Governor takes dig at accent

Who can say as to what exact degree of accuracy is contained in the following report; but, in saying this, though realizing that politics can and often do push the proverbial envelope, there is something rather distasteful in this entire affair. Politicos must understand the influence and sway they have on the people, as readily demonstrated by the crowd member who screamed, "He's a foreigner!"

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/recall/story/7371309p-8315005c.html


Governor takes dig at accent
Remark about Schwarzenegger is made to a rally participant.
By Dan Smith and Alexa H. Bluth -- Bee Staff Writers
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Sunday, September 7, 2003

SOUTH EL MONTE -- Campaigning at a union picnic, Gov. Gray Davis on Saturday turned his sights on Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying in a conversation with one potential voter that "you shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state."
In his public remarks to a boisterous crowd of about 300 at the fifth annual picnic of the Los Angeles Ironworkers Local 433, Davis suggested Schwarzenegger -- whom he referred to only as "the actor" -- would repeal Davis-backed union gains such as daily overtime pay and family-leave benefits.

"I've signed 300 bills to help working people," Davis said. "These are measures that strengthen your lives. Now my opponent, this actor, says 'I'm not going to ask for support from working people because they are a special interest.' He's got part of it right. You are special, and you have an important and special role to play in our future, and I am proud to stand with you."
Whipped into an anti-Schwarzenegger frenzy at the picnic, one crowd member screamed, "He's a foreigner!" as Davis criticized Schwarzenegger, who hopes to succeed him as governor in the Oct. 7 recall election.

The man later approached Davis and apologized several times for making the remark. Davis told him not to worry, and added with a smile, "You shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state," in an apparent reference to Schwarzenegger's Austrian accent.

The theme was picked up later in Alhambra at an Asian American rally against the recall. An appointee to the Workforce Investment Board, Sukhee Kang, suggested that Schwarzenegger's accent hindered his governing abilities.

"He can't even speak English well. How can he govern the state of California?" said Kang, who emigrated from South Korea in 1977, as he warmed up the crowd before Davis arrived.

Facing the same crowd later, Davis ticked off a list of Asian Americans he's named to top government positions and said he has appointed more Asian Americans -- 280 -- than any California governor.

He again slammed Schwarz-enegger.

"He just fights in movies," Davis said. "I served in a real war to defend this country and I've worked hard to advance the interests of Asian Pacific Californians."

He said former Gov. Pete Wilson and other Wilson-era members of Schwarzenegger's campaign "had their chance. They should just move aside and let the rest of us finish the job you elected us to serve."

Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh said the Democratic governor insulted "millions of Californians" with his comment on Schwarzenegger's accent.

"Gray Davis has made an anti-immigrant slur," he said. "He owes an apology to Arnold Schwarzenegger and all immigrants in this state and country. ... This appears to be a pattern by the Democrats to play wedge-issue politics regarding immigrants."

Davis spokesman Pete Ragone later said he attended the picnic with the governor and did not hear the comment. "Furthermore, the real question is, is Arnold sorry for the way he's talked about women over the past 20 years? Is Arnold sorry for his support of Prop. 187?"

Earlier in the day, the first presidential candidate to campaign against the recall in California, Democrat Howard Dean, stood with Davis and denounced the recall as part of a Republican-driven "state-by-state, piece-by-piece, dismantling (of) elections that the people of this country have decided already."

"What's going on in California, the nation's biggest state, is nothing less than an attempt by the right wing to undo what this country's all about," said Dean during a joint press conference with Davis. "They do not care what Americans think, and they do not accept the legitimacy of our elections."

Dean -- who has emerged as the front-runner among Democratic presidential contenders and was campaigning in Southern California -- is the first of the nine Democcratic presidential candidates to appear with Davis. All have signed a letter objecting to the recall.

Davis said his camp will ask all of the Democrats who want to challenge President Bush next year to campaign against the recall when they make campaign stops in the state. Former President Clinton and other top Democrats already have agreed to hit the campaign trail with Davis.

Asked if he would endorse Dean's candidacy for president, Davis said, "I'm going to take one election at a time."

But Dean spoke out on Davis' behalf and said he was not worried about any potential political risk of appearing next to the unpopular governor. He said the recall is "not about Gray Davis' record," calling it an effort by Republicans to grab power.

Dean ticked off recent events that he called efforts to "remove Democracy from America" on the part of conservative Republicans and the Bush administration, including the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision to stop a recount in the presidential election and redistricting efforts in Colorado and Texas that would help Republicans gain ground in Congress.

"And finally we now have, in California, a self-financed initiative put on the ballot by one of the most right-wing, conservative members of the Congress, who paid for this largely out of his own money, to undo an election that has been held less than a year ago," Dean said. U.S. Rep Darrell Issa contributed millions of dollars of his own money to the effort to gather signatures and qualify the recall for the Oct. 7 ballot.

Davis joined Dean in blaming Bush for California's woes, specifically the dismal economy that has driven the state's budget crisis and that recall backers cite as a chief reason that Davis should be tossed from office.

"We have been losing jobs at an alarming rate since President Bush took office," Davis said.