Gov.'s Candid Moments Caught on Audiotape
Schwarzenegger's banter with aides offers glimpse of bull session behind closed doors.
By Robert Salladay, Times Staff Writer
September 8, 2006
SACRAMENTO — In the sanctuary of his Capitol office with an audio recorder rolling, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger describes Republican legislators as the "wild bunch" and, referring to a Latina lawmaker, casually says that "black blood" mixed with "Latino blood" equals "hot" — a fiery personality.
The governor is heard on a six-minute recording, obtained by The Times, of a meeting with some members of his inner circle last spring. At the time, Schwarzenegger was struggling to persuade Republican lawmakers to embrace his plan to place billions of dollars in borrowing on the November ballot.
It's unclear why the session was taped, but Schwarzenegger occasionally records private meetings so that speechwriters, in particular, can keep a record of his thoughts and cadence....On the recording, Schwarzenegger's Democratic chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, says Assembly Republican leader George Plescia of San Diego resembles a startled deer. That draws a chuckle from the Republican governor, who a moment earlier had referred to Plescia's predecessor, Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, as "Bakersfield boy."
But Kennedy offers praise for Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, the lone Latina Republican in the Legislature. The governor and Kennedy debate her ethnicity, and Schwarzenegger opines that whether she is Cuban or Puerto Rican doesn't matter much.
"I mean, they are all very hot," the governor says. "They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."...
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