Arnold the Gropemonster

[IJ Reilly]

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/recall/la-me-women2oct02,1,2313555.story

Women Say Schwarzenegger Groped, Humiliated Them The acts allegedly took place over three decades. A campaign aide denies the accusations.

By Gary Cohn, Carla Hall and Robert W. Welkos, Times Staff Writers

Six women who came into contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger on movie sets, in studio offices and in other settings over the last three decades say he touched them in a sexual manner without their consent.

In interviews with The Times, three of the women described their surprise and discomfort when Schwarzenegger grabbed their breasts. A fourth said he reached under her skirt and gripped her buttocks.

A fifth woman said Schwarzenegger groped her and tried to remove her bathing suit in a hotel elevator. A sixth said Schwarzenegger pulled her onto his lap and asked whether a certain sexual act had ever been performed on her.

According to the women's accounts, one of the incidents occurred in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, two in the 1990s and one in 2000.

"Did he rape me? No," said one woman, who described a 1980 encounter in which she said Schwarzenegger touched her breast. "Did he humiliate me? You bet he did."

Four of the six women told their stories on condition that they not be named. Three work in Hollywood and said they were worried that, if they were identified, their careers would be in jeopardy for speaking out against Schwarzenegger, the onetime bodybuilding champion and box-office star who is now the front-runner in the Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election.

The other unnamed woman said she feared public ridicule and possible damage to her husband's business.

In the four cases in which the women would not let their names be published, friends or relatives said that the women had told them about the incidents long before Schwarzenegger's run for governor.

None of the six women who gave their accounts to The Times filed any legal action against him.

Schwarzenegger's campaign spokesman, Sean Walsh, said the candidate has not engaged in improper conduct toward women. He said such allegations are part of an escalating political attack on Schwarzenegger as the recall election approaches.

"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 himself would have no comment.

The Times did not learn of any of the six women from Schwarzenegger's rivals in the recall race. And none of the women approached the newspaper on her own. Reporters contacted them in the course of a seven-week examination of Schwarzenegger's behavior toward women on and off the movie set.

[mactastic]

I think I'm moving to Laughingstock with you... Or, where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?

[patrick0brien]

- IJ Reilly

I was expecting this tactic. Low and dirty.

Somebody sees the vulnerability to Womens issues Arnie has, and pulls out these she says-he says BS. Nobody wins these, and nobody can prove anything.

Political FUD.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by patrick0brien
I was expecting this tactic. Low and dirty.

Low and dirty is right, but I'm talking about Schwartzenegger.

[Sayhey]

According to the Times, they initiated this investigation and were not given the names of these women or any information by any of Arnold's opponents, including Davis. Unfortunately for Arnold his life in the open and statements he has made over the years don't boost his credibility on this issue.

[mactastic]

Yeah Arnold would be in a much better position if his past didn't include many other incidents of harassment of women. I'm a little skeptical just because of the timing and the fact that Davis is well known for his down-and-dirty politics, but Arnolds past history doesn't help him.

[IJ Reilly]

Much of the California media, especially in the southern part of the state, has given Schwartenegger pretty much a free ride until now. It seemed like every time I unrolled my morning paper, it was just another Hollywood moment for Big Arnie. Now that it looks like he might win this election, they are finally taking an appropriately critical look at him. So the only problem I have with the timing is, "why not a month ago?"

Did anyone read the rest of this article? The man's behavior is truly revolting, and you can bet if the Times can find six women willing to relate stories of Arnold grabbing their body parts, trying to remove their clothing, and making crude and lewd advances, probably dozens more out there haven't told theirs yet, or are unwilling to do so.

[mactastic]

Arnold speaks.... First he says it's not true, then in the next breath says he has bahaved badly in the past, and apologizes to those women he has offended. Are Californian's really going to elect this guy? If only 30% of people vote for him, I can only guess how long it will be before some erstwhile Democrat gets irritated and starts a recall.

[KCK]

Originally posted by patrick0brien
- IJ Reilly

I was expecting this tactic. Low and dirty.

Somebody sees the vulnerability to Womens issues Arnie has, and pulls out these she says-he says BS. Nobody wins these, and nobody can prove anything.

Political FUD.

