarzenegger -- said he is helping to plan the governor's next trade mission to China, which has now been rescheduled to follow the Nov. 8 special election.

Núñez said yesterday that when he talks to high-ranking officials in Mexico, "it's pretty clear they feel put off by Gov. Schwarzenegger."

"There is some repair work to be done," he said. "The relationship is not good."

Steve Maviglio, press secretary to the speaker and former press secretary for Davis, said the contrast between the two governors has been dramatic.

"Davis made it a priority to build up that relationship. We had one trip there every year, and (Mexican leaders) had one trip here,'' Maviglio said. "With this governor, we're down to two hours in two years. ''



www.ocregister.com

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Immigration reform
Speaker Núñez wants tax breaks for Hollywood; he should promote the same for Mexico


Tomorrow, California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, is flying to Mexico to confer with President Vicente Fox and other Mexican leaders.

We hope Mr. Núñez is vehement in his insistence that Mexico make its government policies, especially its tax code, less onerous on the poor and the middle classes. More than anything, that's what the Mexican economy needs. It is what Mr. Fox promised in his 2000 election campaign, but has not delivered.

Mr. Núñez has sponsored state legislation for tax relief for movie companies to preserve Hollywood jobs here, so he seems to understand the importance of lower taxes in promoting jobs retention and creation. If he could nudge Mr. Fox and other Mexican officials toward similar policies, both countries that share a common, peaceful border would be better off.

Such reforms would create jobs and increase the country's standard of living, and so reduce the pressure to immigrate to the United States. In the long run, we believe, only that sort of reform in Mexico will defuse the contentious issue of illegal immigration in the United States.

As we have noted in several previous editorials this year, economist Jude Wanniski has written that Mexico's "top income tax rate of 33 percent now applies at an income of about $20,000. In the U.S., the top rate is 38.6 percent, but that is not encountered until taxable income reaches $312,000."

In a similar fashion, Mexico's 25 percent tax rate must be paid at a low level of just $7,230 of income. By comparison, a head of household in the United States doesn't pay the 27 percent rate until $98,000.

And Mexico's 10 percent rate must be paid at a salary as rock-bottom as $4,114. By contrast, the U.S. 10 percent rate kicks in at $10,000.

Put another way, if U.S. tax rates were as high as Mexico's, U.S. citizens might well be leaving this country for Canada, Switzerland and even China in search of tax havens.

A Mexican economy invigorated by lower taxes would provide more jobs at all income levels, and less reason to seek relief across the border.

Nice to see Mr Nunez got a warm welcome home.


http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/12475924.htm

Posted on Thu, Aug. 25, 2005

California Assembly speaker visits Mexico to smooth relations

JOHN RICE
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY - California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez met Mexican President Vicente Fox on Thursday on a trip he said was meant to ease Mexican anger at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's remarks about immigrants.

But Nunez also found himself explaining his own call for a state of emergency along the border, a declaration made by other states that has irritated Mexican leaders.

Not by coincidence, Nunez's meeting with Fox wasn't mentioned on the president's daily schedule of public events.

Heading into the meeting at the presidential residence of Los Pinos, the speaker said the emergency decree was a matter "between the states and the Bush administration" meant to seek resources to solve border region problems.

"In no way does it seek to attack or place blame on the back of Mexico," said Nunez, a Los Angeles Democrat.

The governors of Arizona and New Mexico recently made such declarations. Schwarzenegger has said there is no need for such action in California and that, in any case, state law does not grant him the authority to do so. On Thursday, four Republican lawmakers said they will introduce legislation allowing the governor to declare emergencies along the border.

Nunez's trip comes at a time of heightened political tensions in California and Mexico, the state's largest trading partner.

California Democrats and labor unions are opposing a November special election called by the Republican governor that seeks to reform key aspects of state government. State Republican officials said Nunez's trip was orchestrated to woo Hispanic voters ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Mexico, meanwhile, is heading into its most wide-open presidential election year in many decades.

On arrival at Mexico City airport, Nunez, who lived in Mexico until age 7, said enforcement of immigration law "has to be done with respect and dignity." He said "California depends on Mexican labor" and endorsed the idea of legalizing many of those now working illegally.

He also said he would try to stimulate business, saying Mexican investment in the state has grown by 17 percent over the past five years, reaching $30 billion.

If Mexico and immigration are hot issues throughout the Southwest, Mexican politicians often seek applause at home by denouncing U.S. treatment of migrants and U.S. meddling in Mexican affairs. For the first time, Mexican migrants living abroad will be allowed to cast absentee ballots in 2006, giving them an unprecedented voice in who will replace Fox.

Fox is barred by law from seeking re-election.

Before leaving Sacramento, Nunez said he hoped to soothe what he said was unhappiness in Mexico over Schwarzenegger's statement of support for the Minuteman patrols. The volunteer group says its purpose is to help U.S. border agents arrest illegal immigrants streaming across the Mexican border. Schwarzenegger also has called upon the U.S. government to increase border security.

In Mexico, politicians are maneuvering for the July 2006 presidential and congressional elections. Key issues include Mexican alarm at the declarations of emergency in New Mexico and Arizona. Mexico sees the emergencies as exaggerated and anti-Mexican.

On Aug. 18, Nunez called on Schwarzenegger to declare an emergency in California, saying it would help pressure the federal government to stop drug-running and illegal immigration.

Schwarzenegger said there was no need for such a declaration. He also said state law allows him to declare emergencies only in case of war, natural disasters or epidemics.

In a letter he sent to Nunez on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger said the law was intended to protect health, safety, life and property in extreme circumstances.

"The current situation in California does not rise to this level," the governor wrote.

On Thursday, four Republican state lawmakers said they intended to introduce a bill that would amend state law, giving the governor authority to declare a state of emergency along the border. It was not immediately clear whether the bill would be supported by the governor's office.

In his letter to Nunez, Schwarzenegger said he has lobbied federal officials extensively for more federal aid and has met with other governors to address concerns related to the porous U.S.-Mexico border. Those include drug smuggling, human trafficking and issues associated with illegal immigration such as car theft and environmental damage. He said California has committed about $30 million to combat those problems.

"I am committed to addressing this issue in a significant way and have always made my commitment in this regard clear," Schwarzenegger said in his letter.