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“It’s about time,” he tweeted of Pruitt’s departure. “He will go down in the history books as the worst EPA administrator we’ve ever had.” “This is a fantastic day that he’s gone, but of course it doesn’t mean that the problem is gone,’’ said Schwarzenegger, who months ago called for Pruitt’s resignation from the Environmental Protection Agency. In an interview with POLITICO Thursday, Schwarzenegger warned that Andrew Wheeler, who will replace Pruitt as acting director, is “the wrong guy” to protect Americans’ health and environment. “If you want to really do a good job with the environment, you don’t have...

AUSTIN, Texas — Arnold Schwarzenegger’s next mission: taking oil companies to court “for knowingly killing people all over the world.” The former California governor and global environmental activist announced the move Sunday at a live recording of POLITICO’s Off Message podcast, recording here at the SXSW festival, revealing that he’s in talks with several private law firms and preparing a public push around the effort. “This is no different from the smoking issue. The tobacco industry knew for years and years and years and decades, that smoking would kill people, would harm people and create cancer, and were hiding that...

“I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman.” Yes, back in 2003, actor turned GOP politician Arnold Schwarzenegger made the aforementioned verbal blunder. He spoke a lot more eloquently on the issue on Friday in Los Angeles. “I’m very happy that they made the right decision because we in California of course are always a step ahead,” he said, giving a self-congratulatory shout-out to the 2008 legalization of same-sex marriage the state passed during his second term in office. “We made that decision already, a long time ago. Our Supreme Court of...

Arnold Schwarzengger inspected the foundations of Russia’s planned Silicon Valley on Monday, and heaped praise on everything from the ruling tandem to the president’s driving. In return he was jokingly invited to take up the role of Moscow mayor when his gubernatorial term ends early next year as Dmitry Medvedev kept up the old pals patter perfected on his trip to California this summer.

A new California law that gives poor residents the right to an attorney in civil matters such as child custody and foreclosure is being hailed as a model that could transform the nation's legal landscape. But critics argue that the law will result in a wave of case backlogs and could further burden court budgets. The law, signed this month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, assures the poor legal counsel in an array of civil cases. Advocates for the change say poor people often wind up in court facing life-changing consequences -- such as eviction -- but go through the process...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday will join governors from both sides of the border in Mexico City to push for more action on crime-fighting and border security, a visit that comes as Mexico is facing unprecedented violence. Schwarzenegger will offer support to Mexican President Felipe Calderon for his crackdown against the drug trade, in which he has deployed more than 20,000 federal troops across Mexico. Cartels have responded with increasingly bold attacks against security forces, including beheadings and assassinations of top police officials and soldiers. On Tuesday, seven federal officers were killed in a shootout with one cartel. Beyond policy...

Gov. Schwarzenegger recently escalated a battle of words with federal officials over how to manage the remaining wilderness areas in Southern California's national forests. In an August letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Schwarzenegger accused the federal government of not doing enough to make sure wilderness in the San Bernardino, Cleveland, Angeles and Los Padres national forests is protected from road construction. The state and environmental groups want more restrictions on forest roads than are outlined in new forest management plans, 10- to 15-year master plans for land use in the forests. Schwarzenegger charged the federal government with not...

The last two "sexual indoctrination" bills approved by the California Legislature that made up a "triple threat" to families have been vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Capitol Resource Institute confirmed last night. The bills, AB 606 and AB 1056, were part of a trio pushed forward by homosexual activists in the state's lawmaking body this year, and would have forced a pro-'gay' agenda into all of the state's public schools, officials said. An earlier part of the package, SB 1437, was vetoed by the governor earlier this month. Turney said the priorities of the California legislature this year were...

Sacramento -- After cutting a deal with Democrats on historic legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger faces decisions this month on two other bills that could dramatically reduce pollution from the auto and energy industries -- the state's two largest contributors to global warming. With much less fanfare than for the global warming bill, which Schwarzenegger is expected to sign next Wednesday, Democratic majorities in the state Senate and Assembly approved legislation that would require half of the cars sold in the state to run on alternative fuels by 2020 and another bill that would...

The tax man? That's what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign has dubbed Democratic state treasurer Phil Angelides in its latest attacks, accusing him of wanting to raise Californians' taxes -- not by $5 billion, but by $18 billion now. "Over the past two months, our campaign has asserted that Phil Angelides' promises add up to at least $10 billion in tax increases. That number is no longer accurate," Schmidt said in an e-mail to reporters. "Angelides has continued to add to that total, and now the tally is approximately $18 billion. Every five- or six-point plan he comes up with leaves...

