Arnold Schwarzenegger and Larry King (part 2 od 2)
KING: How do you think you will work with the legislature?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I will...
KING: It's often cantankerous.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Yes, but remember, the art of working with legislators, I think, is leadership. You have to tell them, this is where we want to be. See, the thing that has happened in these last few years is there is a vacuum of leadership. No one has really shown to the Californian people what we ought to do. Where should we be? Think about the '60s, Larry, when Kennedy said, we ought to be on the moon. We should have a man on the moon. And we did it. Look in the '80s, with Reagan. He said, you know, that America is the shining city on a hill, and he brought back pride and strength and the economic recovery and all this. We came back because he showed them a vision, this is where we need to be, and we did it.
And the same is with California. I mean, you show to the people, this is what we want to do with the infrastructure -- you can go out right now to anyone on the street and ask, what is the vision for California? I tell you that no one could give you an answer, because there is none. Our leadership in California has never shown a vision. What do we do with the infrastructure of our transportation?
KING: Costs money, though.
SCHWARZENEGGER: What do we do about the -- but I mean, that's the big problem. They're spending it the wrong way. We have to think about the infrastructure. We have to think about infrastructure of the airports. We have to think about the pollution problems that we have, that we have to cut down. You have to think about the water rights. What are we doing about electricity, so we don't have another blackout? Where should we be? We should be huge trading partners with the rest of the world. This is the greatest place in the world. This is the Golden State.
When I become governor, I will be out traveling around, and I will drum up business. I will make sure that our products, our farm products, our agriculture, gets into the other countries, rather than being locked out and they send us the products. We have to really represent California and be out there selling California and let the world know, this is the place -- best place to go. I was with Mayor Hahn over in Japan last year to drum up business for tourism. He asked me, could you come with me? I said, this is a great idea...
KING: The Democratic mayor of Los Angeles.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Yes, Democratic mayor. I said, I'm going to go with you. I'm going to go over there and make sure that every tourist office is there at our meeting. And there were hundreds of them there. And we had the press there, and it was a huge event, and we were really selling Los Angeles and California, how this is a great place to come, to come in here and to enjoy yourself and all this. And so there's so many things, so much potential.
KING: How long are you committed for? Supposing you're elected, will you run again? Will you serve -- do you want to serve two terms? How long is -- this ain't going to happen overnight.
SCHWARZENEGGER: I right now think only about this, about this term...
(CROSSTALK)
SCHWARZENEGGER: ... the people. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) three years. If the election now happens, then there will be approximately three years, yes. So I'm only thinking about that. The key thing is, is to concentrate and to go in there without owing anyone anything. See, I'm not beholden to anyone.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: ... money.
SCHWARZENEGGER: I know, but I'm just saying to the big, powerful special interests, like the unions, the Indian gaming and all this stuff. You don't want to take money from those guys.
KING: Who did you take money from?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I was the only -- I was the only candidate that put a limit on and said, I'm not going to take money from those guys. You cannot operate. This is what Sacramento is all about. Moneys come in, favors go out, and the people then get hurt by that.
And you cannot -- if you take money from those powerful unions and from these powerful Indian gaming tribes, how can you represent the people? You then represent them, and you cannot represent the people of... KING: How about powerful corporations?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, you don't have to take money from the powerful corporations.
KING: Who did you take money from?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I don't know the list. You know, there's thousands...
KING: No, but I mean...
SCHWARZENEGGER: There's thousands of people that have contributed $5, $20, $100, $1,000, $20,000 and all this. I cannot give you the list, but I can tell you one thing, that anyone of those guys that I've gotten money from, I will not be sitting across the table and negotiating about contracts. That I know for sure. And we did one...
(CROSSTALK)
SCHWARZENEGGER: ... by mistake accepted money from a union, which we -- which we never even deposited. When we got the money, we sent it back.
KING: So therefore, if someone gave you money, you don't owe them listening to their call or...
SCHWARZENEGGER: No, no. No, no. Wait a minute, Larry. There's a difference between listening -- you know, I don't mind any, you know, special interests talking to me and explaining their burden and the problems they go through, or lobbyists...
