Errors Add Up Between Schwarzenegger and Lockyer

By George Skelton

Nov. 10, 2003 12 AM PT

Sacramento — It’s a comedy of errors, this tiff between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer over the governor-elect’s past gropings.

One week before Schwarzenegger is to take the oath as California’s 38th governor, his best Democratic friend in Sacramento -- Lockyer -- is pushing him to submit to an investigation of alleged sexual misconduct.

Schwarzenegger, in turn, is accusing the A.G. of blabbing about their private conversation, at best -- and violating the attorney-client privilege, at worst.

As Democratic pro Richie Ross told The Times: “Unbelievable. How ironic that California’s strangest political bedfellows would find themselves in an argument about groping.”

Taking their errors in order:

* Schwarzenegger error No. 1 -- Not learning as a young man to keep his hands off women who don’t want to be handled. Maybe Mr. Muscleman should have been belted a few times, verbally if not physically.

* Schwarzenegger error No. 2 -- Telling NBC-TV’s Tom Brokaw two days before the election that he would address the allegations after the campaign. This somehow was interpreted as a promise to investigate.

So last Thursday -- reacting to Lockyer’s public urging -- Schwarzenegger announced that he intended to hire a private investigator to probe the allegations of at least 16 women, who have said they were fondled or humiliated over three decades.

Big mistake. Never ask somebody a question unless you want to know the answer. It’s not likely many victims would talk to the perpetrator’s hired prober anyway. And there is no Schwarzenegger-arranged investigation that would be believable.

So what’s the point? Schwarzenegger already has said -- after The Times reported the allegations a few days before the election -- that he had “behaved badly sometimes” and was “deeply sorry” if he had offended anyone while being “playful.” He merely needs to expand on that, fully fess up and assure everybody he’s a changed man.

The voters don’t seem all that concerned. They elected him governor by a 17-point margin over his nearest rival.

* Lockyer error No. 1 -- Intruding into this like some brother-advisor, urging Schwarzenegger, even before the election, to submit to an investigation. This is illogical. Suspects don’t ask to be investigated. Prosecutors launch investigations. So do civil attorneys representing plaintiffs.

If the attorney general thinks somebody needs to be investigated, he should investigate -- or urge some D.A. to do it.

* Lockyer error No. 2 -- Equating what Schwarzenegger did with “frat-boy behavior.”

During a post-election conference at UC Berkeley, after shocking politicos by disclosing he had voted for Schwarzenegger, Lockyer told reporters he assumed the allegations were “absolutely true. But people can decide whether it matters to them....

“I’m convinced Arnold really didn’t understand that he was caught up in this frat-boy behavior, and it was accepted too frequently in that [movie] industry.... I give him the benefit of the doubt.”

After that, Lockyer caught flak from women who accused him of condoning sexual abuse. He was shocked. And that led to his biggest error.

* Lockyer error No. 3 -- Overreacting to the frat-boy flak.

The A.G. might not have violated an attorney-client privilege. But he did break a cardinal rule about keeping private conversations private. At an unrelated news conference Thursday, Lockyer was asked whether he again had recommended a groping probe to Schwarzenegger during their private dinner the night before.

“Absolutely,” he replied. “I don’t think the issue is going to go away until he is willing to have some form of independent, third-party review.... He wants to talk to people and think about it.”

Lockyer acknowledged their “client-attorney relationship.”

And the A.G. added he was “eager” to explain his frat-boy comment: “Some thought that was trivializing the behavior....

“In my mind, frat-boy behavior runs from rowdy drunkenness to rape.”

Whoa! Now Lockyer has insulted a whole bunch of us old frat boys. Young ones too -- and frat moms and dads. Lockyer never joined a fraternity and clearly has a warped view of “Greek life.” It’s party time, but not sexual assault.

* Schwarzenegger error No. 3 -- Overreacting to Lockyer’s overreaction.

The governor-elect publicly pounced on Lockyer because his advisors believed it was important to mess up the messenger -- the strategy they had followed in repeatedly denouncing The Times after its groping stories. The advisors challenged Lockyer’s ethics and his motivation.

It backfired, pushing the story onto every front page and making the national news.

The angry A.G. responded with a new revelation in a radio interview (San Francisco KGO). A man had told him just before the election, he said, that Schwarzenegger did “this terrible thing” to his daughter-in-law last year. Lockyer did not supply names, but speculated it was during the filming of “Terminator 3.”

OK, if this is criminal, somebody investigate.

Regardless, Schwarzenegger needs to stop shifting blame, take full responsibility and move forward into governing.

Lockyer should apologize to frat boys.