Thread: Schwarzenegger warms up to México

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Schwarzenegger warms up to México

By LAURA MECOY / The Sacramento Bee

(Published Wednesday, September, 28, 2005 11:50AM)

MEXICALI, México -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger capped off a flurry of activities aimed at winning over disenchanted Latino voters by traveling to México last Friday to discuss immigration and other border issues with Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy.

The two governors emerged from a two-hour private meeting and lunch vowing to work together on undocumented immigration, drug trafficking, economic development and other issues affecting residents on both sides of the California-Mexico border.

"The citizens of our states have important familial, economic and cultural ties that cannot be ignored," they said in a joint statement. "When we work together to produce positive results, the citizens on both sides of the border reap the benefits."

They called undocumented immigration "one of the most challenging and controversial issues" they face. But they only agreed to engage in a respectful dialogue about it.

Schwarzenegger, in response to media questions, said he was "very much encouraged" by reports that President Bush was reviving his guest worker proposal to temporarily legalize the status of millions of undocumented workers.

The California governor didn't speak to any of the specifics of the proposal but said the government must address the issue of undocumented workers.

While Schwarzenegger's aides insisted the Mexicali trip had been in the works for "months," it came at the end of four days of activities seeking to turn around the governor's declining ratings among the fastest-growing segment of the state's electorate and a month after Assembly Speaker Fabián Núñez made his own trip to Mexico to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox.

Schwarzenegger won nearly a third of Latino votes in the 2003 recall election, a showing that held great promise for Republicans, who had been losing Latino support since the GOP backed the 1994 anti-undocumented immigration initiative, Proposition 187.

But a recent Public Policy Institute of California poll showed just 17 percent of Latino voters support Schwarzenegger now.

"He's definitely in trouble with Latinos," said Antonio González, William C. Velásquez Institute president. "I am glad he is meeting with Hispanics. It's about time."

The governor's trip to Baja California's capital on Friday was only his second official trip south of the border since his 2003 election. In July, he attended a border governor's conference in México, where he met Elorduy.

By comparison, former Gov. Gray Davis met with México's president within a month of his inauguration, and the Mexican president visited California a few months later.

Schwarzenegger said Friday he hopes to meet with México's president in the "very near future."

This week, though, he spent much of his time in public courting the Latino vote. He met with Geronimo Gutiérrez, Mexico's deputy secretary of foreign relations, on Tuesday.

He hosted a Town Hall meeting with Latino small business owners in Long Beach on Thursday and announced the creation of a statewide Latino Coalition Campaign that same day.

The campaign, chaired by Sen. Abel Maldonado and former U.S. Treasurer Rosario MarÃÂ*n, plans a "seven-figure Spanish-language media buy" to advertise the four initiatives Schwarzenegger is supporting on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Tony Quinn, a former Republican staffer and co-editor of the Target Book, said the town halls and meetings are symbolic gestures that wouldn't be enough to win back Latino voters.

He said Schwarzenegger's advisers have realized they've antagonized Latino voters but are seeking "short-term political" solutions to the problem.

"This is going to take a year's worth of work," he said.

Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute Public Affairs, said Schwarzenegger has lost the "larger-than-life persona" and populist appeal that helped win over Latinos in 2003.

"He looks like a mean-spirited and battle-scarred politician (now)," Regalado said. "He's been his own worst enemy."

He said Latinos were offended by the governor's praise for the Minutemen, the citizen patrols along the U.S.-México border, and his planned veto of the drivers license bill for illegal immigrants.

Latino activists have also criticized the governor for failing to appoint more Latinos to top government jobs.

Arnold has got to go. This is beyond unacceptable. So he's going to forsake the legal citizens of California so he can gain the imaginary hispanic vote (invaders who aren't suppose to vote anyway according to federal law). He needs to be voted out of office. California needs real leadership, not girlie men who cave in to the demands of a corrupt foreign government who's citizens are invading our country and sucking us dry.

GIVE AUHNOLD THE BOOT!!!

I pray that McClintock runs again.