Former California Governor Pete Wilson has endorsed Mitt Romney for President. Not as early or as flashy of an endorsement as the Rudy Giuliani endorsement in 2007, but one nevertheless.

Former California Gov. Pete Wilson endorsed GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney today and will serve as the candidate’s honorary co-chairman in California, the Romney campaign announced.

In a statement, Romney called Wilson “one of California’s most accomplished leaders.” Wilson, governor from 1991 to 1999, said Romney “is an enthusiastic believer in American exceptionalism and has been a spectacular example of it: Mitt has been a success in creating American private sector jobs, a success as the rescuer of the Salt Lake City Olympic games, and as a public chief executive as the Republican governor in the challenging environment of heavily Democratic Massachusetts.”

The public employee unions and illegal immigration support advocates immediately attacked Romney and Wilson because of Wilson’s support of Proposition 187, a measure passed by Californians in 1994, overturned by the federal courts and which restricted benefits to illegal immigrants.

But immigrant rights groups were quick to pounce on the association. Wilson has become a boogeyman in California politics due to his backing of Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot measure targeting illegal immigrants that many analysts believe chased California Latinos into the Democratic party and lost the state for the GOP.

Romney has staked out an increasingly tough stance on illegal immigration during the Republican primaries this year to differentiate himself from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

“Romney can’t seem to stop himself from digging deeper and deeper into his hole with Latino voters,” said Eliseo Medina of the Service Employees International Union in a statement. “Here is what Pete Wilson accomplished: He turned Latino voters against the GOP brand.”

Medina and other immigrant groups were quick to note that Romney is also being advised by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who helped write controversial laws against illegal immigration in Alabama and Arizona.

No POL in California embodies GOP Establishment more than Pete Wilson. There is NO surprise that he will endorse the presumptive Republican nominee in Mitt Romney.

The endorsement per se will ONLY be important, (besides appearances at the Convention this summer) if the race for President 2012 lingers on to the California June Presidential Primary election.