Don't people realize that Arnold wasn't born in this country so it doesn't do any good to talk about his qualifications for being a democratic president?:D

[mactastic]

Originally posted by KCK
Don't people realize that Arnold wasn't born in this country so it doesn't do any good to talk about his qualifications for being a democratic president?:D

Republican president you mean? Yeah a lot of us realize that Arnold could never become president without a constitutional amendment because he was not born here. It's actually kind of a silly requirement in this day and age. I can see why the founders put that in, but it could probably be safely removed, and would allow many qualified immigrants the opportunity to rise to the level of president.

[KCK]

Originally posted by mactastic
Republican president you mean? Yeah a lot of us realize that Arnold could never become president without a constitutional amendment because he was not born here. It's actually kind of a silly requirement in this day and age. I can see why the founders put that in, but it could probably be safely removed, and would allow many qualified immigrants the opportunity to rise to the level of president.

I was thinking about all the issues involving our last democratic president and women.

[mactastic]

Ohhh... sorry, I missed that. Lol:D

[Sayhey]

Arnold is now saying that these charges are true. He says they are from being on "rowdy sets" and that these are actions he now sees as inappropriate. What happened to it was all a Governor Davis smear? I can't believe this man could actually be our Governor in less than a week. Wake up, California!

[patrick0brien]

-All

According to past precident, and the forgiveness of the voting public, fondling women is a non issue at worst for Arnie, and a political skill thusly qualifying him for office.

We need to be careful when picking up the swords of others, they still have cutting edges that can hurt the wielder as well as the intended target.

[Sayhey]

Originally posted by patrick0brien
-All

According to past precident, and the forgiveness of the voting public, fondling women is a non issue at worst for Arnie, and a political skill thusly qualifying him for office.

We need to be careful when picking up the swords of others, they still have cutting edges that can hurt the wielder as well as the intended target.

Sorry, I don't accept the past precident. I don't give a damn about consentual sexual relations on the part of a past President or Arnie. I do care about folks who think it's ok to grab and insult the nearest woman they see. That is true for Clinton or Arnie. This is not the behavior that I want to see in my next governor. The women of Calfornia aren't his playthings no matter if he thinks it is done in "rowdy" good humor or not. Of course, I wasn't going to vote for the idiot anyway. Let's see if it makes a difference to the rest of the California electorate.

[patrick0brien]

Originally posted by Sayhey
Sorry, I don't accept the past precident... Let's see if it makes a difference to the rest of the California electorate.

-Sayhey

I agree, but you and I have little power to influence the thoughts of the voting public (myself even less then you as I'm not registered to CA).

Past precident is precicely what this story is attempting to leverage - the precident that Arnie has done it before, he might do it again.

My issue is using one precident, while simultaniously attemping to abrogate others that relate.

They want to play on that field? They'd better be ready to play the whole game, and not just the aspects that favor the home team.

[Sayhey]

patrick0brien,

ok perhaps I misunderstood your first post. We might agree, but I'd like to know the specifics your statements are refering to. I guess I'm just confused as to what is the point you are trying to make. Not necessarily your fault, I can be rather dense at times.

[patrick0brien]

Originally posted by Sayhey
patrick0brien,

ok perhaps I misunderstood your first post. We might agree, but I'd like to know the specifics your statements are refering to. I guess I'm just confused as to what is the point you are trying to make. Not necessarily your fault, I can be rather dense at times.

-Sayhey

I had fault here as well, I suppose I relied too much on my reputation as a poster that tends to not argue the finer points.

I try to discuss the overarching issues as that is what I do for a living - go for the problem, not the symptoms of the problem. Kill the problem that is generating the symptoms, and many of those symptoms die on the vine.

This thread is about how Arnie is being accused of groping. I feel we don't have enough information to weigh the truthfulness of this - nor should we even try. The question I ask is why the timing? Hmm. Somebody is up to something - then I dig a little deeper.

The problem is mudslinging. This story occured because Arnie is becoming a 'high poppy' in the buch of candidates, and therefore the most likely to attack.

Ergo, even if he is guitly of these things, we need to remember that he is not the first. While abhorrent in it's own right, this incident needs to be considered in it's context - is this a pattern with others?

