Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947 in Thal, Styria, Austria) is an Austrian-American actor, Republican politician, bodybuilder, and businessman, currently serving when a 38th Governor of California. He was elected in October 7, 2003 in a favorite recall election which removed seated Governor Gray Davis from office. Schwarzenegger was sworn around in November 17, 2003 to serve the remainder of Davis' term, which lives until January 2007, and hwhen confirmed he may search another term as Governor.

Nicknamed A Austrian Oak inside his person-musclebuilding times, & additional recently Conan a Republican & A Governator, Schwarzenegger as a young human gained far flung attention as a extremely successful muscle-builder, & late gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film star. His best known films include The Terminator (and its sequels), Predator, Hercules in New York, Conan the Barbarian, True Lies, Kindergarten Cop, and Total Recall.

Personal background
Schwarzenegger was innate inside Thal, Austria, four miles (6 klick) from either Graz, to a Gendarmerie-Kommandant officer, Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907-1972) and his married woman, a previous Aurelia Jadrny (1922-1998). His parents were members of the Nazi party.

When working in the United Kingdom for a short instance, Arnold moved to the U.S. around 1968. At that period, he was non fluent within English, & got super little money. He became the U.S. citizen within 1983, although he has also retained his Austrian citizenship. When you took this instance, he earned the B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Superior where he graduated with degrees in international marketing of fitness and business administration in 1979.

Within 1971 Schwarzenegger's brother Meinhard was killed around an auto accident, & his father died a resulting season. He did non attend either funeral. Around 1977 his autobiography, Arnold: The Education of the Person-Muscle-builder was published. Inside 1986, Schwarzenegger married TV journalist Maria Shriver, niece of late President John F. Kennedy. A few use at times tetrad tikes: girl Katherine & Christina, & sons Patrick & Christopher. Together, the few have a range in the legendary Kennedy Compound.

His distinctive & oft-imitated accent hwhen led numbers of entertainers & learned person to refer to him just as "Ah-nuld". ['are-nulled']

Bodybuilding career
Schwarzenegger foremost gained fame as a bodybuilder. His easily-developed physique earned him a moniker "The Austrian Oak" (or "The Styrian Oak") & won him a titles of Junior Mr. Europe, Mr. Globe, IFBB Mr. Universe, NABBA Mr. Universe (four times), and Mr. Olympia (seven times). A 7 wins at Mr. Olympithe was a record placed around 1980, cementing him as a legend of the sport. A record would remain until Lee Haney won his eighth straight Olympia in 1991. Schwarzenegger is considered among a first numbers in the history of muscle building, & his bequest is commemorated in the Arnold Classic annual bodybuilding competition.

Schwarzenegger has admitted to applying performance-enhancing anabolic steroids, writing in 1977 that "[steroids] were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest. I did not use them for muscle growth, but rather for muscle maintenance when cutting up." But, a few muscle builder world health organization utilized a equivalent steroid cocktails when Schwarzenegger in the 1970s dispute the notion that it were utilized just for "muscle maintenance." Possibly Schwarzenegger has known as a doses "tissue building." [http://hjem.get2net.dk/JamesBond/www/artikler/steroidemisbrug/arnoldandsteroids.htm] Inside 1999, Schwarzenegger sued Willi Heepe, the German doctor world health organization publicly predicted an early dying for the muscleman according to a hyperlink between steroid utilise & afterwards heart problems. Because the doctor got never examined him personally, Schwarzenegger collected a DM 20,000 ($12,000 USD) libel judgment against him in the German court. Inside 1999 Schwarzenegger also sued & settled sustaining Globe Magazine, a U.S. tabloid which got mass produced similar predictions all about a muscle-builder's first health. When late when 1996, a year before open heart surgery to replenish an aortic valve, Schwarzenegger publicly defended his apply of anabolic steroids in the period of his musclebuilding career.[http://espn.go.com/columns/farrey_tom/1655597.html] (Schwarzenegger was natural by using the bicuspid aortic valve; a normal aortic valve is tricuspid.) According to the spokesman, Schwarzenegger has non utilized anabolic steroids since 1990 when they were mass produced illegal.[http://hjem.get2net.dk/JamesBond/www/artikler/steroidemisbrug/arnoldandsteroids.htm] Within muscle-builder slang, steroids come every now and again known as "Arnolds".[http://www.streetdrugs.org/dgsa.htm]

