Schwarzenegger Slammed by Hispanic Group for Supporting English As Official U.S. Language
FRESNO, Calif. Aug. 28 ?
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to broaden his appeal Thursday in the state's ethnically diverse heartland, as a Hispanic advocacy group criticized him for supporting English as the nation's official language.
His leading rival in the gubernatorial recall campaign, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, touched on an issue dear to Californians gas prices as he accused oil companies of price gouging leading into Labor Day weekend.
Bustamante, a Democrat, vowed to bring the companies under state regulatory control, as he began what shaped up as a frenetic day of campaigning by gubernatorial candidates.
Before Schwarzenegger arrived in the state's farm belt, the nation's oldest Hispanic civil rights group called on him to step down from the advisory board of U.S. English, a group that seeks to make English the official language of the United States.
Bustamante, meanwhile, defended his membership in a Hispanic student activist group while he was in college in the 1970s.
The group criticizing Schwarzenegger, the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the Austrian-born actor's advisory board position brings into question his commitment to Hispanics.
"It just seems like all the issues that we support he doesn't," said Gabriela Lemus, the league's director of policy and legislation. The league said it is not taking a position on whether Gov. Gray Davis should be recalled and will not endorse a replacement candidate.
Spokesman Sean Walsh said Schwarzenegger believes English should be the official language.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger came to this country with a few dollars in his pocket and not speaking the English language, and he realized the importance of learning to speak English as quickly as possible to achieve your American dreams," Walsh said.
Bustamante began the day's campaigning with an appearance at a Sacramento gas station in which he called for amending the state constitution to bring big oil companies under state regulatory control.
"Californians are being gouged, and under current law we are powerless to do anything about it," he said, reminding voters they will be paying the highest gas prices in the nation this weekend.
Other front-running candidates in the race to replace Davis if he is recalled Oct. 7 were also busy around the state.
Former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth held a town hall-style meeting in San Diego, telling about 75 people that if elected he would convene a special legislative session on his first day in office to address the state's budget. He also said he would ask lawmakers to place a measure on the March ballot asking voters for a constitutional amendment to impose spending caps. The spending limits would be tied to inflation and population changes.
"I'm going to be a mad dog chasing a meat truck to make sure we get spending in line and get jobs back in the state," he said.
GOP state Sen. Sen. Tom McClintock also was in San Diego, serving as guest host on an afternoon radio show on KOGO.
Davis, Bustamante and McClintock also met with the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, which represents 57 tribal governments. The group will not endorse a candidate, but its members have become an influential political force capable of boosting campaign coffers.
The demand that Schwarzenegger leave U.S. English came as he made a campaign swing through Fresno, Bustamante's hometown. He visited a school, toured a food processing plant and headed for a rally at a shopping mall with Mayor Alan Autry, an actor-turned-politician known for playing "Bubba" in TV's "In the Heat of the Night."
The region encompasses the nation's most productive farmland and is home to many ethnic groups and immigrants, including Hispanics. Bustamante was to travel to the area Saturday to accept the endorsement of the United Farm Workers of America.
On Thursday, the lieutenant governor found himself responding to critics who have complained on conservative talk shows that he was a member of the Hispanic student activist group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or MeCHA, while a student at California State University, Fresno. Critics have said the group advocates radical change.
"The students who are MeCHA today are just like the students when I was there," he said. "Pretty much they are trying to get an education. Most of the friends I went to school with are now either graduates from college or raising families."
Meanwhile, LULAC's Lemus said Schwarzenegger's membership on the board of U.S. English "does not bode well for Hispanics."
"So many of us support bilingualism and bilingual education and maintaining our culture and he's essentially saying it's not valid by being part of this board that has got this whole anti-immigrant, underlying racist mentality," Lemus said.
Other prominent people on the group's advisory board, according to its Web site, include golfer Arnold Palmer, television personality Alex Trebek and actor Charlton Heston. Schwarzenegger has served on the board since 1987, U.S. English officials said.