It appears to me that certain interested parties are using this as a tool to make Arnie lose - it is a distraction really. I see tactics behind it, and those tactics speak louder to me than this issue because it is those tactics we aren't supposed to be smart enough to see. This is the underbelly of the beast and shows the difference between the groper, and the Old Boys Network.

I fear the OBN more than the groper as it is OBN's that create and perpetuate more corruption than pretty much anything else.

You're not dense, I'm just nosey :D

Just think about this method of thinking, then sit back and watch the news. You'll be amazed at what you see. I liken it to Neo suddenly being able to see the code of the Matrix at the end of the first movie.

[Sayhey]

It is entirely possible that there is more to this than a newspaper doing its job in trying to investigate the candidates for political office. I don't know if the LA Times reporting is done on the basis of its editorial policy, but I'd like to see a lot more evidence of that before I'd say it is so. I do take notice that they say none of this material came from any other campaign. Even if it is part of some "old boy network" in its origin, that does not make the story unimportant. Arnie is asking us to give him a lot of power over our lives for the next 3 years and I don't think that should be done on the basis of this whirlwind campaign and movie lines delivered in lieu of substance. Who he is, behind the movie persona, takes on added importance in this situation.

[Rower_CPU]

*puts on spelling nanny hat*

precedent

*doffs spelling nanny hat*

[Sayhey]

Originally posted by Rower_CPU
*puts on spelling nanny hat*

precedent

*doffs spelling nanny hat*

LOL -- thank you spelling nanny! Can I send you my homework for correction?:D

[Rower_CPU]

Originally posted by Sayhey
LOL -- thank you spelling nanny! Can I send you my homework for correction?:D

Ha, spelling errors are just a pet peeve of mine...especially if I see them perpetuated across several posts/posters.

I figure the level of intelligent discussion in here warrants a little extra care in this regard sometimes. :)

[IJ Reilly]

As I said previously, Schwarzenegger had been granted the full red carpet treatment by the California media for the first several weeks of this abbreviated campaign. It's only in the last week or so that serious questions have been asked about his fitness for the job of running the State of California. And to repeat, the question should not be "why now?" but "why not a month ago?"

I find the suggestions that these investigations are "politically motivated" to border on the offensive, as if we don't really deserve to know whether someone running for high public office might be a reprehensible person. I've been hearing for years now how "character matters," but I think we're in the process of revealing a serious hypocrisy with respect to who should have to actually demonstrate good character. I've also been hearing about "people needing to take responsibility for their actions." While it's all well and good for Schwarzenegger to apologize now for his boorish past (and not very distant past, I might add), I have to notice that he never made any excuses for it before the spotlight was thrown on his personal history during an election. So what we're seeing, it seems to me, is not a person taking responsibility, but political damage control.

[patrick0brien]

-Well

Good for Arnie. He owned up.

Whenever these things pop up in a political campaign, the first thing I think is that it is politically motivated - of course it is, it's a political campaign. But I have to wonder if it is truthful or not - and timing is a clue to the motivation and trutfulness.

Well, he's just confirmed it is true - wel at least that he probably offended people, but the amazing thing is he took responsibility, especially on an item that's really just accusations. He admitted it, and therefore throws himself on the mercy of the voter.

I'm not defending his actions in the past at all, he probably was quite the jerk - could still be, but at least he didn't dodge or mince words.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by patrick0brien
-Well

Good for Arnie. He owned up.

Whenever these things pop up in a political campaign, the first thing I think is that it is politically motivated - of course it is, it's a political campaign. But I have to wonder if it is truthful or not - and timing is a clue to the motivation and trutfulness.

Well, he's just confirmed it is true - wel at least that he probably offended people, but the amazing thing is he took responsibility, especially on an item that's really just accusations. He admitted it, and therefore throws himself on the mercy of the voter.

I'm not defending his actions in the past at all, he probably was quite the jerk - could still be, but at least he didn't dodge or mince words.

Deathbed conversions are always the least convincing.

Questioning whether the stories were true in the first place suggests one of two things: (1) that you didn't read the entire article, and notice that most if not all of the stories these women told to the paper were verified by friends, colleagues or family members who'd heard them long before Schwarzenegger ran for governor; or (2) that you think the LA Times might be up to a political hatchet job.