Schwarzenegger has remained the large face around the anaerobic exercise sport hanker fallowing his retirement, in a share due to his ownership of gymnasium & fitness magazines. He has presided above many contests & awards shows. For numbers of years he wrote the each month column for the musclebuilding magazines Muscle & Fitness and Flex. Shortly fallowing existence elective Governor, he was appointed executive editor of both magazines inside the largely symbolical capacity. A magazines agreed to donate $250,000 a year to the Governor's various good shape initiatives. A magazine MuscleMag International hwhen the each month ii report article in him & refers to him as "The King".

Schwarzenegger's 1st political appointment was to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993. He was nominated by George H. W. Bush, who called him "Conan the Republican".

Inside 2003 two African-American bodybuilders came forward claiming that Schwarzenegger has the history of making racist comments. Schwarzenegger has allegedly said ."If you gave these blacks a country to run, they would run it down the tubes."[http://www.drudgereport.com/ar1.htm]

Acting career
Growing bored by using sales person anaerobic exercise, which he began to deem a "go nowhere" career, Schwarzenegger began to pursue the career as an actor. His unambiguously muscular appearance earned him many motion picture roles. His 1st film appearance wwhen as Hercules inside Hercules in New York (1970), credited under the title Arnold Heavy, although his accent in the film was and so heavy that his lines were dubbed. He appeared in The Long Goodbye, and sir thomas more notably Stay Hungry, for which he was awarded the Golden Globe. Schwarzenegger come to the attention of further humans in the documental Pumping Iron (1977), elements of which were dramatized. Inside 1991, Schwarzenegger purchased a rights to this film, outtakes, & associated however photography that can be horrible politically. Ab initio he experienced pain breaking into films because professionals disliked his family name, muscles & accent.[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/arnoldpump1.html] Though Schwarzenegger refuses to discuss his reconstructive surgery ("You are confusing me with Cher," he told People Magazine in 2002), citing before & fallowing pic, critics allege he has underga single procedures in his eyes & chin, & has received at least one facelift.[http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/entertainers/actors/arnold-schwarzenegger/]

Schwarzenegger's breakthrough film was Conan the Barbarian (1982), and this was cemented by the sequel, Conan the Destroyer (1984). As an actor, he is virtually all easily-referred to as a title character of James Cameron's android thriller The Terminator (1984). Schwarzenegger's acting ability (described by of these critic when with an emotional range that "stretches from A almost to B") has yearn been the butt of numerous jokes; he retains a hard Austrian accent withwithin his speech possibly in roles which don't require such an accent. Notwithstanding, couple of of the fans of his operate seem to care. He too processed the mark for injecting his films by using the droll, typically self-deprecating feel of humor, setting him apart from either supplementary good action heroes like Sylvester Stallone, his most large coeval. (As an aside, his guide-universe comedy/thriller Last Action Hero featured a poster of the motion-picture show Terminator Two: Judgment Day which, inside this surrogate universe experienced Sylvester Stallone when its star; the similar within-joke in Twins suggested that the two actors may a single day co-star, something which never come to pass).

Ensuing his arrival as the Hollywood hotshot, he manufactured a total of commercially successful films: Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), The Running Man (1987), and Red Heat (1988). Inside Predator (1987), another commercially successful film, Schwarzenegger led the cast which involved new Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (Ventura also appears inside Heading Human) & first Kentucky Gubernatorial Candidate Sonny Landham. Twins, (1988) a comedy by owning Danny DeVito, was a vary of pace. Total Recall (1990), at that time the virtually all expensive film ever, netted Schwarzenegger $10 million & 15% of the gross, & was a widely praised, thought-challenging science-fiction script behind his common violent action. Kindergarten Cop (1990) was another comedy.

