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Posted on 10/02/2003 12:23:54 AM PDT by ambrose
foxreno.com
POSTED: 11:28 p.m. PDT October 1, 2003
None of the women who spoke with the Times filed legal action against Schwarzenegger.
Two of them allowed their names to used in the story posted on the newspaper's Web site Wednesday evening, while four others spoke on condition of anonymity. Three said being named could jeopardize their careers and the fourth feared public ridicule or harm to her husband's business.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Sean Walsh told the Times that the actor, who is the front-runner to replace Gov. Gray Davis if he is recalled Oct. 7, has not engaged in improper conduct toward women. Walsh said the allegations were a political attack in the final days leading up to the election.
"We believe Democrats and others are using this to try to hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign," Walsh said. "We believe that this is coming so close before the election, something that discourages good, hard-working, decent people from running for office."
Walsh said Schwarzenegger would not comment about the allegations.
Contacted late Wednesday by The Associated Press, Schwarzenegger spokesman Todd Harris said: "We stand by our comments which were published in the story." He declined further comment.
The Times said that it interviewed the women about their allegations over the last seven weeks in the course of an investigation into whether Schwarzenegger harassed women. None of the women approached the newspaper on her own.
E. Laine Stockton told the newspaper she was groped by Schwarzenegger in 1975 at Gold's Gym in Venice. Then 19, Stockton claimed the bodybuilder came up from behind her and reached under her T-shirt to grab her breast. Schwarzenegger then walked away without saying a word, Stockton said.
"I was just shocked, shocked to the point where I almost didn't know how to react, because it was so out of the blue and so unexpected," she told the newspaper.
Anna Richardson, a British television host, said that Schwarzenegger touched her breast when she was interviewing him in 2000 on a promotional tour for "The Sixth Day." Richardson, who previously told Premiere magazine about the incident, was accused by a Hollywood publicist then working with Schwarzenegger of fabricating the story.
Others interviewed included two crew members working in 1990 on "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" in Fontana. One said Schwarzenegger groped her at least three times in an elevator at the hotel where the cast and crew was staying. The woman, now 41, still works in the film industry.
The other woman, now in her 30s, said Schwarzenegger pulled her into his lap and whispered vulgarities while other men watched, smiling.
Schwarzenegger's past indiscretions have been an issue in the campaign since he announced his bid for governor. Much of the controversy has surrounded a 1977 interview in Oui magazine in which Schwarzenegger recounted a group sex incident with a woman at Gold's Gym.
Schwarzenegger has said he doesn't remember the incident. He and campaign aides have also said that he made up outrageous incidents during earlier periods in his life to draw attention.
Schwarzenegger also has a history of making positive comments about women and has female defenders who strongly defend his behavior toward women.
Chief among these is his wife, journalist and Kennedy relative Maria Shriver, who speaks in support of her husband on the campaign trail and appeared with him last month on The Oprah Winfrey Show, partly in an attempt to reach women voters.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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When do we get to the REAL version?
Let's be honest here, do you REALLY believe Paula went to that hotel room thinking Clinton wanted to talk foreign policy?
Listen, I'm not going to rehash that whole episode. Whether she did or not, does it make it OK for her to be sexually assaulted? I suppose you think it was OK for Mike Tyson to rape Desiree Washington because she went to his room?
I guess we are seeing ust how many principles people will abandon to win at any cost.
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