http://www.sltrib.com/2003/oct/10042003/utah/98550.asp
Put past to rest, Hatch says of Arnold
By Christopher Smith
The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Orrin Hatch says Arnold Schwarzenegger should not be judged on past improper advances towards women but as the devoted husband he is today, adding that the foreign-born GOP candidate for California governor also should have the opportunity to run for president under a constitutional amendment Hatch is pushing.
"We have to look at people who they are today, not what they may have done wrong in the past," Hatch told the National Press Club Friday. "There isn't a person in this room or anywhere else in the world who is perfect, who has lived perfectly."
The movie-star body builder stumped for Hatch's 1994 re-election campaign when he joined the Utah Republican at an awards ceremony at a Salt Lake City fitness equipment factory and taunted "hasta la vista, baby" to Hatch's Democratic challenger, Pat Shea. Shea said Schwarzenegger's appearance was offensive because of his movies' "terrible treatment of women" and found it "ironic that Hatch, who promotes himself as a true feminist, would bring one of the leading media promoters of misogyny to Utah."
In answer to a question posed by reporters Friday, Hatch noted that Schwarzenegger has said most of the groping allegations detailed between 1975 and 2000 in a Thursday Los Angeles Times story are not true "but he's apologized for acting improperly at times in the past."
"My experience with him is he's a very nice man, very talented," said Hatch. "He's a very bright guy who is devoted to his wife and I know a little bit about the family. As you know, I get chewed up all the time for being a friend of Ted Kennedy."
Schwarzenegger is married to the Democratic Massachusetts senator's niece Maria Shriver.
Hatch called Schwarzenegger a "tough guy" who has guts to take on Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and predicted the star of such films as "Terminator" will herald a new political leadership style.
"If he gets the chance, he's not going to be a namby-pamby out there," said Hatch. "I think you're going to find there's going to be some new leadership that a lot of other people might emulate in this society."
Hatch has introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution's ban on non-American-born presidents by allowing people who have been U.S. citizens for at least 20 years to be elected to the White House. While the measure was not introduced with Schwarzenegger in mind, Hatch said the Austrian-born superstar would be a perfect example of why the constitutional amendment is needed.
"If Arnold Schwarzenegger turns out to be the greatest governor of California, which I hope he will, if he turns out to be a tremendous leader and he proves to everybody in this country that he's totally dedicated to this country as an American . . . we would be wrong not to give him that opportunity," said Hatch.