For the third and I hope final time, the California media's treatment of Schwarzenegger up to this point verged on the reverential. I've still yet to hear anyone in the media ask Schwarzenegger why somebody who couldn't be bothered to even vote in most of the recent elections is now qualified to run the state.

[KCK]

Originally posted by patrick0brien
-Well

Good for Arnie. He owned up.

Whenever these things pop up in a political campaign, the first thing I think is that it is politically motivated - of course it is, it's a political campaign. But I have to wonder if it is truthful or not - and timing is a clue to the motivation and trutfulness.

Well, he's just confirmed it is true - wel at least that he probably offended people, but the amazing thing is he took responsibility, especially on an item that's really just accusations. He admitted it, and therefore throws himself on the mercy of the voter.

I'm not defending his actions in the past at all, he probably was quite the jerk - could still be, but at least he didn't dodge or mince words.

My feeling is who cares. The vast majority of people in positions of power, wealth and or fame probably have incidents along these lines in their history.

In the past the media use to overlook personal scandal type issues, an elected persons private life remained private as long as it didn't affect their job. Now we have an attitude of my political side has to win as all cost and any possible questionable act by a candidate from the other side is fair game for elections these days. If Arnold was a democrat then the democrats would be downplaying the news about Arnold and the republicans would be complaining ( in many cases).

This desire to dig up any type of scandal on every candidate running for office is probably keeping a lot of possible good leaders out of the election process since they don;t want every minute of their lives drug through the mud.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by KCK
My feeling is who cares. The vast majority of people in positions of power, wealth and or fame probably have incidents along these lines in their history.

In the past the media use to overlook personal scandal type issues, an elected persons private life remained private as long as it didn't affect their job. Now we have an attitude of my political side has to win as all cost and any possible questionable act by a candidate from the other side is fair game for elections these days. If Arnold was a democrat then the democrats would be downplaying the news about Arnold and the republicans would be complaining ( in many cases).

This desire to dig up any type of scandal on every candidate running for office is probably keeping a lot of possible good leaders out of the election process since they don;t want every minute of their lives drug through the mud.

I understand this position, and it's one I've taken myself at times. But I think taken to its logical extreme, it's an argument for ignoring a candidate's entire past history in the interests of not exposing him or her to a "scandal."

Schwarzenegger did what was in his best interests when he was climbing the ladder of success in entertainment industry. Now he's running for high public office and is trying to disown that behavior. Before, he was Arnold the power-hungry weight lifter and arrogant movie star. Now he's Arnold the "man of the people." Another day, another role, eh?

The voters have a right to know what kind of person he really is.

[Frohickey]

I don't think we should amend the US Constitution to allow foreign-born people into the Presidency.

If it should have been done, it should have been done for Bob Hope.

As for Arnold... someone already said it correct. He's a Democrat, if anything, he's really a RINO, Republican In Name Only.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by Frohickey

If it should have been done, it should have been done for Bob Hope.

What a perfectly scary concept. Amending the Constitution should never be done for the benefit of one person.

[KCK]

Originally posted by IJ Reilly
I understand this position, and it's one I've taken myself at times. But I think taken to its logical extreme, it's an argument for ignoring a candidate's entire past history in the interests of not exposing him or her to a "scandal."

Schwarzenegger did what was in his best interests when he was climbing the ladder of success in entertainment industry. Now he's running for high public office and is trying to disown that behavior. Before, he was Arnold the power-hungry weight lifter and arrogant movie star. Now he's Arnold the "man of the people." Another day, another role, eh?

The voters have a right to know what kind of person he really is.

Actually from the statement I heard Arnold make today he didn't try to disown his actions. He came out and admitted the things happened and he said he was sorry. If Arnold was a lifetime politician he never would have admitted what happened, at least not this early in the game with the election less than a week away.

[Sayhey]

Originally posted by KCK
Actually from the statement I heard Arnold make today he didn't try to disown his actions. He came out and admitted the things happened and he said he was sorry. If Arnold was a lifetime politician he never would have admitted what happened, at least not this early in the game with the election less than a week away.