KING: Unions, too.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, absolutely.
KING: You're a union member.
SCHWARZENEGGER: I'm a union member. Larry, I, for instance, have worked together with the teachers union on Proposition 49. You know, they gave me money for the Proposition 49, for the Afterschool Education and Safety Act. They were with me. We were campaigning together. But in this particular instance, it's different, because I want to do something for education, and I want to do something for the teachers not because I owe it to them, because I think that education needs to be improved, and I think we have to hire more teachers, more quality teachers, especially when it comes to special education and all those things. I will work with them...
KING: So you're not beholden to anyone.
SCHWARZENEGGER: No. I want to help. I want to help them. I want to help education but without owing them anything.
KING: Arnold Schwarzenegger's the guest. We'll be right back. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHWARZENEGGER: Body-building, like I said, had no reputation yet. I mean, we were trying to get the attention, so this were attention grabbers, those kind of lines. And of course, I cannot remember every interview. I don't remember the "Oui" magazine interview nor any of the others because I have done thousands...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But do you remember the parties, Arnold?
(LAUGHTER)
SCHWARZENEGGER: I don't. I really don't. No, but I mean, you know, these were the times when I was saying things like, you know, a pump is better than (DELETED) and all those kind of things.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHWARZENEGGER: No, no. But I mean, we were (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
SHRIVER: My mother is watching this show! My mother is watching the show!
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
SCHWARZENEGGER: Wherever Eunice is, don't pay any attention.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Are you saying then that the past is the past and that maybe -- no one's got a perfect past?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, Larry, I wish that Maria would have been there in the 1970s to put her mouth over -- her hand over my mouth when I said all those things. No, the past is the past.
I mean, the reality is, like I said there, that, you know, we were promoting body building. Body building was a sport that was not recognized yet. The press didn't cover it. No one really cared about it. So in order to get headlines and in order, really, to get attention, what I -- I'm...
(CROSSTALK)
SCHWARZENEGGER: I am a big promoter, so I went out there and I said things that made headlines. And it worked. You know, all those kind of lines worked, and people ran to the gyms. The gym businesses were booming. The magazines were selling. Health food industry was booming. All of those things worked.
Now, of course -- at that time, I didn't think about running for governor. I had no idea. If I would have known that, you know, I wouldn't...
(CROSSTALK)
SCHWARZENEGGER: ... talk differently. But you know, the bottom line, this is -- it's the past. If I have offended anyone, I'm sorry about it. It was not the intention to offend anyone with this kind of dialogue. And you know, the thing is that now they're trying to bring those things out in order to distract...
KING: You said you expected that.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Yes. Exactly. But now they do it because they want to distract from the real problems. The real problem's the economy, how people are suffering, what they have...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: But isn't the history of an individual important?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, no -- what you say doesn't ruin the state. I mean, Larry, what they have done has ruined the state. My statement to "Oui" magazine or any other statement that I made in the '70s didn't ruin the state. I didn't cause -- that didn't cause the economy to go down. That didn't cause the misery. That didn't cause that we have the worst money management and the worst credit rating and all this kind of things.
It was not what I said, what they did, what the politicians, what Gray Davis did and what Bustamante did. What those guys did up there, the big spenders of Sacramento, they have ruined the economy. They have created this environment that we're in that businesses are fed up.
I mean, the other day, I visited a factory owner in Los Angeles. He has been in business for many, many years, making plastic bags for medical use and for potatoes and fruit and all this kind of things. And he's closing shop. He's closing down his business. The moving vans were there. They're going to Nevada because he said to me, he says, Look, I used to pay $200,000 for worker's comp. Now I'm paying $780,000. The electricity bills, the energy bills, they are too high. I'm going to Nevada. There I pay $180,000, and I can live and I can make a profit. So this is what happens to so many business. That's what they have created. Davis has created that.
KING: Do you feel anything, since, as you said, experience doesn't mean everything -- but when you have -- you have had no experience. Do you feel any qualms at all about proposing a bill, legislation, dealing with that, dealing with things you've never been involved with? SCHWARZENEGGER: No, not at all, because I will surround myself obviously with the smartest people, you know, the economic recovery council. I've got the smartest people, from George Schulz, to Warren Buffett, all of those guys.