Schwarzenegger's critical & commercial high-water system mark was Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). His next film design, a self-self-conscious action comedy Last Action Hero, (1993), had a misfortune to become freed paired Jurassic Park, and suffered accordingly. Schwarzenegger's career nevermore achieved quite a equivalent prominence, his aura of pack-professional indomitability suffering. True Lies (1994) was a popular takeoff of spy films, & saw Schwarzenegger reunited by using director James Cameron, whose own career experienced taken off by owning The Terminator. It was followed per popular, albeit by-a-counts Eraser (1996), and Batman & Robin (1997), his final film before taking time to recuperate from a back injury. Although Batman & Robin was a famous disaster, Schwarzenegger emerged largely unscathed. Many film projects were announced by owning Schwarzenegger bonded to star including a remaking of The Planet of the Apes, a freshly film of I am Legend and a Globe War II film written by Quentin Tarantino that would have seen Schwarzenegger eventually play an Austrian. Instead he returned by owning End of Days (1999) - an unsuccessful & untypically dark attempt to broaden his acting range - The 6th Day (2000) and Collateral Damage (2002), none of which came roughly recapturing his previous prominence. He starred in the popularly standard Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and was slated to star within the imaginable True Lies Two & Conan a King, however his duties when California governor use at times probably put his moving picture career in hang on to until at least 2007, though producers repeatedly claim he will make the little appearance within a quaternary Eradicator film. His endure film appearance up to now was the cameo in the 2004 remake of Around the World in 80 Days, notable for featuring him onscreen with action star Jackie Chan for the first period.

Filmography
Hercules in New York (1970) The Long Goodbye (1973) Stay Hungry (1976) Pumping Iron (1977) (documentary) The Villain (1979) Scavenger Hunt (1979) The Comeback (1980) (documentary) Body by Attic (1982) (short subject) Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Destroyer (1984) The Terminator (1984) Red Sonja (1985) Commando (1985) Raw Deal (1986) Predator (1987) The Running Man (1987) Red Heat (1988) Twins (1988) Total Recall (1990) Kindergarten Cop (1990) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) Freed (1992) (infotainment) Dave (1993) (cameo) Last Action Hero (1993) The Survive Person (1993) (infotainment) A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary) Beretta's Island (1994) True Lies (1994) Junior (1994) T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996) (short subject) Eraser (1996) Jingle All the Way (1996) Stand Tall (1997) (documentary) Batman & Robin (1997) Junket Whore (1998) (docudrama) End of Days (1999) The 6th Day (2000) Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) (voice) Last Person 2000 (2001) (docudrama) Collateral Damage (2002) Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) The Rundown (2003) (cameo) Around the World in 80 Days (2004) (cameo) How Arnold Won a West (2004) (documentary film) WMD: Wmd (2004) (documentary film) The Child & I (2005) (currently in post-production)

Political career

Political affiliation
Schwarzenegger occurs as Republican, unusual among the typically heavy Democratic Hollywood community. He describes himself when in fiscal matters conservative & socially moderate. Schwarzenegger backed Republican President Ronald Reagan, whose footsteps he's following—film star turned politician—when Reagan was inside professional, & campaigned for George H.W. Bush in 1988. Notwithstanding, he chastised fellow Republicans in a period of the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998. Sensing an chance to affect a effect of the 2004 Presidential race, Schwarzenegger campaigned in Ohio for Republican George W. Bush in the closing days of the campaign.

Inside an locate in October 29, 2002, with MSNBC's Chris Matthews at Chapman University, Schwarzenegger explained why he occurs as Republican:

It got been known since a 1990s that Schwarzenegger was interested in public professional; this was jokingly referenced in the 1993 Sylvester Stallone film, Demolition Man, where the new Usthe passed a constitutional amendment to allow naturalized Americans like Schwarzenegger to get President, and that film has information to the "Schwarzenegger Presidential Library"."

Regarding a run for public office, in 1999, he told Talk magazine that "I assume it numerous days." He said, "A possibility is there because We sense it in. I personally sense there are a good deal of humans standing however & non doing sufficiency. & there's the vacuum."

