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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (78349)	9/8/2006 11:57:58 PM
From: 10K a day	Respond to of 362342

LOL ------------------ Governor apologizes for 'hot' Latina comments By Kevin Yamamura - Bee Capitol Bureau Last Updated 3:02 pm PDT Friday, September 8, 2006 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized Friday to anyone "that feels offended" by his private comments theorizing that Latina Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia has a "very hot" temperament because of her ethnic roots. In a taped conversation with aides obtained by the Los Angeles Times and released Thursday night, Schwarzenegger said he believed Garcia and other women with either Cuban or Puerto Rican roots have particularly strong personalities due to "part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them." "Anyone out there that feels offended by those comments, I just want to say I'm sorry, I apologize, because that was not the intention," Schwarzenegger said in a recording of Friday's press conference provided by his campaign. The governor added he would be upset if he heard his own children making the same comments. He also said that he apologized to Garcia, who he said often jokes herself that she is a "hot Latina" in their conversations. Garcia, who stood next to Schwarzenegger during his Friday press conference, said there was no need for the governor to apologize. But U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, called Schwarzenegger's comments "racist" and United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta said they were "totally sexual" during a press conference shortly after the governor's apology. Both Huerta and Solis have endorsed Democratic challenger Phil Angelides in the governor's race. "It just speaks to what the man thinks," Huerta said of Schwarzenegger. "This is what is important. Because we have a governor up there who should be respecting all women, and especially Latina women, because ... we are the ones who are the lowest paid, the ones who suffer a lot of discrimination, and his apology I don't think is heartfelt." Angelides also criticized the governor. "Once again, Governor Schwarzenegger has used language that is deeply offensive to all Californians and embarrassed our state," he said in a statement. The Schwarzenegger campaign in turn sought help from Garcia, who responded in a statement, "The only embarrassment in California today is Phil Angelides' sad and predictably partisan statement." The governor attended a campaign fundraiser for Garcia in Rancho Mirage on Thursday night. Leading Latino Democratic state lawmakers backed off from any criticism of Schwarzenegger on Friday. In a statement, state Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier, said, "I have worked with the governor on many important issues and he has never been disrespectful to the Latino community." In a separate statement, Richard Stapler, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said, ?These are hardly Nixon?s Watergate tapes. The Governor has always been respectful towards Latinos." The six-minute tape obtained by the Times includes Schwarzenegger's musings on other Republican state lawmakers at a time when the Republican governor was trying to build bipartisan support for public works bonds. The governor refers to former Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy as "Bakersfield boy." The governor also sounds amused when his chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, says current Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia, R-La Jolla, "looks like the deer that keeps getting caught in my yard when I leave the gate open." In a statement released Friday, Plescia said he accepted the governor's apology and that Schwarzenegger "reiterated his respect for our entire caucus." The tape was apparently made by Schwarzenegger speechwriter Gary Delsohn, a former Bee reporter, during a meeting last spring. At the press conference Friday, the governor said Delsohn started taping their meetings -- with his knowledge -- when he joined the staff in February. He said the tapes help Delsohn when he is writing speeches. The Times did not disclose how it obtained the tape. sacbee.com