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Ambassador Argyros Keeps OC in His World View

Ambassador Argyros Keeps OC in His World View

By RICK REIFF

America’s new ambassador to Spain says he wants to strengthen economic ties between the two countries, and help lure some Spanish investment to Orange County.

“It’s important that we work closely with Spain for a number of reasons,” George Argyros said last week from his Arnel & Affliates offices in Costa Mesa. “They’re a natural ally with us. In the last eight months they’ve invested $1 billion in Mexico, Latin America and South America,private and government dollars. They’ve made a long-term commitment to the Western Hemisphere.”

Argyros said he’s willing to help Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido lure Spanish investors to that city’s 9-month-old Mexico Trade Center, an initiative of Mexico President Vicente Fox to promote trade between Mex-ico and California.

During Republican Argyros’s stalled confirmation process in the Senate Judiciary Committee late last year, Pulido put in a good word for Argyros with fellow Democrat and committee chair-man Sen. Joe Biden. More re-cently, Pulido, noting the influence of Spanish investors in Mex-ico, said he has asked Argyros to help get Spain involved in the trade center.

“I will help him any way I can,” Argyros said. “I want to make a contribution to help Miguel and Santa Ana and Orange County, but I have other responsibilities, obviously.”

Argyros visited Orange County for a holiday break before flying to Washington, D.C., and then back to Madrid, where he started his job as ambassador on Dec. 13.

Argyros said he already has had several discussions with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. On Jan. 1, Aznar assumed the rotating six-month presidency of the Euro-pean Economic Union, at a pivotal time for that organization.

“They’re expanding and converting to the euro. There are exciting things going on that will affect us long-term, most of them good,” Argyros said.

Argyros said he also had met with Spain’s top legislative leaders, who he noted are both women.

“They’re wonderful ladies. The only thing that worried me is that the leader of their Senate is a 4-handicap (in golf). That’s intimidating.”

The hard-driving businessman said he has been struck by the fast pace of his new undertaking: “I think the intensity is much more than anyone could imagine. It’s just been one thing after another, from 8 a.m. to midnight.”

Argyros praised the State Department staffers he works with, as well as Secretary of State Colin Powell, an old acquaintance who swore him in as ambassador.

“He’s absolutley first-class. I would call him a walk-around manager who’s instilled a spirit of teamwork in the senior management,” he said.

Of course, the aftermath of Sept. 11 has put a heightened emphasis on diplomacy, Argyros said: “It’s certainly brought all of our allies together and brought the whole free world together.”

Spain has played a prominent role in the fight against global terrorism, including the arrests of 14 al-Qaida suspects following the Sept. 11 attacks.

But Argyros drew a sharp line when asked to discuss his role in the campaign against terrorism.

“I can’t get into it. It’s a security issue,” he said.

The usually blunt businessman also displayed diplomatic tact when asked about the proposed El Toro airport, the contentious local cause that he has championed and funded.

Argyros said that he no longer will be active in the pro-airport effort.

“I’m the ambassador. I have a full-time job now,” he said.

But Argyros said it would be an “exaggeration” to conclude that his withdrawal from the debate meant that the proposed airport is “dead.”

He sidestepped a question of whether he would put any more dollars into the El Toro effort. He repeated his oft-stated argument that the airport is needed to meet the county’s long-term aviation needs, but cut short his remarks.

“It’s just not appropriate,” he said. “I really have to stay out of it.”

Argyros, whose Arnel Management apartment unit paid $1.5 million last September to settle a state investigation of charges that it bilked renters of their security deposits, distanced himself from the controversy over how county prosecutor Tony Rackauckas had handled the Arnel case and other matters.

Argyros characterized a grand jury inquiry into Rackauckas’ office as part of a “political dogfight,” but declined to elaborate. “You’ll have to talk to somebody else in my office, because I’m not involved.”

Argyros said he will spend most of his time in Spain, and doesn’t plan a return trip to Orange County until sometime in the spring. He said wife Judie, a top OC socialite, is enjoying their new life, although “she’s realizing it’s more responsibility than any of us imagined.”

Asked if he was speaking Spanish yet, Argyros replied, “S & #237;. I’m taking Spanish lessons. I’m learning a little more every day.”

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