Venturing into politics
Schwarzenegger was appointed Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in the administration of George H. W. Bush from 1990 to 1993. During that time, Schwarzenegger traveled across the U.S. promoting physical fitness to kids and lobbying all 50 governors in support of school fitness programs. "He would hit another time deuce or threesome governors about the day within his have aeroplane, at his have expense, someplace around $4,000 an hour," said George Otott, his chief of staff at the time. "After he walked within, it wasn't all all about a governor, it was about Arnold," said Otott, a retired Marine. "He has what i personally in the war machine call for the command presence. He becomes a first attention-getter."

He later served as Chairman for the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under Governor Pete Wilson.

Schwarzenegger scored his first real political success on November 5, 2002 when Californians approved his personally crafted and sponsored Proposition 49, the "When School Education & Safety Program Work of 2002", an initiative to make state grants available for after-school programs.

2003 California recall
For years, Schwarzenegger had discussed with friends, potential donors, advisors and political allies a possible run for high political office; on April 10, 2003, for example, he met with Republican political operative Karl Rove to discuss a future campaign. In the months leading to the 2003 California recall, Schwarzenegger was widely rumored to be considering a run at becoming Governor of California. In the July 2003 issue of Esquire magazine, he said, "Yes, I would love to become governor of California ... In case a state needs pine tree state, & whenever there's there are no of these We believe is better, so We may dog." When a petition to recall Democratic governor Gray Davis qualified for the ballot on July 24, Schwarzenegger left many wondering whether he would jump into the contest. Schwarzenegger was just wrapping up a promotional tour for Terminator 3 and said he would announce his decision on whether to run on August 6 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Crowd watching Schwarzenegger inauguration

In the days and even hours leading up to the show's taping, political experts and insiders concluded that Schwarzenegger was leaning against running in California's October 7 recall election. Even his closest advisors said he was probably not going to run. Rumors leading up to the announcement said that his wife, Maria Shriver, a Kennedy family Democrat, was against his running, and he wanted her approval in order to run. When announcing his candidacy on the Tonight Show, he joked, "It's the virtually all hard [decision] We've mass produced withwithin our entire life, except a a single I personally processed in 1978 when I decided for the bikini wax." Ultimately, Shriver said she would support Schwarzenegger no matter what he chose, so he decided to run. Schwarzenegger told Leno, "A politicians come fiddling, fumbling & failing. A human that is failing a population to a higher degree anyone is Gray Davis. He is failing the two terribly, & this is how come he needs to exist as recalled & this is how come We are attend run governor."

As a candidate in the recall election, Schwarzenegger had the most name recognition in a crowded field of candidates, but he had never held public office and his political views were unknown to most Californians. His candidacy was immediate national and international news, with media outlets dubbing him the "Governator" (referring to The Terminator movies, see above) and "A Running off Human" (the name of another of his movies), and calling the recall election "Aggregate Recall" (ditto) and "Terminator Four: Rise of the Candidate" (referring to his movie Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines). Schwarzenegger was quick to make use of his well-known one-liners, promising to "pump higher Sacramento" (the state capital) and tell Gray Davis "hasta la panorama." At the end of his first press conference, he told the audience "I personally'll become back." Schwarzenegger looked to follow in the footsteps of former California governor and one-time movie star Ronald Reagan. However, due to his status as a naturalized citizen, he would not be eligible to seek the Presidency unless the Constitution were to be amended (as proposed in 2000 by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), and in July 2003 (the Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment) by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)). Among his campaign team were actor Rob Lowe, billionaire Warren Buffett, and former Nixon and Reagan aide George Shultz.

Sexual harassment protesters

During the campaign, allegations of sexual and personal misconduct were raised against Schwarzenegger (see Gropegate). Within the last five days before the election, news reports appeared in the Los Angeles Times recounting allegations of sexual misconduct from several individual women, sixteen of whom eventually came forward with their personal stories. Chronologically, they ranged from Elaine Stockton, who claimed that Schwarzenegger groped her breast at a Gold's Gym in 1975 (she was 19 at the time), to a 51-year-old woman who said that he pinned her to his chest and spanked her shortly after she met him in connection with production of his film, "The Sixth Day," in 2000. Schwarzenegger admitted that he has "behaved badly periodically" and apologized, but also stated that "a lot of (what)Professional people understand in the stories is non confessedly". This came after a magazine interview from the same era (1975) surfaced in which Schwarzenegger discussed attending sexual orgies and indulging in drugs like marijuana and cocaine. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/10/03/state1434EDT0082.DTL] [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/arnoldinter1.html] [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-women2oct02,1,4493659,print.story]

