Torres to Schwarzenegger: ‘This is not Austria’

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: Photo by Getty Images

Art Torres, the chair of the California Democratic Party, is taking a shot at Arnold Schwarzenegger for comments the governor made Wednesday about small towns in California.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Schwarzenegger told attendees at the infrastructure conference that it’s good for state legislators from “little towns” to see worldly things like "an airport" or even "a highway on top of a highway."

“The Governor’s comments are insulting,” Torres told PolitickerCA.com today. “California does not have villages. This is not Austria, this is California. Voters in Central California and others from small towns have more on the ball than Arnie!”

Schwarzenegger was explaining that his own viewings of rail projects in China and France had led him to support high-speed rail projects in California.

"And that's why I always encourage the legislators in Sacramento, because some of them come from those little towns," Schwarzenegger said, according to the Bee. "You know what I'm saying? They come from those little towns, and they don't have that vision yet of an airport or of a highway that maybe has 10 lanes. Or of putting a highway on top of a highway. They look at you and say, 'Well, we don't have that in my town, what are you talking about?' So they are kind of shocked when you say certain things."