Free Republic

ON MAY 19th Californians will go to the polls to vote on six ballot measures that are as important as they are confusing. If these measures fail, America’s biggest state will enter a full-blown financial crisis that will require excruciating cuts in public services. If the measures succeed, the crisis will be only a little less acute. Recent polls suggest that voters are planning to vote most of them down.

The man who says he left Austria because he couldn’t stand socialism has no problem with it here. The man who preached self-reliance doesn’t worry about responsible homeowners being forced to bail out others. The man who rode to the California governor’s mansion by bashing Gray Davis over the car tax and promising to repeal it . . . just pushed through a budget nearly doubling the tax. Schwarzenegger’s weakness and hypocrisy was evident today on This Week. George Stephanopoulos opened the interview by playing a clip of a photo-op Schwarzenegger staged when first running for governor, having a huge...

It is now official. With a cast including Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, Forest Whitaker and The Stath, Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables was sure to one of the best action films ever made. But now, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed on to join the testosterone party, which seals the deal - that this will be the biggest and best movie to hit our screens in 2010.

Schwarzenegger could learn from Obama's share-the-pain message George Skelton, Capitol Journal January 22, 2009 From Sacramento -- I hope Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger listened closely from his choice seat. Because President Obama's inaugural address was a stark reminder of what has been missing from political discourse in California: the notion of individual sacrifice for the common good. Not just share-the-wealth sacrifice. But share-the-pain across the entire economic spectrum -- the pain of sharply reduced public services for the poor, higher taxes for the rich and both afflictions for the middle-class. It's the only cure for a sick state government before it...

Though NewsBusters is normally in the business of critiquing the liberal media, not praising the conservative, I want to ensure that as many of our readers as possible have the pleasure and benefit of reading Mark Steyn's recent column: We're in the fast lane to Bailoutistan. With its mordant, don't-know-whether-to-laugh-or-cry take on our current fix, it's my nominee for best column of the year. I urge you to read it all, and marvel at its insight and wit. Let me tempt you with a few morsels.

The Heritage Foundation issued a harsh rebuttal to Barack Obama’s latest climate change comments, blasting the president-elect for recycling problematic climate change rhetoric from the campaign trail. The Washington think tank also criticized Obama’s plans to address global warming, calling the proposals “fear mongering” based on tainted data. The Heritage Foundation’s statement came in response to comments made at the Global Climate Summit, a meeting arranged by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles earlier this week. More than 600 global climate-change experts convened at the summit to try to break gridlock on environmental issues ahead of next month’s United...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed during private budget negotiations over the weekend to close the state's $15.2-billion deficit with a temporary one-cent hike in the state sales tax, to take effect immediately, according to Democratic and Republican legislative sources. The proposal, floated in meetings with legislative leaders and their staff, hinges on lawmakers agreeing to spending restraints to control the growth of government and give governors authority to cut programs whenever the state falls into the red. Lawmakers and staffers close to budget negotiations said the governor, who has repeatedly vowed never to raise taxes, would not support the...

Former South Bay lawmaker considers run at governorship SACRAMENTO - Former South Bay Republican congressman Tom Campbell - a fiscal conservative, social moderate and respected academic who twice before unsuccessfully sought statewide office, is eyeing a possible run in 2010 to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Campbell, 55, filed papers last week to form an "exploratory committee" for governor, which allows him to begin raising money for a potential bid. He joins two other GOP moderates from Silicon Valley - state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay chief Meg Whitman - among Republicans who have expressed interest in running. On...

A celebrated green economy produces pollution elsewhere, ongoing power shortages, and business-crippling costs. Rancho Seco was once a nuclear plant generating over 900 megawatts of electricity; today, its solar panels produce just 4.In January 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stood before the California legislature in Sacramento and delivered his fourth State of the State address since his improbable 2003 election. It was a rhetorical tour de force that would win him widespread acclaim. “California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta,” said Schwarzenegger. “Not only can we lead California into the future; we can show the nation and...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, responding to the mother of a Republican state legislator, said Wednesday it would be a "big mistake" to blame illegal immigrants for the state's looming $8 billion budget problem. The Republican governor was in San Luis Obispo to pitch his budget proposal to local officials and business leaders when he was asked by Diane Blakeslee, mother of Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, how the state should handle fiscal burdens created by illegal immigrants. "There is, you know, always a time like this where you start pointing the finger at various different elements of what creates the...