No, Schwarzenegger is just following the advice of some of the most skilled political operatives in the business. Namely to get out in front of the story and try to define yourself instead of having others define you. If you don't believe me look for Lanny Davis' book (former advisor to Clinton.) I admire the political advice if not the performance of Arnie.

We shall see how all of this plays out in the next few days and if there are other revelations to come.

[zimv20]

yeah, who cares about the groping? it's not like he's a power-hungry hitler lover or anything.

[KCK]

Originally posted by zimv20
yeah, who cares about the groping? it's not like he's a power-hungry hitler lover or anything.

I just love when people can't debate the issues and resort to cheap name calling. Care to provide proof about your claim that Arnold is a Hitler lover???

[zimv20]

Originally posted by KCK
I just love when people can't debate the issues and resort to cheap name calling. Care to provide proof about your claim that Arnold is a Hitler lover???

i said it's _not_ like he's a hitler lover. but then this turned up:


ABCNEWS obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from a verbatim transcript of an interview Schwarzenegger gave in 1975 while making the film Pumping Iron.

Asked who his heroes are, he answered, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

He is quoted as saying he wished he could have an experience, "like Hitler in the Nuremberg stadium. And have all those people scream at you and just being total agreement whatever you say."


link (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/Politics/arnold031002_past.html)

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by zimv20
i said it's _not_ like he's a hitler lover. but then this turned up:



link (http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/Politics/arnold031002_past.html)


Well there is a difference between admiring someone's accomplishments and agreeing w/what they did. Hitler is easliy one of the best public speakers of the 20th century (of all time?) and manipulated a country from a bankrupt nothing-state into a superpower in an incredibly<sp?> short amount of time. Of course I also think he's the closest thing to pure evil the world has ever scene but that doesn't make his accomplishments any less awesome (awesome is in "awe inspiring" not awesome as in "cool") if not disturbing and replusive.


Lethal

[zimv20]

actually, the part i find chilling is:

He is quoted as saying he wished he could have an experience, "like Hitler in the Nuremberg stadium. And have all those people scream at you and just being total agreement whatever you say.


perhaps he's running for governer out of simple vanity. the observation i made earlier in the thread, about him shouting war-like phrases to screaming fans, may apply.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by KCK
Actually from the statement I heard Arnold make today he didn't try to disown his actions. He came out and admitted the things happened and he said he was sorry. If Arnold was a lifetime politician he never would have admitted what happened, at least not this early in the game with the election less than a week away.

I give him some credit for the apology, but at the same time he failed to own up to any of the specific incidents, none of which he can seem to recollect. Another women, a radio talk show host from Boston, added her story to the list yesterday -- she also says she was fondled and propositioned in a crude and unwelcome fashion. The Schwarzenegger campaign says he can't recollect this incident either. Could it be that Schwarzenegger can't remember these individual incidents because they are so numerous?

The overall impression you get of the man -- and not just from these recent revelations -- is of a person with the emotional development of a spoiled frat boy.

[mactastic]

Arnold is ok on the Hitler thing. It was a long time ago, and he certainly doesn't seem to be making any kind of anti-semetic statements or policy positions or anything. And IIRC he's been a donator to the Simon Wiesenthal center for a while? I'm smelling a smear.

Anyway, there are better reasons Arnold shouldn't be govenor besides sexual battery and ancient praise for Hitler.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by mactastic
Arnold is ok on the Hitler thing. It was a long time ago, and he certainly doesn't seem to be making any kind of anti-semetic statements or policy positions or anything. And IIRC he's been a donator to the Simon Wiesenthal center for a while? I'm smelling a smear.

Anyway, there are better reasons Arnold shouldn't be govenor besides sexual battery and ancient praise for Hitler.
Just another log on the fire, as far as I'm concerned. If Schwarzenegger said and did things calculated to pander to his body-building and macho action movie fans back in the day which seem less then appropriate now, then I say tough luck. In fact he's still trading off that image in the campaign, so he can't just run away from his earlier statements and actions whenever it suits his purposes.

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around...

[mactastic]

Originally posted by IJ Reilly
Just another log on the fire, as far as I'm concerned. If Schwarzenegger said and did things calculated to pander to his body-building and macho action movie fans back in the day which seem less then appropriate now, then I say tough luck. In fact he's still trading off that image in the campaign, so he can't just run away from his earlier statements and actions whenever it suits his purposes.

