Arnold Schwarzenegger – who pledged during his campaign for governor of California in 2003 that, if elected, he would not seek donations while in office, and then, upon election, quickly became the most aggressive fundraiser in state history – will sell tickets to sit with him in a luxury box at a Rolling Stones concert in Boston for $100,000 each. The money will be used to fund the governor’s campaign for anti-union ballot measures in the special election this November.

The concert tickets were donated by Ameriquest, the embattled Orange County mortgage lender that is fighting charges in multiple states that it has engaged in predatory lending practices.

The Stones have made it clear that they are not involved in the deal.

Publishers of the National Enquirer promised to pay a longtime girlfriend of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for the story of her affair – and then suppressed the story after announcing a multimillion dollar deal with the governor, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

In August 2003, just days after Schwarzenegger announced he was running for governor of California, Enquirer publishers American Media Inc. (AMI) offered Gigi Goyette of Malibu $20,000 for exclusive rights to her story, and then never interviewed her or published her story.

Less than a week after AMI signed a contract with Goyette, the company signed the deal with Schwarzenegger, for at least $5 million. During his campaign for governor, the company published a 120-page magazine puff piece on Schwarzenegger as the poster-boy for the American dream.

Long before he was governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s personal life was fodder for supermarket tabloids like the National Enquirer. So it was strange, to say the least, that when he decided to run for office, Schwarzenegger suddenly announced that he’d signed the AMI deal.

Cynics – especially jaded film industry types familiar with the seamier, unreported aspects of Schwarzenegger’s personal life – were suspicious of the multimillion dollar deal between Schwarzenegger and his long-time tormenters, especially since it was publicized as a deal between Arnold and AMI’s line of muscle and fitness magazines, for which the former bodybuilder was supposedly editing an occasional column.

It was rumored that the structure of the AMI deal was actually inverse to the way it was being reported – that in fact Schwarzenegger had bought the company in order to silence the tabloids. If there is any truth to these rumors, it has yet to come to light.

Recently, Schwarzenegger was forced to cancel the deal because of charges he had a conflict of interest between the magazine’s advertisers in supplement industry which are subject to regulation by the state.

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StopArnold.com describes this article from Unconfirmed Sources as “satire,” but we’re not so sure. Apparently the new Republican paradigm is to annoint as leaders those who excel in incompetence and as liars. Schwarzenegger would seem to be fit the bill.

Unconfirmed sources report that Arnold Schwarzenegger is being considered the front runner in the race to be Republican nominee for President in 2008. Schwarzenegger’s slide in the polls has proved, despite constitutional hurdles, that he has the right stuff to be a Republican President…

Schwarzenegger’s plummet in the polls is attributed to his reckless financial plans, vilifying of nurses and school teachers, and tightly controlling the access of the media to his public appearances. All of which is scoring points with Republican big wigs in Washington. Republicans need to see that a candidate is mean enough and divisive enough to the top dog in their party.

The similarities between the current President Bush and Schwarzenegger have become striking as the two become the center of the Republican party. Both where elected by landslides of popular support from across all parts of the country. Both have shown an amazing ability to build consensus within their own party. Both have seen their poll numbers plummet since February. And both have failed to arrest plunging poll numbers by launching new advertising campaigns to promote their agendas.

LA.comfidential

We already know Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger loves his cowboy boots, but we didn’t know his wife Maria Shriver calls him “Imelda” after former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos, who famously owned 3,000 pairs of shoes. According to the UK newspaper The Times, Arnie also has armed security that guard his gold-plated cowboy boots at the Sacramento Hyatt Regency hotel. The Governator doesn’t mess around when it comes to his s*!#kickers!

Last month, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was forced to give up a multimillion dollar contract with a muscle magazine publisher because of ethical conflicts. Now we learn that three of his top staffers have been moonlighting as campaign consultants – and taking rather hefty paychecks on top of their government salaries.

The campaign work by Patricia Clarey, the governor’s chief of staff; Richard Costigan, his legislative-affairs secretary; and Rob Stutzman, the director of communications — all of whom earn more than $100,000 for their day jobs — troubles government watchdogs, such as Larry Noble, the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C.

“The question is how close are they to various special interests” that fund the campaign committees for which the aides work, Noble said. “It raises questions about the amount of time and work they put in on their jobs. And it raises questions about what hat they are wearing when people come to talk to them.”

Margita Thompson, the governor’s spokesperson, was perplexed at all the fuss:

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Great glimpse into what Californians are in for if Arnold is successful at Florida News. O.K., I’ve said too much. Just check it out.

Only 34 percent of adult Californians approve of the job Schwarzenegger is doing, according to a survey by the Public Policy Institute of California released on Friday. That is compared with 51 percent who disapprove. It’s down 23 percentage points from last year.

— News10.net – Sacramento

If the national Democrats are scratching their heads over how to take down a once-popular Republican leader, they should drop a dime and get the 4-1-1 from Democrats in California.

The reversal of fortunes for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger began in January when he informed us in his “State of the State” speech that 2005 was going to be the “year of reform.” The speech was a disaster. Das Guber projected an attitude that suggested that, yes, he was delivering bad news but, hey, he was doing it with a smile. Buck up and take yer medicine.

Voters never liked to be lectured to by their elected officials. A real politician would know that. And nobody wants to be lectured to by a movie star.

While many of his wounds ar self-inflicted, Democrat’s in the state deserve credit for the governor’s reduced fortunes:

“What the Democrats have done here undeniably has been very effective,” said [Hoover Institute fellow and conservative political adviser Bill] Whalen. “They have attacked Schwarzenegger’s policies; they have attacked his character, his ethics, his trustworthiness, and it has driven down his poll numbers.”

…But veteran Democratic strategist Garry South said there’s hardly an outpouring of pity for the GOP action-hero-turned-governor with this latest development. “He’s gotten himself into this pickle,” he said. “This was all about testosterone, and we’ll have to see whether his glands outduel his brain on how to get out of this mess.”

Democratic consultant Gale Kaufman also seemed to be enjoying the governor’s predicament. Strategy is limited, she said, when you’re hanging on the side of a cliff.

“They are in free fall here,” she said of the governor’s team. “They don’t have any good choices.”

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“The Hummer’s got two flats and driving almost on empty. In reality when you rush all this stuff and you clearly are not paying attention to the substance of what you are doing, a judge is going to throw them out.”

— Democratic political consultant Gale Kaufman, reacting to a judge’s ruling that Republican operatives for Gov. Schwarzenegger violated California’s constitution by using two versions of the measure in the qualifying process.

The redistricting measure, Proposition 77, would have taken away the Legislature’s power to draw legislative and congressional districts and give it to a panel of retired judges.

On Saturday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger canceled a multimillion dollar consulting deal with American Media Inc. , the publisher of muscle magazines and supermarket tabloids like The National Enquirer and The Star. As far as he was concerned, that should have ended any criticism of him by Demcrats and the press.

Well, not so fast, Herr Gubernator!

“We think that the governor’s actions here are pretty outrageous,” said Lance Olson, general counsel for the state Democratic Party. “He’s lined his pockets and he’s vetoed legislation that directly affects those people giving him money. And we think that violates several pretty clear provisions in the Political Reform Act.”

Olson will file a complaint against the governor Officials with the Fair Political Practices Commission, charging him with breaking conflict-of-interest and gift laws.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) is said to be in discussions about holding legislative hearings into Schwarzenegger’s contract with the Florida-based magazine company.

But, wait. The governor resigned from the gig. That means the controversy is over! Why? Because he said so:

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