Schwarzenegger Ethnic Commentary Caught on Tape

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/08/AR2006090800599.html?nav=rss_nation

 

The Washington Post

Schwarzenegger Ethnic Commentary Caught on Tape

By Bill Brubaker

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 8, 2006; 1:28 PM

 

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told advisers in a closed-door meeting last spring that Cubans and Puerto Ricans have "very hot" temperaments because they have a mix of "black blood" and "Latino blood."

 

In a six-minute audio tape obtained by the Los Angeles Times, the Republican governor was heard speculating with his chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, about the ethnicity of a Republican assemblywoman, Bonnie Garcia.

 

"Bonnie Garcia is great," Kennedy said on the recording. "She's a ball-buster. She's great. Is she Puerto Rican?"

 

"She seems to me like Cuban," Schwarzenegger said.

 

"She's not Mexican," Kennedy responded.

 

"No," Schwarzenegger agreed.

 

". . . I thought she was Puerto Rican," Kennedy said.

 

"She maybe is Puerto Rican or the same thing as Cuban," the governor said. "I mean, they are all very hot. They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."

 

Garcia, the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, told the Los Angeles Times she wasn't bothered by the characterization.

 

"I love the governor because he is a straight talker just like I am," she said. "Very often I tell him, 'Look, I am a hot-blooded Latina.' I label myself a hot-blooded Latina that is very passionate about the issues, and this is kind of an inside joke that I have with the governor."

 

The Los Angeles Times did not disclose how it obtained the six-minute recording. The newspaper said it was unclear why the meeting had been taped. But it noted that Schwarzenegger occasionally records private meetings so his speechwriters can keep a record of his thoughts and cadence. Some participants in the meeting suggested that they knew that the meeting was being taped.

 

Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman, Margita Thompson, downplayed the governor's comments, saying they were "a small part of a long conversation that is taken totally out of context."

 

"The governor respects every member of the Legislature and holds them in the highest regard," Thompson said in a statement to the Times.

 

The recording offers what the newspaper called "an unusually candid look" at Schwarzenegger's administration "when the doors are closed."

 

The governor is heard using the "F" word on the tape.

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