As politicians go, Phil Angelides isn't a particularly sympathetic figure. He's aggressive to the point of arrogance and often condescending and evasive about what he'd do if elected governor of California. That said, one could almost feel sorry for Angelides, the Democratic challenger to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, because whatever momentum he gained from June's primary election has evaporated, and he's being ground up by Schwarzenegger's ruthlessly efficient campaign apparatus. Schwarzenegger's sharp and effective post-primary television ads, aimed at defining Angelides in negative terms, the governor's much-ballyhooed deals with a Democrat-controlled Legislature on infrastructure bonds and a generous, on-time state...

Incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger is the top contender in California’s gubernatorial race, according to the latest poll by Zogby Interactive. 49 per cent of respondents in the Golden State would vote for Schwarzenegger, while 41 per cent would support Democrat Phil Angelides.

They can’t be all things to all people, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Treasurer Phil Angelides will have to come close if they want to successfully woo undecided voters who are key to a November election win, political analysts said. Both gubernatorial candidates will have to fend off the inevitable caricatures – Angelides as a tax-and-spend liberal, Schwarzenegger as a right-wing Bush clone – to win the vast majority of voters in the middle of the ideological spectrum. The battle for the middle of the ideological spectrum is particularly important at a time when party loyalty has continued to...

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's poll numbers are looking better -- especially among the state's independent voters -- and he has gained the edge when matched against his potential Democratic challengers in the November general election, a Field Poll released today shows. The Field Poll released today showed the Republican governor has improved his standing and is now viewed favorably by an equal percentage of voters surveyed -- 46 percent -- as those who view him unfavorably. The governor's improvement is based on a significant jump among independent voters. Independents view him positively by 46 to 41 percent -- an increase...

A handful of college students received an unusual lesson in government studies today, courtesy of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. But the students got much more... including a hint into the governor's own work ethic. Finally, what sounded like a motivational 'tough love' speech to a female student who lamented the struggle between a job to pay for her studies, and having time to actually complete her studies. If anyone expected Schwarzenegger to talk about ways the government should help her, they got a very different answer. "There are 24 hours in a day," the governor said. "You sleep 6 hours." The...

GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger came up looking pretty good this week. That may not have been readily apparent from the results of a new poll that showed Californians give him a meager 37 percent approval rating. But the good news for the governor is that in a democratic system, the public grades on a curve, and his opponents are doing much worse. Things look even rosier for the governor's re-election prospects when only likely voters are considered. Forty-seven percent in that category think Schwarzenegger is doing a good job. The poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows the deadlock...

In a television commercial airing in major California media markets, state Controller Steve Westly evokes former President Carter to boost his conservationist credentials. NARRATOR: He's practical ... a problem solver with experience that sets him apart. Under President Carter, he worked on solar energy and conservation. Pro-choice. Defender of the environment. Committed to education. Steve Westly. Democrat. A different kind of governor. .... Analysis: ...... But while the ad shows a young Westly shaking Carter's hand, the former president hasn't endorsed his candidacy. Deanna Congileo, a spokeswoman for the Carter Center in Atlanta, said he makes no endorsements in primary...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ignored strong lobbying from software makers and signed legislation Friday that bans the sale of violent video games to children. Passed by the California legislature last month, the measure follows heated national debate after game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. pulled its best-selling game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" from retailers this summer because of hidden sex scenes. "I am a parent myself and I think this is extremely important that we know what our kids watch or what kind of games that they play," Schwarzenegger told reporters. "I am a big believer...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Democratic leaders and union officials on Monday condemned a plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political team to create a "phenomenon of anger" against public employee unions leading up to an expected special election. Some critics said the disclosure of the strategy is shocking but consistent with the increasingly bitter fight over Schwarzenegger's ballot proposals. "The idea of creating anger is so offensive," said Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association. "It's the worst kind of politics. I believe the people of California are smarter than the governor is giving them credit for and they will see...

Chris Whittle, who edits Sunday Morning Shootout ... has a fascinating, wide ranging post on his site Eject! Eject! Eject!, which hits many of my political-entertainment industry buttons. The amn knows whereof he speaks, and has a lot of worthwhile thoughts. >>There are only eight conservative actors in the history of Hollywood, and five of them have been elected to high office. (The sixth was elected president of the National Rifle Association, the seventh was elected Mayor of Carmel, California on a pro-business platform, and John Wayne had the class to never run for – or from – anything.) If,...