Schwarzenegger Has World Beating a Path to the Capitol

SACRAMENTO —  Ireland came calling on Tuesday; Hong Kong on Thursday. And on Friday, it was Israel.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, awash in proposals to revamp the state’s costly workers’ compensation system, is discovering that he must carve out time for the world. The diplomatic corps would appreciate just a few minutes of his attention. And perhaps a photo.

Since taking office in November, the governor has met with U.S. ambassadors from Britain, Canada, Italy and Pakistan. He has entertained the governor of Baja California and Ireland’s minister for health and children, who brought along his 9-year-old son. After a tour of the state Capitol on Tuesday, the boy asked for an autographed picture of California’s governor.

“All my friends,” he proclaimed, “will think this is really cool.”

So, it seems, do foreign dignitaries. Asked why so many want an audience with Schwarzenegger, a senior aide didn’t hesitate: “They want a picture with him.” And everyone gets one.

Patiently waiting for a day when Schwarzenegger might see them are representatives of the governments of Denmark, El Salvador, Singapore and Turkey. The European Union is also in line.

Determined to strengthen the state’s finances and overhaul workers’ compensation, Schwarzenegger has limited time for world diplomacy. Even the titled are being asked to wait.

In an official visit to Sacramento in December, Sir David Manning, her majesty’s ambassador to the United States, was initially handed off to an aide because the governor was busy with budget negotiations.

Schwarzenegger’s staff said the British ambassador noticeably brightened when, 20 minutes later, the governor gave the signal that he could fit him in after all.

“It’s such a wonderful and typically American story,” Roman Czarny, a deputy in the Polish consul general’s office in Los Angeles, said of Schwarzenegger’s rise.

Czarny said his office -- like virtually every other consul’s office -- wants a meeting with the governor, but intends to wait for “the enthusiasm to subside a bit before we get in line to ask for an appointment.”

Once they make it inside, foreign officials find that the visits can take unexpected turns. Trade, jobs and bilateral relations are invariably covered. But Schwarzenegger also has been known to improvise.

With at least one foreign leader, he picked up a sword he keeps in his office -- known among the staff as the “Conan the Barbarian” sword -- and swung it proudly.

Another time he wound up talking to the Baja governor about movies he had made in Mexico and an early trip to see a bodybuilder in Tijuana after Schwarzenegger came to the U.S. in 1968.

He and the Pakistani ambassador spent 10 minutes talking about the region’s mountain ranges.

With the Canadian ambassador, the talk turned to former South African president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela. Schwarzenegger has traveled to South Africa, and the ambassador shared a story about calling the Mandela residence on Canada’s behalf and speaking to his grandson.

Though the world appears happy to come to him, Schwarzenegger will soon make his debut abroad in his role as governor. Details are not firm, but at least four trips are anticipated.

“Once he gets our fiscal house in order and puts out a shingle that says the state is open for business, he’ll go out and market California around the world,” said Cassandra Pye, a deputy chief of staff whose portfolio includes foreign governments.

In May, the governor will visit Israel for the groundbreaking of the new Center for Human Dignity, Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem. Schwarzenegger spent about 45 minutes Friday with Israel’s foreign minister, Silvan Shalom. The two talked about biotechnology, trade, tolerance and, of course, the upcoming trip.

Aides say Schwarzenegger also plans visits to Asia and Mexico, major trading partners that account for billions of dollars a year in California exports. Not nearly as lucrative a market for California products, Europe is further down the list, according to the governor’s staff.

Having already gotten invitations to Britain, Canada, Pakistan, his native Austria and half a dozen other countries, Schwarzenegger will be selective in where he goes, aides said. He wants to deploy his celebrity and skills as a pitchman to market California products. But too much exposure could erode the mystique, according to his staff.

“Think of it in terms of co-branding: Schwarzenegger and California,” said Margita Thompson, the governor’s press secretary. “You’re going to dilute the brand by accepting every offer. Then it’s not special.”

Is it necessary at all? Steve Maviglio, spokesman for former Gov. Gray Davis, said that gubernatorial globetrotting is more ceremonial than substantive.

“It’s easy to write off a foreign trip as building trade,” said Maviglio, whose boss traveled to Mexico four times, Europe and the Middle East. “But if you look at the tangible results, not much comes out of a gubernatorial visit. In our case, the deliverables would be worked out before the trip, and so the governor could go and take credit for it and put his signature to some kind of proclamation.”

For now, though, the foreign appetite for a European immigrant who rose to the state’s highest elective office seems limitless. To cope with the demand, the governor has assigned a media aide to field calls from foreign journalists.

On Friday, Schwarzenegger announced that he was making Charlotte Shultz chief of protocol for the state. Shultz, married to former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz, will work with First Lady Maria Shriver in being host to dignitaries and championing trade.

Inauguration day offered one of the first clues that the world would be watching California’s new governor. The west lawn of the Capitol was sprinkled with 15 foreign dignitaries representing 13 countries, including Argentina, Egypt and Korea.

Then came the foreign press corps. Finland’s MTV has called for an interview. Stations from New Zealand and Norway have done pieces on the new governor.

Requests for one-on-one interviews with Schwarzenegger have come from Australia, Bulgaria, Dubai, Holland, Hungary, Iran, Japan, Peru, Russia, Spain and Switzerland, among others. None has been granted. Austrian TV carried the governor’s State of the State address -- live.

“Unheard of before,” said Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, consul general of Austria.

Explaining Schwarzenegger’s appeal, some foreign diplomats point to his movies.

“There’s nobody who doesn’t know who ‘The Terminator’ is,” said Poland’s Czarny.

“He’s a known figure in Israel, like in many countries,” said Yuval Rotem, that nation’s consul general in Los Angeles. “His movies have appeared in Israel throughout the years. He’s very much liked in Israel.”

Then there was the recall election itself. Many nations found the campaign riveting, if hard to fathom because it was peaceful -- or at least nonviolent, said Norway’s honorary consul general.

“People don’t understand the recall process,” said Richard I. Fine, whose territory covers Southern California. “In other parts of the world, when they recall someone it means armed revolution, particularly when it’s midterm.”

To people overseas, Schwarzenegger’s story is a kind of vicarious triumph.

“Perhaps there’s a little bit of pride. Here was a European teaching America how to get its act together,” said John Andrews, West Coast bureau editor for the Economist magazine. “And subsequently, there’s been a certain admiration for the finesse and political skills that Schwarzenegger has deployed.”

With European-American relations strained by the war in Iraq, Schwarzenegger’s election victory was seen as a promising sign to people hoping for a thaw, Launsky-Tieffenthal said.

The idea was that a California governor who had been born in Europe might be a unifying force, he said.

“In that sense, the mending of fences between Europe and the U.S. can only benefit from someone who knows Europe well,” the Austrian consul general said.

Not that Europeans are the only ones smitten with Schwarzenegger.

Sakiko Odajima, 64, a retired Japanese schoolteacher now living in Sacramento, recently was host to a group of teenage students from Japan.

“Everyone wanted to know, ‘Where is Schwarzenegger?’ ” she said. “ ‘Where does he live?’ ”

Odajima took them to the airport so they could see where his plane lands. They went to the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, the hotel where Schwarzenegger stays when he is in town, so they could see where he sleeps.

When her daughter and grandson came to visit, they wanted to know where Schwarzenegger exercised. So Odajima took them to the Capital Athletic Club. They wanted to eat in some of the same restaurants where the governor eats.

“Japanese people did not know where Sacramento is,” she said. “Now, it’s the center of the United States.”