Bustamante Meets With Latino Leaders in Chicago

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante made an unannounced visit here Friday, raising about $150,000 in a series of fund-raisers with Latino business leaders.

It was Bustamante’s first foray out of state since the recall of Gov. Gray Davis qualified for the ballot.

“He’s not like Arnold and can’t just pick up the phone and raise money,” said Phil Fuentes, a McDonald’s restaurant owner in Cicero, Ill., who attended a fund-raiser. “He has to go out of state.”

Bustamante rang the closing bell at the Chicago Stock Exchange and exchanged endorsements with Gery Chico, a former Chicago School Board member running for U.S. Senate.

During a news conference with Chico, Bustamante reiterated his support for an amnesty program to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants.

Later, the lieutenant governor delivered a keynote address to about 200 people gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hispanic Democratic Organization.

Bustamante’s campaign, which has provided reporters with little advance notice of his schedule, kept his trip to Chicago under wraps.

On Thursday evening, Bustamante’s press secretary sent reporters an e-mail stating that the lieutenant governor had no public events Friday. The next day, an e-mail said he was in Chicago.

Times staff writer Matea Gold and Chicago Tribune staff writer John McCormick contributed to this report.