FRESNO, Calif. Aug. 28 ?
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to broaden his appeal Thursday in the state's ethnically diverse heartland, as a Hispanic advocacy group criticized him for supporting English as the nation's official language.
His leading rival in the gubernatorial recall campaign, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, touched on an issue dear to Californians gas prices as he accused oil companies of price gouging leading into Labor Day weekend.
Bustamante, a Democrat, vowed to bring the companies under state regulatory control, as he began what shaped up as a frenetic day of campaigning by gubernatorial candidates.
Before Schwarzenegger arrived in the state's farm belt, the nation's oldest Hispanic civil rights group called on him to step down from the advisory board of U.S. English, a group that seeks to make English the official language of the United States.
Bustamante, meanwhile, defended his membership in a Hispanic student activist group while he was in college in the 1970s.
The group criticizing Schwarzenegger, the League of United Latin American Citizens, said the Austrian-born actor's advisory board position brings into question his commitment to Hispanics.
"It just seems like all the issues that we support he doesn't," said Gabriela Lemus, the league's director of policy and legislation. The league said it is not taking a position on whether Gov. Gray Davis should be recalled and will not endorse a replacement candidate.
Spokesman Sean Walsh said Schwarzenegger believes English should be the official language.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger came to this country with a few dollars in his pocket and not speaking the English language, and he realized the importance of learning to speak English as quickly as possible to achieve your American dreams," Walsh said.
Bustamante began the day's campaigning with an appearance at a Sacramento gas station in which he called for amending the state constitution to bring big oil companies under state regulatory control.
"Californians are being gouged, and under current law we are powerless to do anything about it," he said, reminding voters they will be paying the highest gas prices in the nation this weekend.
Other front-running candidates in the race to replace Davis if he is recalled Oct. 7 were also busy around the state.
Former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth held a town hall-style meeting in San Diego, telling about 75 people that if elected he would convene a special legislative session on his first day in office to address the state's budget. He also said he would ask lawmakers to place a measure on the March ballot asking voters for a constitutional amendment to impose spending caps. The spending limits would be tied to inflation and population changes.
"I'm going to be a mad dog chasing a meat truck to make sure we get spending in line and get jobs back in the state," he said.
GOP state Sen. Sen. Tom McClintock also was in San Diego, serving as guest host on an afternoon radio show on KOGO.
Davis, Bustamante and McClintock also met with the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, which represents 57 tribal governments. The group will not endorse a candidate, but its members have become an influential political force capable of boosting campaign coffers.
The demand that Schwarzenegger leave U.S. English came as he made a campaign swing through Fresno, Bustamante's hometown. He visited a school, toured a food processing plant and headed for a rally at a shopping mall with Mayor Alan Autry, an actor-turned-politician known for playing "Bubba" in TV's "In the Heat of the Night."
The region encompasses the nation's most productive farmland and is home to many ethnic groups and immigrants, including Hispanics. Bustamante was to travel to the area Saturday to accept the endorsement of the United Farm Workers of America.
On Thursday, the lieutenant governor found himself responding to critics who have complained on conservative talk shows that he was a member of the Hispanic student activist group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, or MeCHA, while a student at California State University, Fresno. Critics have said the group advocates radical change.
"The students who are MeCHA today are just like the students when I was there," he said. "Pretty much they are trying to get an education. Most of the friends I went to school with are now either graduates from college or raising families."
Meanwhile, LULAC's Lemus said Schwarzenegger's membership on the board of U.S. English "does not bode well for Hispanics."
"So many of us support bilingualism and bilingual education and maintaining our culture and he's essentially saying it's not valid by being part of this board that has got this whole anti-immigrant, underlying racist mentality," Lemus said.
Other prominent people on the group's advisory board, according to its Web site, include golfer Arnold Palmer, television personality Alex Trebek and actor Charlton Heston. Schwarzenegger has served on the board since 1987, U.S. English officials said.
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