Posted on 08/01/2004 12:28:51 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) and his wife, Maria Shriver, have sold three properties in their posh Pacific Palisades residential compound, which is valued at about $18 million, and a fourth parcel is in escrow, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.
The couple has not lived on the 5.3-acre property since they bought a new home in nearby Brentwood for about $11.9 million in 2002, the paper reported.
The four parcels in the compound were offered as three separate homes. Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, a son of Robert F. Kennedy and a cousin of Shriver, bought one of them: a $3.4 million home with a pool and tennis court that sits on one acre of land. Schwarzenegger purchased that home for Shriver in 2001 as a Valentine's Day (news - web sites) gift.
Two other homes in the compound were sold as one estate with a sale price believed to be $7.95 million, the paper reported.
On Saturday, a year after California went through a tumultuous gubernatorial recall election brought on by state financial woes, Schwarzenegger signed a budget that is balanced for the current year but relies heavily on debt financing, like those of past administrations.
The $105 billion spending package avoids new taxes -- a Schwarzenegger pledge -- but uses money borrowed through bond sales to help pay this year's bills as well as past years' debts. Schwarzenegger had also pledged to stop the state's deficit spending habit.
FRegards,
On the contrary, Smart money is taking a profit in Calfornia Real Estate.
Uh? I thought that is what I said....
Arnie sells...maybe near the top....I think that's smart. As I've read and know some whom have done the same...and are looking elsewhere to buy real estate.
Oh well....maybe I wasn't clear. Sorry.
Yeah no kidding. Back in 1998 when I bought my present home in Elk Grove, I lamented that I didn't have any capital to get in on the dotcom thing like many of my friends. They all lost their shirts and I've made $250,000 doing nothing but mowing my lawn and tinkering around the house.
It also appears that Arnie split lot as well.
Hmmm. I'm surprised that Arnold isn't required by California law to have his holdings, assets and investments in a blind trust. Maybe he does. Strange.
A residence would naturally be exempt from any blind trust requirement.
Okay. Thought that applied to only a primary residence and possibly a vacation home. This was for three properties.
It would appear that the compound was a single property when Arnold lived there in 2002. It was then his primary residence. He is now in the process of parceling the property and selling it off in pieces -- a smart move considering the real estate climate in California. Perhaps the State should start parceling some of its properties to pay down the deficit.
I think the top was already reached.... I see LOTS OF SIGNS out there.
They have talked about selling off certain state properties.....so has the federal government....that is why LAAFB and Miramar naval air station are toast.
Investment property. I guess there is no state law that requires elected govt officials to place their holdings, investments and general assets into a blind trust.
just curious. Thanks Phil.
Oh no! Do they know where they might have misplaced them? They must be cold!
No I don't believe there is. Nor do I believe that there ought to be. Do you believe that elected representatives should give up their right to control their own personal property? I sure don't. I think that they have a duty to avoid conflicts of interest, but that is as far as it goes. I see no conflict of interest in this transaction.
I see no reason why Arnold should even have to give up his day job to run this state. I wish all the representatives in this state had day jobs. I wish the represenatives would only meet for about 2 weeks out of the year to pass a budget and go home. We've got more laws on the books now than we could ever need.
Did Joe Kennedy make so much $ on booze that the grandkids can buy 3.4 Mil houses? Or does this Kennedy have a real job?
No. My interest was strictly out of curiosity. Guess you missed that. I know there are strict conflict of interest statutes and codes of conduct restrictions pertaining to all federal government employees. I'm not familiar with individual state statutes.
>>>I wish the represenatives would only meet for about 2 weeks out of the year to pass a budget and go home.
Being a limited govt conservative, I would prefer that all elected officials limit their actual time spent in the halls of power. Although, two weeks might be too short. As far as I know, California is one of few states which has a full time legislature. Colorado has a part time legislature that includes 120-day sessions, term limits, small staffs, and strong deadlines and bill limitations.
If I were California's dictator, I would have someone do a word count on the Calfornia statute books and then pass a law that says that the entire code cannot exceed that many words (say 1,500,000). That way, for every word of new legislation that is written, they would have to repeal the same number of words from other statutes. This way a lot of useless laws would have to be eliminated if the state felt that some new law was necessary.
You'd get my vote.
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