Nation & World News Schwarzenegger admits bad behavior The hopeful in California’s recall election apologizes for inappropriate advances he made toward women By John Simerman Knight Ridder Newspapers(KRT) SAN DIEGO - California guberna torial candidate Arnold Schwarzeneg ger apologized Thursday for behaving "badly" with women on movie sets and elsewhere after a published report renewed controversy over his notori ous past as a womanizer. The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that six women said Schwarzenegger had fondled their breasts or buttocks and made inap propriate sexual comments at vari ous times since 1970 and as recently as 2000. Four of the women spoke on condition they not be named, saying they feared retaliation or hu miliation if identified. The Republican front-runner in Tuesday's election over whether to re call Democratic Gov. Gray Davis apol ogized as he spoke before a campaign rally of some 2,000 supporters. "A lot of those that you see in the stories is not true," Schwarzenegger told the cheering crowd. "But at the same time, I have to tell you that 1 al ways say, that wherever there is smoke, there is fire. That is true." The cheering quieted. "What 1 want to say to you is yes, that I have behaved badly some times. Yes, it's true that it has oc curred on movie sets and that 1 have done things that were bad because I thought that was playful. Now I rec ognize that I offended people," he said. "And to those people that I offend ed, 1 want to say to them, 1 am deeply sorry about that and 1 apologize. ...When I'm governor, I want to prove to the women that I will be a champi on for the women." This was the second major reve lation of Schwarzenegger's past sex ual behavior to shake his cam paign. Earlier, news reports disclosed a 1977 interview he gave Oui magazine in which he had boasted of having group sex with one woman. When the interview surfaced, Schwarzenegger first said he couldn't recall the incident, then said he'd made it up. It wasn't immediately clear how the new report of his past sexual misbe havior and his admission would affect his bid to become governor. "It's absolutely another element" in the recall race, said political scientist Larry Gerston, of San Jose State Uni versity. "The question is, as we say in this business, does it have legs? I guess we're going to know in 24 hours." The California Democratic Party's political director criticized Schwarzenegger's campaign for previ ously denying such allegations. "If a bank robber apologizes, we don't let him go," Bob Mulhol land said. "Schwarzenegger should be held accountable. He's a serial groper." California Republican Party spokesman Mike Wintemute dis missed the allegations as a political ploy, saying it's unlikely that the al leged behavior was serious because the women hadn't filed complaints. "He's apologized ... and that's something women voters are going to have to consider for themselves," Wintemute said. "I think people look at their public officials and can didates through the lens of what is important in their lives at a specific point in time. I think in the final analysis, people will look past this issue." Most female voters - 56 percent in the latest Los Angeles Times poll - have a favorable opinion of Schwarzenegger, said Susan Pinkus, the newspaper's pollster. "Will this change their feelings about him? I think it depends on how much notoriety the story gets," she said. The allegations did not faze Schwarzenegger supporter Carol Ayres, a retired teacher from Carlsbad, Calif., who said she recently shifted her support from Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock because she thought the actor was the Republican Party's best hope. "1 really just don't believe it until someone proves it," she said. "1 knew there was going to be a lot of trash. It's part of the smear." The allegations could hurt Schwarzenegger's credibility sub stantially, Gerston said, especially if more allegations surface before the Oct. 7 election. "If I'm in the Schwarzenegger camp, I've got my fingers crossed, my toes crossed, everything 1 can crossed," Gerston said. c) 2003, Knight Ridder/tribune Information Services. Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondents Dogen Hannah, Matt Krupnick and Andrew LaMar contributed to this report. X RIP? X Les' Barber ' Shop We’re Not Gone! We Just Moved! 485-6757 $2.00 Off I With Coupon 130 East 13th, Eugene, OR ASUO continued from page 1 on campus," Momiyama said. Momiyama said he's planning a career fair specifically for internation al students who want internships or jobs in the United States, adding that it is often hard for international stu dents to find jobs. The fair is tenta tively scheduled for spring term. Melton has also worked to recruit international students to work at the ASUO office. For now, Momiyama is the only international student working in the ASUO office on a permanent basis, according to ASUO spokeswoman Taraneh Foster. A group of recently hired interns may include interna tional students, Foster said. Melton is also looking at revitaliz ing a now-defunct council that dealt with international student issues. For nontraditional students, Melton hopes that splitting the non traditional student advocate position in two will advocate more effectively for them. Melton has added a sepa rate advocate to deal exclusively with the childcare subsidy, which used to be the responsibility of the nontradi tional student advocate. Melton also hopes to orchestrate changes to the University Housing contract during her tenure. Under I current policy, students who break their housing contracts face steep fi nancial consequences. Melton wants to see students granted a two-week grace period to decide if the residence halls are right for them. "That's really something that we're going to have to build a coalition around because there are a lot of stakeholders in that," Melton said. Melton is still researching the housing contract, however. Melton also mentioned the "queer, Greek and multicultural communities" as having interests in housing contract changes. ASUO Student Senator Jesse Hard ing said Melton's relationship with the ASUO Student Senate is going well so far. "Actually, it's already better than last year," Harding said. But "it's so young it's really hard to tell." Melton has long-term goals as well, including larger hopes for stu dents' role in the political process. "Even if I do a fabulous job this year, 1 will have done the students ab solutely nothing if I don't develop leaders," she said. "Students histori cally are the backbone to social movements. Social change happens when student activism is at its peak." Contact the campus/federal politics reporter at chuckslothower@dailyemerald.com. 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