Schwarzenegger shows his marketing muscle (vows to make overseas trade missions 'bigger and better')

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday his movie-star celebrity and his boundless enthusiasm for all things California make him a great international salesman for the state's products and services.

Speaking to the Commonwealth Club of California at the Herbst Theater, the governor said he will go anywhere to tout California's wares, "to go out there and tell our story" to buyers in any nation. "They want our products, they need our environmental know-how ... and our state-of-the-art technology."

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides' campaign Wednesday issued a pre-emptive memo outlining Schwarzenegger's foreign-trade failures: fewer exports now than in 2000; no follow-through on promises to open trade offices in East Asia and Mexico; and questionable results from costly trade missions to Japan and China, among other things.

The governor said his trade missions and overseas marketing efforts contributed to a Japanese high-end convenience store chain's plans to open 200 California stores; Air China's expansion of a maintenance contract at San Francisco International Airport; $18 million in Chinese wastewater-treatment-installation contracts for a Sacramento company; opening China's market to California plums and other deals.

But Angelides' campaign later issued a press release noting the Japanese convenience-store chain established a California presence two months before Schwarzenegger's trade trip to Tokyo, and Schwarzengger did nothing more than send brief form letters to companies involved in the wastewater-facility contracts.

The governor vowed to make his trade missions "bigger and better and more efficient" so they'll raise "billions of dollars for our state revenues."

He will go to Mexico in August. Angelides has questioned why the governor waited so long to talk business with California's largest trading partner, and some pundits have opined this trip is a sop to Latino voters.

After starting 40 minutes late and speaking for 17 minutes, the governor took the audience's written questions. Asked about his relationship with President Bush, he said he campaigned for the president because he "believed very strongly that George Bush was the best candidate."

But Schwarzenegger insisted he has sought to govern California from the middle and build bipartisanship. "I sleep with a Democrat, so I'm an expert on bringing the parties together," he said, referring to his wife, Kennedy family scion Maria Shriver.

"You recommend that for other Republicans?" asked moderator and Commonwealth Club board chairman Bob Saldich.

On immigration policy, Schwarzenegger said we must "do everything we can to secure our borders" while offering already-present, taxpaying illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and reforming the work-visa process.

Asked about President Bush's veto of stem-cell research legislation, the governor said he's "a big believer" in this research and wholeheartedly backed Proposition 71 of 2004, which provided state bond money it. "There are too many people out there who need help."

Regarding same-sex marriage, he said he believes "that we should treat everyone equally" and so signed domestic-partnership and other laws protecting same-sex couples' rights. But California voters, by passing Proposition 22 of 2000, voiced opposition to same-sex marriage, and that'll be the law until a court or another ballot measure overturns it, he said.

Schwarzenegger said he "loved" former Vice President Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth," which explains the dangers of global warming: "He's right, he's absolutely right — we have to do everything we can to protect this earth."

He touted his own efforts in this regard: the "Hydrogen Highway" alternative fuel project; provision of solar-energy incentives to homeowners; the "greening" of state buildings; creation of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and so on. "We can do both — we can take care of the environment and the economy... Anything to get us off fossil fuel is a great idea, and I will support it."

To hear the governor's speech, go to http://speeches.gov.ca.gov/dir/07-19-2006—trade.htm.

On immigration policy, Schwarzenegger said we must "do everything we can to secure our borders" while offering already-present, taxpaying illegal immigrants a path to citizenship and reforming the work-visa process.

Asked about President Bush's veto of stem-cell research legislation, the governor said he's "a big believer" in this research and wholeheartedly backed Proposition 71 of 2004, which provided state bond money it. "There are too many people out there who need help."

Regarding same-sex marriage, he said he believes "that we should treat everyone equally" and so signed domestic-partnership and other laws protecting same-sex couples' rights. But California voters, by passing Proposition 22 of 2000, voiced opposition to same-sex marriage, and that'll be the law until a court or another ballot measure overturns it, he said.

Here is another version from John Myers at Capitol Notes:

Arnold & Al
In his Q&A today with the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, there were some words of praise from California's Republican governor for the former Democratic presidential nominee, and his popular movie on global warming.
Governor Schwarzenegger was asked had he seen Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, a movie on the threats from global warming... and one that some GOP stalwarts have talked about in less than flattering terms.
But not Schwarzenegger.
"I loved Al Gore's movie," the governor said. "I think it was a fantastic movie. I think he did a great job. "
And Schwarzenegger reiterated that he stands squarely with Gore on the issue of global warming. "He's right, he's absolutely right. We've got to do everything we can to protect this Earth and protect this environment."

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