Allegations printed on the front page of The Los Angeles Times, based on selective quotation, were also made that he at one time admired Adolf Hitler and had praised him as a great propagandist. However the full text of the statement from which the quotation was taken significantly reduces the credibility of the allegations. Although Schwarzenegger's father was in fact a member of the Nazi party, Schwarzenegger has been a strong supporter of various Jewish groups, and has denounced the principles of the fascist German regime, saying "We've universally detested all about that Hitler stands for."

March 1992 Spy Magazine article mentions a story confirmed by "a man of affairs & longtime friend of Schwarzenegger's" -- that in the '70s Arnold "enjoyed swimming & returning away records of Hitler's speeches."[http://www.s-t.com/daily/12-96/12-25-96/c06ae100.htm] Arnold supported the campaign of Kurt Waldheim Former UN chief and a former Austrian politician who was suspected of war crimes (of which no evidence turned up eventually). Schwarzenegger's name remained on Waldheim's campaign posters, even after allegations of Waldheim's war crimes were brought to light. Waldheim was also invited to Arnold's wedding with Maria Shriver.[http://arnoldexposed.com/arnold.htm#nazi].

These allegations were brought up mainly in the context of his campaign, but they continue to be occasionally used by some critics. Garry Trudeau, the cartoonist behind the comic strip Doonesbury, combined the allegations by nicknaming Schwarzenegger "Herr Gröpenführer" and depicting Schwarzenegger as a huge, groping hand in his artwork.

On October 7, 2003, the 2003 California recall resulted in Governor Gray Davis being recalled with 55.4% of the Yes vote. Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California under the second question on the ballot with 48.6% of the vote, defeating Democrat Cruz Bustamante, fellow Republican Tom McClintock and others. In total, Arnold won the election by about 1.3 million votes.

He was sworn into office on November 17, 2003. Schwarzenegger's inauguration was opened by Vanessa Lynn Williams, his co-star from Eraser, singing the National Anthem. His children joined others in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, then Maria Shriver spoke and held the Bible while Schwarzenegger was sworn into the office of Governor. He spoke briefly: "within todays world occurs as fresh day in California. We did non search this professional to clean items a way it've universally been done. What We care just about is restoring your systems confidence for your government... This election was non astir replacing of these human. It was non replacing a single person. It was all about changing a entire political climate of my state."

Governorship
President George W. Bush, and Gray Davis speak to firefighters on November 4, 2003.]]

In his first few hours in office Schwarzenegger fulfilled his campaign promise to repeal an unpopular 200% increase in vehicle license fees undertaken to fund the state's budget. The increase was a restoration to 1998 levels. On his first full day in office, Schwarzenegger proposed a three-point plan to address the budget woes. First, Schwarzenegger proposed floating $15 billion in bonds. Second, he urged voters to pass a constitutional amendment to limit state spending. Third, he sought an overhaul of workers' compensation. Schwarzenegger also called the state legislature into a special session and said that spending cuts would also be necessary. He initiated the cuts by agreeing to serve as governor with no salary, a savings of $175,000 per year.

To fulfill the first two points, he urged California voters to pass Proposition 57 and Proposition 58 in the March 2, 2004 election, which authorized the sale of $15 billion in bonds and mandated balanced budgets, respectively. Despite initially tepid support from the public, the combination of heavy campaigning by Schwarzenegger, endorsements from a number of leading Democrats, and warnings about the dire consequences should the propositions fail to pass, led to overwhelming votes in favor of the two propositions. Prop. 57 passed with 63.3% of the votes in favor and Prop. 58 passed with 71.0% in favor. He accomplished the third point when he signed a workers' compensation reform bill on April 19, 2004. Schwarzenegger convinced the Democratic-controlled state legislature to approve the package by threatening to take the issue directly to state voters in a November ballot initiative if the legislature did not act.

