Ahhhnold the Scam Artist......(Huge Hypocrite content)

[Bennyboy]

A couple of weeks ago, after Ahhnold amde his appearance at the Southern California fires, I sent a letter to the Editor of my local paper, the Sacramento Bee. Strangely, they did not print the letter (I almost always get my lettters publsihed). Now I know the reason why. They instead used it as a story in today's edition. http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/472128.html

"As the fires in Southern California were dying down on Oct. 26, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sternly warned that "we will not tolerate price gougers or shady contractors" trying to take advantage of disaster victims. "They will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

The guv knows whereof he speaks – at least if you believe what he told Johnny Carson back in 1981.

During an appearance on the "Tonight Show," Schwarzenegger explained how he operated a bricklaying business with fellow bodybuilder Franco "the Sardinian Strongman" Columbo after the 1971 Sylmar earthquake in the San Fernando Valley.

Schwarzenegger said he would engage homeowners in conversation while Columbo (whom Schwarzenegger eventually appointed to the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners) would climb on their roofs and shake down part of their chimneys, thus creating business opportunities.

Of course when the guv ran for guv in 2003, his campaign people said he had just been joshing Carson. Maybe so – but it's amazing how changing jobs can change one's perspective."

In response, I wrote the author of the article above:



A few things about the Ahnold story and the contractors scam.

One, the video tape exists in the TV archives. He is not kidding. Carson actually calls it a scam and Ahnold agrees with him.

Two, never in the State of CA has anyone ever been listed as a licensed contractor under the name Schwarzenegger or Columbu or European Brick Works under the masonry or general building catagories.

As an aside: My Father has been a licensed contractor since the 40's and they have complete records of his status, so this is not something that the board loses or does not keep track of. Plainly he was operating a business without a license.

Three, I sent this info in a LTTE to the Bee the day after he made the comments about cracking down on unscrupulous contractors. I wondered why they did not print my LTTE, and now I know, they used it instead as a story, uncredited of course.

Four: Apparently Ahnold's partner has changed his name in the time since, according to the Bee he is known now as Columbo, but then he was known as Columbu.


It came from this story: (Which I have saved since the recall election and can be very easliy verified)

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/main/your-multitasking-governor/
"Not being an aficionado of muscleman competitions, I had never heard Columbu before his ol' posing-in-a-speedo pal Schwarzenegger ran for governor. Back in September 2003, I wrote a column for the Weekly about Columbu and Schwarzenegger's old business, European Brick Works.


In several interviews over the years, Arnold has told the story of how he formed European Brick Works in Santa Monica with his friend Franco Columbu, a bodybuilder from Italy, after the Sylmar earthquake of 1971. "We had 16 people working for us, and we were all over town, building chimneys after the earthquake," Arnold told Interview magazine in 1985, leaving out a detail he told Johnny Carson four years earlier about his chimney-building days.

During his 1981 appearance , Arnold explained to Johnny how his bricklaying business worked. Franco and Arnold would call on a homeowner. Arnold, always good with the public, would keep the homeowner busy, discussing prices and such. "In the meantime," Arnold recounted, "Franco climbed up on the roof to check the chimney—and he, of course, is a very strong guy and a lifter—he pushed all the chimneys over so they fall down. So these people come and say, 'Oh, thank you so much for helping us. This could have fallen on somebody's head, you know. Thank you for doing it for us.'"

Johnny was impressed. "What a racket," he told the immigrant with a dream in his eye. "You go and push chimneys down and then rebuild them."

"Exactly," Arnold replied."


During the recall, Schwarzenegger's people claimed that Arnold was just kidding about ripping off unsuspecting homeowners-- though they never explained why an up-and-coming movie star would want to lie on national television and claim to have committed fraud and destroyed private property in the aftermath of a natural disaster."


And more on this story and some info on claims that Ahnold was in this country, ripping people off in contrator's scams, while being an illegal alien. Claims he has denied but never produced documentation denouncing the claims.(With a link to the NY Times)

http://smythesworld.blogspot.com/2003_09_07_smythesworld.archive.html

[Cleita]

1. Too bad they didn't tell the whole story, but I guess they

need some good backup sources to do so.

[Bennyboy]

2. The column it appeared in

is a blurb type, so he had a word count to deal with. The sources are there, the vid exists, the Contractors license board info is easily found etc....