Thread: Hasta la vista, baby

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Confident governor heading south of border
- Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
Monday, November 6, 2006



Hasta la vista, baby -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is so confident of his re-election that he's already planning to make a run for the border Wednesday.

Not for a vacation, mind you, but to promote California tourism and the state's newest export: environmental technology.

What the governor hopes he isn't talking about during his three-day trip to Mexico is the always-prickly issue of border protection and illegal immigration -- something that has his supporters back home hotly divided.

Instead, trip organizers say Arnold, who has already pitched California in Japan and China, will fly to Mexico City for a long-promised meet-and-greet with outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox and Fox's successor, Felipe Calderon. Then it's off to the industrial city of Monterrey. First lady Maria Shriver will be along to add her luster.

As for the trip's theme, well, they've already got the billboards and street signs going up in Monterrey with an image of Schwarzenegger over both the Mexican and Californian flags, and the hopeful slogan "Crecemos juntos'' -- "We grow together."

Not terribly sexy, but hopefully more helpful than those anti-piracy billboards that Arnold and actor Jackie Chan showcased during his last trip to Shanghai.

As for what the governor has in mind when he returns to the Golden State?

We're told his crew is already hard at work on a new universal health care plan. And they're scouting his next big foreign venture -- India.

Fur flies: Big buzz in Oakland over the battle royal between incumbent City Councilwoman Pat Kernighan and challenger Aimee Allison -- with a reluctant Mayor-elect Ron Dellums right in the middle of it.

It's no secret that many of Democrat Dellums' troops are backing Green Party member Allison, and that her vote could help swing his agenda if she gets elected.

But Dellums has made a point of not taking sides in the race, and was none too happy when Allison's camp slapped his picture on a mailer without his approval.

Last week, Dellums made a very public call for both camps to steer clear of negative campaigning and last-minute mail blitzes aimed at circumventing the city's spending limits.

Within a day, however, Allison's friends sent out a hit piece accusing Kernighan of being soft on crime. Another group started a "push'' phone bank operation, asking people whether they would support Kernighan if they knew some of her allies were being investigated by the FBI -- a not-too-veiled reference to Kernighan backer and City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente.

Allison said she didn't know about either effort, but nonetheless, the first shot was fired.

The Kernighan camp is now shooting back with a last-minute "What Aimee Says vs. What Aimee Does" piece aimed at raising questions about Allison's character.

For example: "Says she's pro-environment -- drives a gas-guzzling luxury SUV."

In other words, business as usual in a tight race.

And from the looks of things, Mayor-elect Dellums' first civic call for decorum lasted all of about 48 hours.

Daly show: The Golden Gate Restaurant Association is once again sharpening its knives in San Francisco's elections, and this time it's trying to carve up Supervisor Chris Daly with a $130,000 ad attack.

In addition to anti-Daly mailers, the association has plastered signs all over District 6 on behalf of challenger Rob Black -- one reading, "Unplug the Daly Show'' and the other proclaiming, "On Nov. 7, everything changes.''

The attacks are being carried out by the political SWAT team of Barnes, Mosher, Whitehurst, Lauter and Partners, and the spending easily makes the restaurateurs the biggest single player in Tuesday's city election.

As for what has them piling on?

Association Executive Director Kevin Westlye says Daly has repeatedly refused to compromise with them -- whether the issue is minimum wage, health care or employee sick days.

"The board has decided that Daly will never work with the restaurant community,'' Westlye said.

And it didn't help, members say, that Daly called former association President Ken Zankel "a bitch'' during a City Hall meeting to discuss the supervisor's idea for requiring restaurants to post letter grades for cleanliness.

Daly says he has no recollection of the insult, and anyway says Zankel called him worse things during their heated meeting. And he's not backing down.

"I certainly have stood strong on helping low-wage workers and their fight for health care, paid sick days and a living wage,'' Daly said.

"The restaurant industry claimed they didn't have the money to pay their low-wage workers," he added, "but it's clear from the amount of money they've spent attacking me that their profit margins are higher than they have been letting on.''

Fast food: Shortly before last Wednesday's star-studded Democratic Party fundraiser at San Francisco's Warfield featuring Bill Clinton, a theater rep ventured up the street to Original Joe's to pick up dinner for the ex-presidential entourage.

The order to go: a dozen hamburgers and cheeseburgers, a platter of eggplant parmesan, a platter of chicken parmesan and piles of garlic bread.

The tab: $600, paid in cash.

We can't tell you for sure if Clinton, who was on the fly most of the evening, gorged on the spread himself -- but then, he's never been known to turn down a good cheeseburger.

EXTRA! Check out the new Matier & Ross Web page this week at www.sfgate.com/matierandross. Cast your vote for whether Barack Obama should run for president. Play the George Bush pumpkin caption contest. Check out the bricks and kisses in feedback. And read the Extra, Extra, Extra musings and insights of friends Rich "Big Vinny" Lieberman and The Chronicle's Carla Marinucci and Don "Bad Reporter" Asmussen.

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©2006 San Francisco Chronicle

Instead, trip organizers say Arnold, who has already pitched California in Japan and China, will fly to Mexico City for a long-promised meet-and-greet with outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox and Fox's successor, Felipe Calderon. Then it's off to the industrial city of Monterrey. First lady Maria Shriver will be along to add her luster.

Sure, let's issue more tourist visas so more people can get into America and never return to their homeland.