Graz Terminate Schwarzenegger!

As we reported to you last month, Arnold denied clemency to gang member Tookie Williams, who had been imprisoned for life for several murders, and was later sentenced to death, by the Governor.

Officials from Schwarzenegger's home town, Graz, were not impressed by this, and criticized the Governors decision. Arnold then denied the use of his name in all promotions to do with the city, as well as on the Sturm Graz/Grazer AK football stadium, which had been named "The Schwarzenegger Stadium".

Well now, Graz are hitting back at him! City leaders have deleted all references to the bodybuilder-turned-governor on web sites linked to Graz. Over the weekend, they stripped his name from the city's soccer stadium.

The Austrians overwhelmingly consider the death penalty as barbaric.

Sigi Binder of the environmentalist Green party in Graz said more than 1,500 people signed her party's online petition to rename the stadium. The appeal was closed to further signatures when Schwarzenegger himself demanded that his name be dropped.

Thousands backed a similar petition, and hundreds of supporting phone calls came in from Germany and German-speaking parts of Switzerland, she said.

Her message to Schwarzenegger? "Mr. Governor, please push to have the death penalty abolished."

Other Schwarzenegger bashers are less polite.

"Schwarzenegger has proven that he is truly the total dolt that he plays in his films," read a recent e-mail signed "Mario" on the Web site of the daily Kurier.

The issue has dominated Austrian headlines for the past two weeks. But the dispute goes beyond Schwarzenegger. The tarnishing of Austria's idol in his home country is a renewed sign of a general European disenchantment with an America many consider out of step with their ideals.

Schwarzenegger held cult-like status in Austria after his election as California governor two years ago, even though most Europeans disagreed with his positions on the Iraq war and the death penalty.

Austrians focused instead on Schwarzenegger's successes since he left for America in 1968, first as Mr. Universe, then as "Conan the Barbarian" and the "Terminator" and finally his 2003 move into the governor's mansion in Sacramento.

One of Austria's most popular folk groups, Die Stoakogler, paid homage to him 13 years ago in a mixture of English and the dialect of Styria, his home province. The song, which sold more than 2 million copies on vinyl and CD, begins with: "Steiermen san (are) very good, when they go to Hollywood."

A special stamp bearing his image and issued to commemorate his election sold out within days.

But his decision in January to allow California's first execution in three years triggered protests in front of the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. A year earlier, he denied clemency for condemned inmate Kevin Cooper, whose execution was then stayed by a federal appeals court. Williams' execution was the final straw for many Austrians.

For Schwarzenegger, the rationale was simple in ending the formal relationship with the city of his youth, about 120 miles south of Vienna.

"It is relatively likely that I will have to meet similarly difficult decisions as governor," he wrote Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl last week, suggesting that cutting ties with the city was the best way to spare further controversy the next time he needed to make such a decision.

Still, some continue to back their idol.

While emphasizing that he, too, is against the death penalty, Nagl said that "no one here has the right to sit in judgment" of Schwarzenegger.

Whenever he returns, "he is welcome to sit down with me for a bite of apple strudel," said Nagl, whose conservative People's Party is outnumbered on the City Council by the anti-Schwarzenegger forces.

Kurt Marnul, a former "Mr. Austria," accused Graz politicians of "stabbing Arnie in the back."

"More than 70 percent of Americans are for the death penalty," said Marnul, 75, who works out in a gym plastered with hundreds of pictures showing him with Schwarzenegger. "This issue is none of Austria's business."

GA Says:

It's sad that this has had to happen, but we totally agree with Kurt Marnal - it's none of Austria's business what Arnold is required to do as California Governor. And it's great to see that a lot of people are still backing the Oak on this one! We sure are!!

Global Arnold Staff

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