KING: Are they going to work in your administration?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Absolutely, they will be helping. They will be right there. This (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in education.
By the way, my mother-in-law, when I had an education summit out here, she was the first one to come out, which was very sweet of her, because she wanted to represent, you know, special ed, which is very important. Of course, it's very important to me also, but she's a great supporter, and she...
KING: So you are expecting the people...
SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, absolutely. The smartest...
KING: ...will be involved.
SCHWARZENEGGER: ...in all the different areas, if it is energy, if it is the environment and all these things. That's what -- you can never do a job like this, by yourself.
KING: How about minorities?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Minorities, absolutely.
KING: Definitely going to be involved in your administration?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Whatever California is, California is a melting pot of different, you know, backgrounds and religions and all of that. We have in Los Angeles alone here, we have over 100 different languages. Everyone ought to be part of it. I will be a governor for the people, for a change.
KING: How about Sacramento? Are you looking forward to Sacramento? Not your kind of town, is it?
SCHWARZENEGGER: No, absolutely. You know, it's a funny thing, people sometimes come up to me and says, can you imagine you, Arnold, going form Hollywood to Sacramento? I say, you know something, I love Sacramento. I think that the whole, the huge, beautiful parks that they have there, the trees, that the buildings, the historic buildings and all this stuff, it's a beautiful quaint little town.
KING: What does Maria think?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, Maria is, you know, all the way on board with me.
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SCHWARZENEGGER: You have to understand one thing, Larry, about Maria. Maria is so supportive that she believes in this, she knows how much I believe in it. She knows my whole, you know, way of thinking about how I feel that without this state, without California, I wouldn't have anything. It was California that has given me the opportunities, that has given me everything that I have, the movie career, the money, even raising the family. So she knows how I feel. She's 100 percent behind me.
KING: She's given up a career for this.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHWARZENEGGER: She has been the best partner, and always knew that the greatest wife in the world and as a mother, untouchable. I mean, she's selfless, she only thinks about the children, and only thinks about me. That's all she thinks about.
KING: What role do you plan for her in the state?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I think that she will be whatever she chooses. I mean, if she -- she maybe wants to go back to her job, she maybe wants to have a more active role. I really don't know. We haven't talked about that. First, we have to win. Then we can start thinking about...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: If she wanted to be more active, you would welcome that?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Absolutely.
KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
SCHWARZENEGGER: She is terrific. She is very smart, and she's very good with the issues and all those kinds of things, so you know, she is a partner in everything that I've done.
Remember, Maria is the kind of a person that will read every script, every script that I got in for a movie before I made any decisions, Maria will be there. And we will be debating over it, but she will be there reading it, about, you know, the special Olympics, the after-school programs, everything that I've done, she always with me was a partner.
KING: We'll be back with our remaining moments with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHWARZENEGGER: I'll be back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: One of the historic scenes in motion picture history. Do you have any apologies about violent film making?
SCHWARZENEGGER: No, because, again, I think that the films are just make-believe.
KING: You don't think violence on the screen hurts?
SCHWARZENEGGER: No. Like I say, it's make-believe, it's all fake. But what Gray Davis has done to California, that is real, that is really the difference here. Mine is all -- mine is all make- believe.
KING: But critics, most Republican critics, criticize Hollywood, and they lump all the Hollywood together. They'll often criticize violent film making in Hollywood. You're not one of those critics, obviously?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, I think they're wrong. You know, and this is OK, because we can have different opinion. The thing that you have to understand is, what creates violence and what causes the crime is when you don't take care of our children, this is why I was very adamant to start with after-school programs.
I remember very clearly when I was sitting there with President Bush in the Oval Office, and we were talking about promoting fitness and traveling around the country, he said to me, he said to me, Arnold, make sure, always go to inner city schools. This is the biggest problem that we have, is the inner city schools, we have to pay attention to that.
And I started going into the inner city schools, and I realized that they didn't get a fair shake. They get locked out of the schools after 3:00, many times they're hanging out on the streets, and I realized that between 3:00 and 6:00, are the peak hours for juvenile crime, gang-related violence, drugs, teenage pregnancy and all of those things.
