Governor Apologizes for Ethnic Comments

Saying he cringed after reading his own words, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger apologized Friday for characterizing a Latina lawmaker as hotblooded because of her ethnicity.

The governor said he was disturbed by published reports of a casual conversation with top aides at a private meeting in his Capitol office last spring, recorded by a staff member preparing a speech for him. He apologized for the remarks at a news conference in Santa Monica with Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia (R-Cathedral City), the subject of his comments, smiling as she stood next to him.

“Anyone out there that feels offended by these comments, I just want to say I’m sorry. I apologize,” Schwarzenegger said.

“The fact is that if I would hear these kind of comments in my house, by my kids, I would be upset,” Schwarzenegger said. “It’s one thing when you say things, but it’s another thing when you read it in the paper. It made me cringe. It made me feel uncomfortable.”

The Times obtained a copy of the audio recording and published the governor’s remarks on its website Thursday evening and in the newspaper Friday.

On the six-minute recording, Schwarzenegger discusses Garcia with his Democratic chief of staff, Susan Kennedy. Their conversation, consisting mostly of casual banter, veered away from talk about two Republican legislative leaders to Garcia and her ethnic identity.

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

And he recalled a Cuban-born bodybuilder who, he said, “was like that.”

Garcia, who has been campaigning for Schwarzenegger as one of his highest profile Latina supporters, said there was no need for apologies, because she refers to herself as hotblooded. The governor attended a fundraiser for Garcia’s reelection campaign Thursday.

“I am not mad that he recognizes that I am passionate about the issues,” she said, echoing comments she made to The Times on Thursday, “and I am not mad that he allows me to tell him exactly what I think, and what’s on the mind of people in my community. So again, there is no need to apologize.”

Assembly Republican leader George Plescia (R-San Diego), whom Kennedy said on the recording looked like a startled deer, also said no apology was necessary, although both the governor and Kennedy called him to express regret. He said he was not offended.

Plescia said his office was planning to make T-shirts with the phrase “Wild Bunch” on them for every member of the Legislature’s GOP caucus -- a reference to Schwarzenegger’s characterization of Republican lawmakers on the recording.

“Some of us have thought of wearing it like a badge of honor,” Plescia said.

On the recording, Schwarzenegger muses about Plescia’s ability to “control that wild bunch upstairs,” and describes the chamber’s Republicans as an “unruly bunch of guys and girls.”

Schwarzenegger said at the news conference that he had called several Latino and African American community leaders to discuss his taped remarks with them, although he did not name them. They understood that the remarks were part of an “off-the-record conversation, and it was not meant to be in any negative way,” he said.

Schwarzenegger said the conversation had been taped, as some of his meetings are, “because I have a certain way of speaking” and because it helps his speechwriters get the “texture” of his accent.

“So I don’t sound like any other politician speaking, I always sound like Arnold,” he said, noting that his speechwriter was new on the job at the time.

The governor’s apology did not mollify his opponents. State Treasurer Phil Angelides, the Democrat who is challenging his reelection bid this year, issued a statement saying Schwarzenegger “has used language that is deeply offensive to all Californians and embarrassed our state.”

“His comments reflect a disturbing pattern of behavior,” the statement said. “The governor has a responsibility to conduct himself with dignity.”

Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-El Monte) said she thought the comments were disrespectful because they portrayed Latinas as objects, not individuals with differing personalities.

“What is really sad is we’re always trying to defy these stereotypes, especially Latino women in important positions,” Solis said. “This doesn’t help us. People just want to brush us off and depict us in a negative manner.”

Schwarzenegger did not refer to his earlier remarks in a brief speech later Friday morning at the opening ceremonies of the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona. During a leisurely stroll through the rows of hot dog and cotton candy stands, he obliged requests to recite lines from “The Terminator,” autographed checkbooks and maps of the fair, and took one teenager’s cellphone to say hello to the young man’s friend on the other end.

Many of his greeters included blacks and Latinos, few of whom said they were disturbed by Schwarzenegger’s comments about ethnicity and personality.

“It’s probably true,” said Frank Rodriguez, a stove assembly technician from La Puente who described himself as being of Mexican descent. “There’s a lot more things to be offended about. He has a right to say what he wants, just like we do. If it was just anybody else on the street -- if I said it, if you said it -- nobody would care.”

Vincent Kirby, a retired computer assembler from La Puente who said he is still deciding whether to vote again for Schwarzenegger, said the comments weren’t likely to sway him one way or another.

“But as governor,” said Kirby, 53, who said his ancestors included Spaniards, American Indians and Cajuns, “to really keep his face and his character and his charisma up, he should really avoid stuff like that.”

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robert.salladay@latimes.com

michael.finnegan@latimes.com

Times staff writer Maeve Reston contributed to this report.