Code Pink activist Lynnette Kessler briefly stopped the Terminator in his tracks today as he spoke at the California Republican Convention. Strategically seated just two tables from the podium, Kessler stood up in the middle of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speech, unfurled a giant pink banner and shouted, “What about this?”




The banner read “SEXUAL MISCONDUCT IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE.”

Security guards tore the sign out of her hands and carried her out of the hall, where she spoke to supporters who were picketing outside.

Schwarzenegger, pretender to the gubernatorial mansion, continues to be dogged by women and Latino immigrants across the state, who say that his attitudes toward women and people of color are out of step with mainstream California values. Shouts of “Abajo con Arnold!” filled the air this afternoon the LAX Marriott where about 50 people were picketing outside the convention.

One witness inside the convention described the scene to Kessler afterward. “When you stood up, all the cameras shifted from Arnold to you, and your sign and your protest. We were all straining to see what the sign said, but they were pretty quick to grab you and rush you out. You caused a stir.”

Still putting out the fires caused by the recent discovery of an interview in Oui magazine where Schwarzenegger described at least one event he has participated in that sound remarkably like gang rape, the campaign has been hit by yet more self-admitted improprieties.

In a 1981 appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Schwarzenegger told the story of a year-long scam where he and a friend traveled around Los Angeles after the 1971 Sylmar earthquake committing property damage then hiring themselves out to homeowners to repair it.

This report appears in the latter half of a column in the Calendar section of today’s Los Angeles Times, relegated to page E18.

His campaign spokesman is trying to convince the media that anything Schwarzenegger said to Oui and Johnny Carson that might be illegal or immoral was a lie, intended to enhance his reputation.

Today’s picketing against Schwarzenegger and the California Republican Convention was also endorsed by the Rainbow Sisters Project, Mothers for an Aware America and the Los Angeles Greens.

Code Pink plans to continue to call attention to Schwarzenegger’s record through protests and other activities. The grassroots organization has local groups around the state and around the country. To find out about upcoming Code Pink activities, visit their website at http://www.codepinkalert.org.

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