Schwarzenegger was later criticized for reneging on his campaign pledges not to take money from special interests and for failing to answer directly the sexual harassment allegations raised by the Los Angeles Times immediately preceding the recall election. However, Schwarzenegger made a point shortly after becoming governor of voluntarily attending a training course conducted by the state Attorney General's office on preventing sexual harassment (along with several members of his senior staff). Schwarzenegger continues to collect campaign contributions from private interests[http://arnoldwatch.org/special_interests/index.html] at a greater rate than any politician in California history, including Gray Davis, whom he criticized on that very issue [http://www.nbc4.tv/politics/2385057/detail.html].

In February 2004 when San Francisco city mayor Gavin Newsom ordered a change in the certificate application documents to allow for same-sex marriages, Governor Schwarzeggger opposed the move as being beyond the powers of the mayor, but also said that he supports gay rights and has expressed support for a law to grant civil unions to gay couples.

Also in February 2004, he declined amnesty to convicted murderer Kevin Cooper who had asked him for clemency in his death penalty sentence. Nevertheless, Cooper's planned execution was stayed by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pending a revisiting of evidence. Austrian Green Party spokesman Peter Pilz later called for Schwarzenegger to be stripped of his Austrian citizenship. Pilz claimed that Austrian law forbids any Austrian citizen from taking part in or ordering executions.

The Governor has granted clemency or early release to quite a surprising number of convicted felons serving time in state prisons, leading some to believe that he is less "hard in crime" than his Democratic predecessor, who presided over numerous executions.

Despite expectations that Schwarzenegger would be vulnerable to opposition critics once taking office, his early governorship showed some successes. He has dealt successfully with California politicians as diverse as John Burton on the left to Tom McClintock on the right. At the end of May, 2004 the Field poll put his popularity at 65%, the highest for a California governor in 45 years, including 41% of Democrats, party adherents of his opposition. By comparison, former United States President Ronald Reagan, known as "a Outstanding Communicator," never hit 60% approval while serving as California governor.[http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-lopez28may28,1,2650515.column?coll=la-news-politics-california] In March, 2004 libertarian policy research foundation The Cato Institute rated him 1st in their fiscal policy report card of the nation's governors.

In July 2004, however, Schwarzenegger and the state legislature deadlocked, failing to approve the state budget on time. Trying to rouse public support for his position, he compared lawmakers to kindergartners who need a "timeout," and in a rally of supporters called his budget opponents "girlie men" (a reference to a long-running Saturday Night Live skit parodying Schwarzenegger). He said about the legislators: "It is section of the bureaucracy that is away from shape, that is away from date, that is away from touch & that is inside spades away from control in Sacramento. It can't use a intestines to appear there ahead of your family & say, 'I don't obviously represent your family. We obviously represent victims favorite interests: a unions, a trial attorney.' ... in case it don’t develop a intestines, We call for the babies girlie-men. It should acquire back to the table & it should finish dollars and cents." The remark became national news and was not received well by his opponents, including gay advocacy and feminist groups who labeled it homophobic and sexist, in spite of his earlier support for gay rights (see the Gavin Newsom incident above), not to mention the legislators themselves. His supporters made "girly men" T-shirts and the Governor continued to use the term, including when he addressed the Republican National Convention, calling critics of the current U.S. economic situation "economic girlie men".

Despite what some viewed as political snags during the summer, the Field polls released in August and October 2004 showed that Schwarzenegger's approval rating remained at 65%. Additionally, in October, for the first time in four years a plurality of Californians felt the state was "on the best track". When asked if they would support Schwarzenegger if he could run for president, 50% said they would oppose while only 26% said they would support the governor in a presidential bid. [http://field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/RLS2137.pdf (Field poll (PDF))] Spring 2005
In the spring of 2005, polls began showing Schwarzenegger's approval ratings had dropped to between 40-49%.[http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap7apr07,1,63188.column?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=3&cset=true] [http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=A367E183-FC31-4616-8669-4FD5D36181D4] [http://www.surveyusa.com/50governorsrated051005.htm] [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=ac98Wx3eNeSw&refer=us] On June 13, 2005, Schwarzenegger called a statewide special election for November 8, 2005, to vote on a series of reform measures he initially proposed in his 2005 State of the State address. A non-partisan Field poll released a week later showed his support had dropped to 37%, one of the lowest approval ratings for any California governor and barely above the support of recalled Gray Davis.[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/06/21/state/n060039D76.DTL]

