From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…
What Did They Expect from the ‘Terminator’?
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is not much one for sentiment. He has bounced both his brother-in-law Bobby Shriver and his fellow actor and friend Clint Eastwood from the State Park and Recreation Commission.
Mr. Shriver, who chaired the commission, and Mr. Eastwood, who was his deputy, both opposed the Governator’s plan to build a toll road between Orange County and San Diego that would have cut through a corner of a state park.
"It shows you how strong these developers were that [they] were able to arm-wrestle the governor into firing us," Mr. Shriver told the Associated Press last week. He noted that both he and Mr. Eastwood supported a 2006 lawsuit to block the toll road filed by then-California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
Mr. Schwarzenegger says his position in favor of the road is the true environmentalist position because the new lanes would help relieve the pollution caused by freeway gridlock in Orange and San Diego counties. Neither side seems keen to fuel the disagreement in public but Mr. Shriver didn’t bat down the suggestion that the issue might come up at the next Kennedy family gathering: "He better get a taster if I get him any food," Mr. Shriver said.
— John Fund