That's why I committed myself to starting with after-school programs, so that we can offer our children a positive alternative, and to have them off the street and give them a safe, supervised educational environment in the afternoon.
So those are the things that create crime, not taking care of our kids, not parenting.
KING: Not a violent film.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Not a movie.
KING: In the energy area, where this governor took a lot of raps, haven't we since learned that it was the Enrons of the world that screwed California, in a sense?
SCHWARZENEGGER: No, what we've learned was that there was no leadership there. That he was waiting too long, until the problem became really big. Then all of a sudden, we have blackouts, and then the biggest problem that we have is that we don't really attract any private investors now to build any of the energy plants.
You see, he has proposed in all his energy plans, he stood in front of the energy plant and took the picture, that was a photo op and all those kinds of things, and what happened, of all the energy plants that were proposed to be built, only a quarter of them were built.
This is because it's a lack of leadership. You have to go and follow through with this thing. Because, Larry, in 2006, in 2007, the experts are already saying we will have more blackouts. We have to build more energy plants. It's absolutely crucial. But in order to do that, is we have to get the state out of the business of running those things. They are competing with the private sector right now. That's why the private sector doesn't want to come in and do that.
KING: You trust the private sector?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Oh, absolutely.
KING: Even when you see the Enrons?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Look, there are mistakes being made, there is crime being done. I mean, all of those things, and those people should be punished, but this is not the major problem. The major problem that we have is that, A, he signed a long-term deal, when it was the height of the pricing, he locked those in for 10 years. We are now paying $2 billion extra every year because of that big mistake. And then you have to get investors in here, and we have to start looking at research.
We cannot be at 7 percent research, because we will have blackouts again. We need 20 percent research. It is absolutely crucial that we show leadership in energy, and with water rights and with so many other things.
KING: You, of course, were born in Austria, and are an American citizen. Would you favor changing the Constitution to make people like yourself and others run for president?
SCHWARZENEGGER: I don't have those intentions, to be honest with you.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: You think a person who becomes an American citizen, you should have the right to be president?
SCHWARZENEGGER: It's something to think about, you know, but I haven't really thought about that. I -- that is not what I am concentrating on. You know, that's something that they can debate in Washington. To me the debate is right here in California, how can we change and bring California back to be the greatest state of the greatest country in the world. That is for me, what I am concentrating on.
KING: Last book you read? SCHWARZENEGGER: "How to Make Schools Work" by O.Z. (ph). Let me tell you, the best non-fiction that I've read, or the best fiction, I should say, is the state budget. State budget is the best fiction.
But my mother, for instance, my mother-in-law, sends me religious books about our times, and I don't read them from front cover to back cover, I read sometimes the beginning of it, but then she keeps -- sends so much material, you have no idea.
KING: Are you proud of the Kennedy's?
SCHWARZENEGGER: Yes, I think that they did a great job. I think that I've learned a lot by just being around them, being around people, like for instance, my in-laws, my father-in-law, who...
KING: Sergeant Shriver.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Sergeant Shriver, who started the Peace Corps, the Job Corps, legal aid to the poor and all those kinds of things. Extraordinary work. I mean, he's one of my heroes. He's absolutely extraordinary.
And then, of course, I think that the whole family thinks always about what can we do for the people, to do public service and all this. I think when you hang around people like that, you start thinking about it yourself.
I think the whole idea -- not that we agree politically, no, not at all. I mean, on some issues, like education, and stuff like that, you know -- as a matter of fact, Teddy was very helpful to get me -- to help me with my after-school programs and all that. So we all help each other, but the key thing is is that I have the support there, and that I've learned from my in-laws a lot about public service, and giving something back to the country.
KING: Thanks so much, Arnold.
SCHWARZENEGGER: Thank you very much, thank you.
KING: Arnold Schwarzenegger. The elected is, well, on hold I guess. It's scheduled for October 7. There are appeals going on. We'll keep you posted. And I'll be back in a minute to tell you about tomorrow night. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Hope you enjoyed this hour with Arnold Schwarzenegger |
