Posted on 08/14/2003 8:39:48 AM PDT by ElkGroveDan
By Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Arnold Schwarzenegger has given Democrats thousands of dollars in political donations over the past two decades, including $1,000 to Massachusetts senator and liberal lightning rod Ted Kennedy.
At the same time, campaign reports show, the GOP actor and gubernatorial hopeful has been a lukewarm financial supporter of Republican candidates.
Ultimately, say political observers, Schwarzenegger's history of political giving indicates little beyond what already is known -- that he is a moderate Republican who married into the Democratic Kennedy clan via NBC news correspondent Maria Shriver.
But conservative activists argue the pattern underscores a questionable political allegiance.
"Certainly, he has not proven to be a dedicated Republican. Where is his loyalty going to be?" asked Celeste Greig, a longtime Republican activist from Northridge who is supporting Schwarzenegger's rival, Bill Simon.
According to Federal Election Commission reports, Schwarzenegger gave $7,500 to Democrats since 1980 -- all of them Kennedys -- and $12,500 to Republicans and GOP committees.
Schwarzenegger aides and supporters called the donations to Democrats a non-issue.
"It's blood. It's family. He wasn't supporting Democrats, he was supporting family," said Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora.
"The fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger passionately embraces Republican views on fiscal responsibility and economic growth is enough for me and enough for most Republicans," Dreier said.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob Stutzman called criticizing the actor for his Kennedy donations "foolish."
"It's just silly to suggest that Arnold Schwarzenegger can't be a good Republican while still supporting his family by marriage," he said.
Even some Democrats said they don't read much into the Kennedy donations. "He wants to stay married," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks.
But Sherman also slammed the campaign contributions as "thoughtless."
"I don't think he's thought about anything in politics," Sherman said. "These political contributions are thoughtless gestures because he doesn't vote."
Sherman was referring to a published report that Schwarzenegger may not have voted in as many as five of the last 11 statewide elections, although the candidate's staff questioned whether all of his absentee ballots were counted.
In addition to Ted Kennedy, Schwarzenegger gave about $3,500 over the years to his wife's cousins, former Massachusetts congressman Joe Kennedy and Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; and $2,000 to his brother-in-law, Mark Shriver, who last year ran a losing congressional race.
Among Republicans, Schwarzenegger gave $1,000 to losing Senate candidate Bruce Herschensohn in 1992; $1,000 to former Gov. Pete Wilson; and $1,000 to also-ran Senate candidate Ed Zschau. The rest of his GOP giving went to either state or national party committees.
Maria Shriver, meanwhile, has donated $2,000 to Mark Shriver; $4,000 to her cousin, Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy; $2,500 to Joe Kennedy; $1,000 to Townsend; and $3,000 to Ted Kennedy over the past two decades.
Schwarzenegger also has given a total of $3,000 in local races to Democratic Mayor James Hahn and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.
In addition, he gave Republican Richard Riordan $50,000 to help the former Los Angeles mayor in his run for governor last year. Riordan himself ran into trouble during that race for having donated to Democrats like Sen. Dianne Feinstein and even Gov. Gray Davis.
California political analysts said they doubt Schwarzenegger will face the same problem.
For one thing, analysts said, Republican anger over bipartisan campaign donations would be more likely to boil over in a closed party primary. For another, they said, Republicans who are bothered by Schwarzenegger's Kennedy ties will probably vote for conservatives like Simon or state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, anyway out of ideological reasons.
Said Dan Schnur, a longtime California campaign strategist now working for Schwarzenegger rival Peter Ueberroth, "Dick Riordan hadn't married into Gray Davis' family. I think Republican voters will see the difference."
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Lisa Friedman can be reached at (202) 662-8731 and lisa.friedman@langnews.com.
WE LOST at the GOP convention. Let me give you another Ronaldus Magnus quote when his supporters forced spaghetti-spine Gerry the RINO Ford to invite Reagan onto the stage, Reagan said something else that you are naturally reluctant to quote: He told his very noisy and enthusiastic (even after he lost by 50 delegates) delegates and everyone else that they should go home and work for their gubernatorial candidates, their seantorial candidates, their Congressional candidates and their state legislative candidates and enjoy a big victory in November. He said nada about Ford and Dole and the message was accepted and acted on. After four years of Jimmuh Cahtuh, America did what every RINO assured us was absolutely impossible and elected Ronaldus Maximus in a landslide. Even Massachusetts voted for him twice (must have been during a brief Bircher period for Massachusetts or something) and he won only 49 states in 1984.
Under Reagan's masterful leadership in 1980, we turned the radical caucus of lifestyle left, antiwar, antiAmerican Demonrats into a scene reminiscent of the baptism scene in Godfather I.
Of course, the RINOs assured absolutely everyone that it was all impossible and would, up, as usual, sounding like a preview of Baghdad Bob: "Pay no attention to those tanks, Islamic brothers! There are NO Americans in our city. We have slaughtered them all." BTW, pro-abort, pro-homosexual Barry Goldwater actually made ads for Ford accusing Reagan of"extremism". Now where had we heard that before?
That is as spurious a straw man argument. There is no nomination. Bill Clinton is not a Republican, but a Democrat. Had he run against Arnold as a Democrat (like Davis/Bustamante), would you work to defeat Arnold ? Winning is not more important than anything. Why do you want to win so much you are willing to tear down a Republican to keep a Democrat in the Governor's mansion ? I would be happy with any of the three Republicans. I think any of them is an improvement. I think they should run against the Democrats and not attack each other. They can wait for the next primary for that.
Please tell me what the 75% or 80% we get from Schwarzenegger is? So far I can't find one issue he disagrees with Gray Davis on.
It all comes full circle, doesn't it? When Reagan was first running that year in the New Hampshire primary a certain California politician flew to New Hampshire to denounce Reagan as a dangerous extremist.
It was none other than the Mayor of San Diego, Pete Wilson himself. Fast forward to 2003 and whose political machine is running the campaign for liberal Anrold? Yes my friends its Pete Wilson and company.
The battle goes on, same people, same goals.
I'm satisfied.
Did you work against Pete Wilson too ?
I don't know what you want from the California Governor, but what would you settle for to not continue with Gray Davis/Cruz Bustamante?
Glad you asked. I actually worked for him in 1990 though his politics made me sick. I had the mindset that everyone around here has "Oh we need a REPUBLICAN in even if we don't agree with him 100%".
I have thank you letters from Pete and all his staff about how hard I worked as one of their state co-chairs.
What did Pete do when he got elected? He turned around and sh*t all over conservatives. He embarked on a holy war that darn near destroyed our party. Within months of being elected he overthrew the leadership of the Assembly Republican Caucus and rammed throught he largest state tax increase in American history.
So thanks for asking. I did work for him and I learned my lesson.
Ralph Hall (D)
Connie Morella (R)
If Ralph Hall (pro-life, pro-family, pro-gun, pro-small government, pro-tax cuts and very ANTI-Clinton) was running against Connie Morella (pro-abortion, anti-family, anti-gun, pro-big government, pro-tax hikes and very PRO-Clinton), would you vote for the latter because she had a "R" next to her name?
Okay, thanks for sharing. I see you will work against Arnold (and presumably many other Republicans) at all costs.
There are not many Republicans as liberal as Arnold. Most people that liberal already understand which party they belong to.
Hey, you were the one who made the 75% claim. I live in California, so I'd like the California governor to not raise taxes or end Prop 13. Plus, Californian's voted overwhelmingly against gay marriage, so how about a governor who respected our decision.
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