POLITICAL AFFAIRS
Arnold Schwarzenegger Announces Run for Governor

by R. McFadden

LOS ANGELES -- August 8, 2003 -- Arnold Schwarzenegger's surprise announcement on national television that he is indeed throwing his hat in the ring as a candidate for Governor of California has sent shockwaves throughout the state's political scene.

Within 24 hours of Arnold's announcement that he would run to challenge Gray Davis, two Republican politicians, Richard Riordan, former mayor of Los Angeles, and Darrell Issa, the congressman from San Diego who did the most to promote the recall, both decided not to join the crowded field of candidates. While Schwarzenegger's entrance into the battle encouraged some Republicans to drop out, it also served to break Democratic unity behind Governor Davis as Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi both filed to have their names placed on the ballot

During previous weeks, the movie star's public relations minions had indicated that, after careful consideration, Schwarzenegger had decided not to put his name on the October 7 recall ballot that threatens to remove lifetime politician Gray Davis from office. But the star's appearance on Jay Leno's Tonight Show this week caused a political earthquake in the shaping of the recall contest.

Already, commentators are talking about the many skeletons tucked away in Schwarzenegger's proverbial closet that are bound to come out in the next 60 days as the election approaches. In 2002, the Austrian-born bodybuilder was making plans to run as the Republican candidate for Governor, but dropped out when tabloids spilled the beans on some of his extra-marital affairs.

Schwarzenegger's infidelity to wife Maria Shriver has become common knowledge around the Brentwood-Santa Monica area of western Los Angeles. A former Schwarzenegger bodyguard who served in the Israeli Navy Seals told a Citizine source in 2001 that Arnold has one principal mistress, but other lucky ladies on the side. The ex-bodyguard said, however, that he sympathized in a way with the action star's cheating behavior because Shriver is a very unpleasant woman to be around.

He also noted that Schwarzenegger has placed a number of statues of himself around his estate, and commented on the star's apparent narcissistic and prideful character by saying Schwarzenegger, "loves himself a little too much."

The Schwarzeneggers own three large houses on adjoining properties off Sunset Boulevard near Will Rogers State Park where they lived until 2002, when they purchased a home in a gated community in Brentwood. The three-house compound, which has three swimming pools and tennis courts, is now up for sale this summer for $18 million.

As a Hollywood fixture for over twenty years, Arnold Schwarzenegger is tight with many powerful people in entertainment and politics. He campaigned in 1988 and 1992 for his friend, former President George H. W. Bush, and current President George Bush the Younger may openly supporting Arnold's candidacy. Even limousine liberals who formerly donated heavily to Governor Davis are considering transferring their patronage to Schwarzenegger.

The revelations that Arnold's father, Gustav Schwarzenegger, was a member of the National Socialist Party in Austria during World War II, would also be enough to torpedo most any other candidate's chances for election. But Arnold has silenced a potentially vocal critic, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, with contributions over the years of $750,000 to $1 million of his own money, along with appearances at fundraisers that have brought in millions more for the "non-profit organization."

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading crusader against anti-semitism and "hate speech," has devoted little time publicizing Schwarzenegger's "Nazi connection." Rabbi Marvin Hier, head of the Wiesenthal Center's "Museum of Tolerance" in West Los Angeles, says that Schwarzenegger came to the Center in 1990 and, "asked us to use our researchers and resources to track down his father's past." They discovered that Gustav Schwarzenegger applied for Nazi Party membership in 1938 and was accepted into the Party in 1941.

Since that time, Schwarzenegger has contributed heavily to the Wiesenthal Center. "Every time he does a movie, he writes a check," Hier says. "No other star has given that kind of money."

Schwarzenegger just earned $35 million for this latest installment of Terminator and is prepared to throw millions of dollars into his run for Governor. The Austrian-American has acquired the campaign team that worked for former Republican Governor Pete Wilson, as well, so he is in able hands for the campaign. Schwarzenegger describes himself as "pro-gay", "pro-business", "pro-abortion", and "pro-after school programs," a combination that will make him difficult to beat in California.

----

Reader Comments

No Comments.

Citizine Home