Schwarzenegger's spokesman responded that Schwarzenegger had not yet had enough time to explain his proposals to voters. The Legislature also shared low approval ratings, with just 24% of voters saying they approve of the job lawmakers have been doing. That represents a drop of 10% since February. The governor has responded that the poll sends a "super clear message to america. It is saying it need united states of america to act together." He has also responded "I personally underst& popularity goes higher and down... when soon when professional people begin making decisions & hard decisions, for instance it're non popular decisions."[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159854,00.html](video, right side) Republicans have claimed that the drop in popularity was due to a multi-million dollar ad campaign by various groups such as unions for nurses, police and firefighters, who opposed his plans for the state pension and his administration's lawsuit to delay implementation of a nurse-to-patient staffing ratio plan.

In late June 2005, another non-partisan Field Poll had similar numbers as the earlier one, finding that 57% of California voters are not inclined to elect Schwarzenegger to a second term as Governor in 2006. [http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050629/pl_nm/politics_fieldpoll_dc_3] [http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050621/ts_alt_afp/uspolitics_050621195840] When asked about the lessons of the poll, Schwarzenegger has responded "Population produce mistakes occasionally, & I personally believe that you view. [...] Which are actually super clear messages that you must function together, and then We are searching send on to it."

To some degree, Governor Schwarzenegger's unpopularity has to do with his confrontation of three popular labor groups: the nurses, the teachers, and the firefighters. Some unions and activists reacted with anger [http://www.sfist.com/archives/2005/04/05/fk_arnold_nurses_firefighters_and_teachers_protest_the_governator.php][http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/12112103.htm][http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_192212252.html][http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/11964407.htm], and others with humorhttp://msnbc.msn.com/id/7445648/site/newsweek/[http://arnoldwatch.org/assets/governator_rap.mp3][http://talent.pratt.edu/user/114/114_-711700702-main.jpg].

Summer 2005
Accusation of conflict of interest

While governor, Schwarzenegger continued to hold a position of executive editor of two American Media magazines. He announced in March 2004 that his $250,000 a year salary would be donated to charity. Schwarzenegger has an extensive history with the magazines and was frequently their star in his body-building days. As executive editor, he produces monthly columns based on his body-building history.

Schwarzenegger drew fire when a second contract, a consulting position, was subsequently discovered in SEC filings, by the L.A. Times. This second contract would net him an estimated $8 million over the next five years.[http://www.latimes.com/features/health/nutrition/la-me-bill15jul15,1,6217015.story?coll=la-health-nutrition-news] His consulting duties are not clear, except that the job "requires higher little instance."

The New York Times further reported (on July 15) that under the five-year November 2003 contract, signed two days before his inauguration as Governor, "Oak Productions, Mr. Schwarzenegger's company, is to receive One percent of the nett print advertising revenues of Weider Publications. However a payment must exist as at least $1 million a year. Mr. Schwarzenegger has besides been granted 'phantom stock,' how else of sharing in the incubation of the value of the company. A stock may turn into worth One percent of the company's value, which wwhen stated at a period of the contract as $520 million."[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/national/15calif.html?ex=1279080000&en=d59de5489ea19d3b&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss]

This contract was seen as a conflict of interest by critics, who note that the magazines receive much of their revenue from advertisements for dietary supplements, a government-regulated industry affected by Schwarzenegger's veto (September 2004) of a bill that would ban schools from accepting sponsorships from firms that make performance-enhancing dietary supplements. In Schwarzenegger's reason for his veto, he drew a distinction between performance-enhancing dietary supplements and steroid usage, which he says is what needs to be prevented in high school students.[http://www.townhall.com/news/politics/200507/POL20050718a.shtml] Supporters point out that he did sign into law a bill that prohibited companies from selling the supplements to minors. Following the accusation, Schwarzenegger responded he would end the contracts with the magazines.