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around...

Agreed. The issue of pandering to an audience is one of the issues I was talking about. To me, that is far more worrysome than the sexual stuff and Hitler statement.

[IJ Reilly]

3 More Women Allege Misconduct
In all, 11 women have said Schwarzenegger touched them without their consent. The candidate denies new allegations.

Three more women said Friday that Arnold Schwarzenegger had grabbed or groped them.

The new allegations against the Republican front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gray Davis came a day after he issued a blanket apology for "behaving badly" in the past.

The women who spoke Friday are:

• An assistant director on the 1988 film "Twins," who said the actor had regularly undressed in front of her in his trailer. Once, she said, he pulled her down on a bed while he was wearing only underwear. His behavior on the set, said Linnea Harwell, who has since left the entertainment industry, prompted her to warn women who came to her with concerns never to be alone with Schwarzenegger.

• Carla Baron, a stand-in on the same movie set, who said the actor had sandwiched her between himself and a crew member and forced his tongue into her mouth.

• Collette Brooks, an intern at CNN in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, who said Schwarzenegger had grabbed her buttocks and told her she had a "nice ass." She said the incident occurred in a stairwell when she was 23 and that it had left her scared and shaken. She spoke about her alleged encounter at an event organized by opponents to Schwarzenegger's candidacy.

Regarding the alleged incidents on the "Twins" set, Schwarzenegger said through spokesman Sean Walsh that "neither of these events occurred."

Walsh said he had spoken to "Twins" director Ivan Reitman, along with the producer, publicist and others who worked on the film, "all of whom were on the set almost nonstop. All have said that they never witnessed this and would find it impossible to believe that this would have occurred."

Walsh said the candidate had no comment on Brooks' allegation.

[...]

Including the three women who spoke Friday, 11 women have said that Schwarzenegger touched them without their consent. Seven of the women have given their names. Four have requested anonymity, saying they feared repercussions.

Like those quoted in earlier reports, the women who spoke Friday had told other people about the encounters long before Schwarzenegger began his campaign for governor.

Harwell, who was charged with keeping Schwarzenegger on schedule on the Santa Fe, N.M., set of "Twins," described a difficult environment for women.

"Everyone knew what was going on," said Harwell, who is now a manager of an art museum in Atlanta.

Harwell said her job on "Twins" frequently required her to get Schwarzenegger from his dressing room. She said he regularly stripped naked in front of her. "I never had that experience with other actors," Harwell said. "It was just inappropriate."

She said that one time, as she waited for Schwarzenegger to sign a release in his room, he began taking off his clothes. "I said, 'Can you please sign this? I have to go back to the set.' " Harwell said Schwarzenegger, dressed in undershorts, approached her and started pulling her down on the bed.

"He said, 'I'll sign it, why don't you lay down next to me?' " Harwell said. "He was laughing like it was all a big joke. Well, it wasn't. It was scary."

When someone called on her walkie-talkie, Harwell said, Schwarzenegger let her go. After that, Harwell said, she always made sure another person accompanied her on the set, and she avoided entering Schwarzenegger's dressing room.

Harwell said Schwarzenegger's friends were on the lookout in case the actor's wife, Maria Shriver, showed up. "Everything changed when Maria came on the set."

When Shriver wasn't around, Harwell said, Schwarzenegger made rude comments without regard to who overheard. "Why does he think he could get away with it? But he could," she said.

Harwell's husband, Michael, said his wife told him about the alleged encounters with Schwarzenegger in 1996.

"I would ask her about people she had worked with and naturally, when Arnold's name came up, it was not pleasant," Harwell said. "She said she would go to his trailer to get him and he would be naked or taking his clothes off."

Told late Friday of Schwarzenegger's denial, Harwell said: "Well, he can say that but it's not trueI don't know what's going to happen. All I know is we're telling the truth."

The Times contacted Harwell after interviewing another woman on the set, Carla Baron, who said she had had problems with Schwarzenegger.

Baron, then 28, said she was a stand-in for lead actress Kelly Preston. She said the reports this week about Schwarzenegger reminded her of the feelings of powerlessness and humiliation she experienced.

