Gov. welcomes the shake-up in Congress

MEXICO CITY —  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said here Thursday that he was heartened by Tuesday’s election resulting in a Democratic takeover of Congress, welcoming what he described as the “new blood coming to Washington.”

Speaking publicly for the first time about his party’s loss of both the U.S. House and Senate, Schwarzenegger said he hoped that the changes would jump-start a political system that is paralyzed.

“I think it’s good that there are new ideas and new blood, because Washington was stuck,” the governor said after a meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox at Los Pinos, Mexico’s equivalent of the White House. “They could not move forward. Not much was accomplished. I think it was terrible.”

Schwarzenegger said the results could usher in a new era of bipartisan cooperation, similar to what he said he is bringing about in Sacramento.

“So I think the people have spoken in America, all over the United States,” the governor told a roomful of California and Mexican journalists. “And they’ve sent a very clear message to Washington: We are not happy about the way things were going. And I think we want to see a new way of going, and we want to see bipartisanship.”

After the governor spoke, his communications director, Adam Mendelsohn, hastened to tell reporters that Schwarzenegger was not saying he was necessarily pleased to see Congress under Democratic control. Rather, he was making the point that “it’s good there is an infusion of new ideas and desire for bipartisanship,” Mendelsohn said.

The governor arrived in Mexico City late Wednesday for a two-day trade mission, during which he is meeting with political leaders and business executives. In the visit with Fox, the Mexican president raised the issue of illegal immigration, a raw subject on both sides of the border.

Schwarzenegger said he told the Mexican leader that plans to make the border more secure through hundreds of miles of fencing amount to “an incomplete way of solving the problem.” While the U.S. builds its fence, officials in Washington must also enact a guest worker program so employers have a steady supply of labor, and officials must find ways to create new jobs in Mexico so there is less incentive to cross the border illegally, Schwarzenegger said.

Referring to the 63-person California business delegation that has joined him in Mexico, the governor said: “Right now I have with me a bunch of farmers from California, and they’re complaining because their crops are spoiling right now and we are losing millions and millions of dollars because we can’t get the workers into California.”

Schwarzenegger was accompanied at the breakfast meeting by a dozen people, including his wife, Maria Shriver; his agriculture, business and environmental secretaries; Claire Bilby, vice president for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts; and Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, a major business lobby group.

The guests were served omelets, refried beans, cantaloupe and sweet bread. Schwarzenegger gave Fox and his wife silver spurs engraved with the California seal.

The governor paused amid a packed schedule to smoke a cigar in the outdoor courtyard of his hotel and take questions from California reporters. Offering a reason for his decisive win Tuesday, Schwarzenegger cited the agreements he reached with the Democratic-controlled Legislature this year after two years of more combative dealings with lawmakers.

“People like it so much that the vote for me was saying that’s the Arnold they like: ‘That’s the move we like. That’s the way the state should move forward. That’s the way we want you to do it in the next four years.’

“I think we’re onto something,” he said.

Asked why some residents interviewed in Mexico don’t believe he likes them, Schwarzenegger mentioned his refusal to sign bills that would grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. He said he can’t give out such licenses until he is assured that they would not jeopardize California’s security -- a decision he said was unrelated to his affection for the Mexican people.

“I like my children, but I am not going to let them do everything they want,” he said. “It doesn’t take anything away from liking and appreciating them. I have the utmost respect for the Latino community.”

After his visit with Fox, Schwarzenegger went to a supermarket, where he examined California produce and drank from a glass of California wine. He sampled sushi made with California-grown rice and held up bags of rice for the cameras. Large pictures of him touting California products were displayed near the vegetables and wine.

The governor also delivered a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico in a hotel ballroom. Midway through, a group of protesters supporting frequent U.S. presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche disrupted the address, moving toward the podium.

One protester reached the stage and began to approach Schwarzenegger but was grabbed by California Highway Patrol officers, part of the governor’s large security detail, and led away. The demonstrators, singing and shouting angrily in Spanish about Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Schwarzenegger, were ushered out of the ballroom by Mexican security guards.

The governor kept speaking amid the commotion, announcing that the state would open a privately funded tourism office in Mexico City by July.

Today, Schwarzenegger is to visit President-elect Felipe Calderon, then fly to Monterrey for a meeting with business leaders before returning to California.

peter.nicholas@latimes.com