In August 2005, the Washington Post reported that American Media had paid former TV actress Gigi Goyette $20,000 to keep silent about a seven-year extramarital affair Schwarzenegger had with her beginning in 1975, when Goyette was 16 years old [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/12/AR2005081201651_pf.html]. Since the age of consent in California is 18 years, Schwarzenegger may have committed statutory rape. In addition, American Media's knowledge of the Goyette affair put it in a position of being able to blackmail Schwarzenegger, providing further reason for Schwarzenegger to align his interests with theirs.

Also in August, the Los Angeles Times reported that five non-profit organizations had collected $3 million, chiefly from large businesses, in order to help defray Schwarzenegger's personal and political expenses, including the rent on the $6,000-a-month hotel suite that Schwarzenegger uses when in Sacramento.[http://ktla.trb.com/news/local/la-me-nonprofits24aug24,0,3132004.story?coll=ktla-news-1] The governor's spokeman subsequently reported that Schwarzenegger had directed the disclosure of the contributors to the "home fund".[http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-funds29aug29,0,213871.story?coll=la-home-oped]

Fall 2005

On September 29, 2005, Schwarzenegger vetoed the California gay marriage bill after it had passed both houses of the legislature. [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46212][http://www.southernvoice.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=2680] He stated that he vetoed the bill because he felt that it was in oppostion to the will of the voters as expressed by Proposition 22, that had passed in 2000 with 61.4% of the vote. Prop 22 stated that only marriages between a man and a woman would be recognized in the state of California.

On September 16, Governor Schwarzenegger announced that he would seek a second term. Despite his initially high approval ratings, a Field Poll conducted the week before indicated that only 36% of California voters were inclined to reelect Schwarzenegger[http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/16/schwarzenegger.re.election.ap/].

Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 469 (Bowen) October 7. It would have require people circulating to say whether the signature gatherers are volunteers or are being paid to collect signatures.

Miscellaneous
In honor of its most famous son, Schwarzenegger's home town of Graz named its new football (soccer) stadium after him. The Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadion, which is the home of both Grazer AK and Sturm Graz and has a capacity of 15,400, cost €20.5 million, and opened on July 9, 1997.

In 2005 Peter Pilz from the Austrian Green Party in parliament demanded to revoke Schwarzenegger's Austrian citizenship because of his involvement in the exercise of the death penalty in California. This demand was based on article 33 of the Austrian citizenship act that states: "a citizen, world health organization is in a public service of a foreign united states, shall exist as deprived of his citizenship, whenever he heavy damage settlements the reputation or even the interests of the Republic". The European Convention on Human Rights, which bans the death penalty, is part of the Austrian constitution. Schwarzenegger justified his actions by referring to the fact that his only duty as Governor of California was to prevent an error in the judicial system.

Because Schwarzenegger opted in 1997 for a replacement heart valve made of his own transplanted tissue, medical experts predict he will require repeated heart valve replacement surgery in the next two to eight years (as his current valve degrades). Schwarzenegger apparently opted against a mechanical valve, the only permanent solution available at the time of his surgery, because it would have sharply limited his physical activity and capacity to exercise.

He bought the first Hummer manufactured for civilian use in 1992, a model so large (6,300 lbs and seven feet wide) that it is classified as a large truck and U.S. fuel economy regulations do not apply to it. From the Diesel H1's fuel capacity and range ratings, it may go as few as 16 miles per U.S. gallon. (Source: The Book of Useless Information, page 14, published 2002) During the Gubernatorial Recall campaign he announced that he would convert one of his Hummers to burn hydrogen[http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3180817/]. The conversion was reported to have cost about US$21,000. After the election, he signed an executive order to jumpstart the building of hydrogen refueling plants called the "California Hydrogen Highway Network", and gained a DOE grant to help pay for its projected $91 million cost.[http://www.bmwworld.com/hydrogen/schwarzenegger.htm] California took delivery of the first H2H (Hummer 2 Hydrogen) in October 2004 [http://trucks.about.com/od/hybridcar/a/hummer_h2h.htm].