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.
Ask real team-sport athletes!
Marrying into the Kennedy dynasty is hardly something that your 19-year-old Hispanic immigrant can relate to. (Nevermind...it's a great "Horatio Alger" myth).
A cable-movie on Showtime called "Spinning Boris" shows that the same campaign team behind Arnold ran Boris Yeltsin's campaign in Russia in 1996.
Let's call it:
Stop the sit-com joke that Arnold is a tough-guy. Posing in male beauty pageants and taking tons of steroids and marrying into the Kennedy dynasty does not qualify you to run the 5th largest economy in the world.
Oh, I forgot. Warren Buffett (The Omaha Democrat) is going to run the California economy.
If Arnold cares so much for kids, how come he won't fight to protect the rights of the innocent unborn?
I don't know how Arnold voted. I suppose there are some people on FreeRepublic that did not vote for Bush because he was too liberal of a Republican for them.
If you care so much for kids why don't you fight to protect the rights of the innocent unborn?
I think that was Ronald Reagan, perhaps quoting Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
I agree with all three of those requests. I doubt that Cruz or Gray will though. I don't know what Arnold will do. He should be asked those questions in the debates or by the media. Has he answered them ?
Really ?
I don't know how either he or you voted. Where can I look it up ?
Usually. But shouldn't a candidate have to win over voters? We are being told we should vote for him before we know anything he would do. So far we can't identify one position that he is to the right of Davis on. So far, we only know he loves spending, and his advisors love taxes.
You can't look up how I voted. You can only look up the fact that I did vote. But if you talked to anybody who knows me, you'll get a pretty good idea I didn't vote for Gore.
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