Baron said she was standing next to a food service table with Schwarzenegger and his longtime stand-in shortly after Shriver left the "Twins" set. The men suggested making a "Carla sandwich," Baron said. The stand-in moved behind her while Schwarzenegger stood in front. "I said something along the line of, 'Boys, the sandbox is outback,' " Baron said.

"Arnold said, 'No, I think we should make a Carla sandwich,' " she said. With Schwarzenegger facing her and the stand-in behind, they squeezed her between them, Baron said. After they separated, Schwarzenegger, who had just been smoking a cigar, bent her over and pushed his tongue in her mouth, she said.

"There was this tongue just lunging down my throat," Baron said. "I am in shock at this point. I wanted to throw up from the taste. It was worse than licking an ashtray. It was like an ashtray of human flesh."

When Schwarzenegger released her, Baron said, she "slapped him lightly on the face," then pointed a finger at him, saying: "Do not ever do that again without asking my permission," Baron said. Schwarzenegger immediately apologized and didn't give her any more trouble on the set, she said.

Baron, now a psychic investigator who has a radio program and appears on Court TV's "Psychic Detectives" said she complained to a female assistant director at the time. She also told a co-worker about the encounter years ago.

Paul Stern, her longtime program director at the radio station where she works, said she told him about the incident five years ago and has brought it up again whenever "Twins" airs on TV.

"She was talking about her experiences as an extra and it just kind of came up — the outrageousness of it happening and the nerve of it," said Stern, vice president of operations at the Cable Radio Network in Sunland.

Like many other women who have spoken recently about alleged problems with Schwarzenegger, Baron said that at the time she felt her career would be jeopardized if she spoke out. "You're blacklisted very easily," she said. "They want to know who's difficult and who's not."

She said she did, however, share the incident with the production's only female assistant director. Movie databases show that the only woman with that title was Harwell. Harwell said that while she remembered Baron from the set, she could not recall her complaint. But she did say that Baron's story, as recounted to her by The Times, was consistent with what she had experienced, witnessed and heard from other women.

Reitman, the "Twins" director, said in an interview Friday that he had not witnessed any abusive behavior by Schwarzenegger.

"I was on the set all the time and it was one of the friendliest shoots I've ever been on," said Reitman, who has known Schwarzenegger for 15 years and recently held a campaign fund-raiser for him. "No raunchy stuff. People's families were there.

"Nothing even approximating what you're saying happened. I would have heard something," he said.

The Schwarzenegger campaign made several "Twins" crew members available late Friday via conference call.

Peter Tothpal, a hair stylist who said he had worked with Schwarzenegger for about 12 years, sought to cast doubt on Harwell's account, saying he never saw the actor invite an assistant director into his trailer.

Billy Lucas, Schwarzenegger's stunt double for a decade, said he was with Schwarzenegger whenever the actor changed clothes for stunts and never saw Harwell in his trailer. He conceded he was not with Schwarzenegger each time he changed throughout the filming.

Also coming forward with new allegations against Schwarzenegger on Friday was the former CNN intern, Brooks, now a 45-year-old Culver City businesswoman.

Brooks said she was escorting the actor onto a set at CNN when Schwarzenegger, then in his mid-30s, groped her.

She said she was "petrified" after Schwarzenegger made a lewd comment and grabbed her buttocks in a stairwell.

"I came out to the green room, left shaking, and of course, said something to my boyfriend when I got home," she said. She said no one witnessed the incident.

Brooks told The Times that details of the long-ago incident remain sharp: She was wearing a sleeveless summer dress. And she vividly recalled feeling afraid when he grabbed her.

Brooks told someone else about the encounter long before Schwarzenegger entered politics two months ago. Her boyfriend at the time of the encounter, a Los Angeles man who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Brooks described the incident to him back then.

"I remember she came home and she was very upset," he said. "She told me about it and I said, 'Yeah, you know, movie stars, celebrities, rock stars, they're all sort of scumbags.' "

Brooks said she worked at CNN for about a year. At the time, Brooks said, she had a day job at an advertising agency and worked as an unpaid intern in the evenings at CNN. She believed the incident took place in 1982.

[...]



http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/recall/la-me-cases4oct04-1,1,3896705.story