Conservative Christian leaders are outraged at the California appeals court decision last week rejecting a parent's right to educate their children at home. “What has occurred is another egregious decision handed down by a California appeals court that strikes at the very heart and soul of families and their children," said Focus on the Family founder and chairman Dr. James Dobson, in a broadcast Friday. "How dare these judges have the audacity to label tens of thousands of parents criminals – the equivalent to drug dealers or pickpockets – because they want to raise and educate their children according to...

Conservative, conservative, conservative. That was the word Mike Huckabee used again and again with reporters to emphasize his credibility as a contender for the Republican nomination... “There has been somewhat of - almost a national media spin that this race is a two-man race,” said Huckabee... “Last night, the CNN debate was very frustrating for me. There seemed to be an unequal level of time that was allocated, and if people look at the delegate count, one has to have 1,191 delegates in order to be the nominee. So far, no one has even broken a hundred; there’s only 8%...

On Monday, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "universal" health-care plan was shot down by a committee in the state's Senate, 7-1. The most vociferous opponents were not fiscal conservatives, but labor unions that launched a last-minute revolt against its most crucial feature: an individual mandate that would have forced everyone to buy coverage. This defeat has national political implications. Hillary Clinton, for example, has denounced Barack Obama for refusing to include an individual mandate in his health-care plan. Yet many California unions argued that a mandate would force uninsured, middle-income working families to divert money from more pressing needs toward coverage...

1. BILL CLINTON Former US president The 42nd president of the United States is now auditioning for the role of what his Scottish friends term “First Laddie”. Having been impeached for lying about his sexual misdeeds during the Lewinsky scandal, blamed by some for failing to kill Osama bin Laden and having left office in 2001 amid accusations of corruption in granting last-minute pardons, Clinton, 61, has made a remarkable comeback. Perhaps everything Hillary Clinton knows about politics, bar self-discipline, she has learnt from him. A peerless tactician, huge intellect and natural communicator, Bill Clinton was one of the great...

 XXV BORDER GOVERNORS CONFERENCESEPTEMBER 27 & 28, 2007PUERTO PEÑASCO, SONORA JOINT DECLARATIONPREAMBLEThe Governors of the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, of the United States of America, and the states of Baja California, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Sonora and Tamaulipas, of the United Mexican States, meeting in the City of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora on the 27th and 28th of September, 2007, having analyzed, within the framework of the XXV U.S.–Mexico Border Governors Conference, issues relating to Water, Agriculture and Livestock, Science and Technology, Logistics and International Crossings, Economic Development, Education, Energy, the Environment, Health, Border Safety, Tourism and...

"Everything is on the table," said Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday, when asked whether he would support a statewide sales tax, in this case, as part of a massive government intervention into health care in California. The Governor said that he could support placing a tax hike on the ballot on which Californians can vote. Presumably the Republican Governor, after negotiating such a "deal" for California taxpayers, would then advocate its passage as well. Shame on Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't know how to sugar coat this, so I will just say it like it is -- he lied. He lied to me,...

(AP) INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Governor Schwarzenegger warns the Republican party must move back to the political center or risk losing voter support. Schwarzenegger spoke Friday night at the California GOP party convention in Indian Wells. He says the state party’s percentage of voter registration has been shrinking, and to reverse it the party must tackle issues with broad public appeal, like climate change and building highways, railroads and tunnels. He recently proposed distilling the state GOP platform into as little as a single page focusing on lowering taxes, limiting the size of government and building a strong national defense....

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming under fire today from pro-life advocates there because of his desire to weaken the Republican Party's pro-life stance. He is asking for a new state Republican platform that removes any mention of abortion. Schwarzenegger says he prefers to focus other political issues where Republicans have more consensus, even though recent polls show Republicans are pro-life by more than a three-to-one margin.The current state platform calls for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that ushered in an era of virtually unlimited abortions.The governor is calling himself...

No Wonder... Published On 08-31-2007 , 2:27 PM Gov. Schwarzenegger’s drive to reduce carbon dioxide emissions got a major boost this week when the makers of Wonder Bread announced the total withdrawal of their bread products from Southern California. Interstate Bakeries, the makers of Wonder Bread, Roman Meal, Home Pride and Baker’s Inn breads announced the closure of four bakeries, 17 distribution centers and 19 outlet stores, leaving 1,300 Californians out of work. The iconic breads – that had been staples of Southern California grocery stores since the 1940s – will completely disappear from shelves starting October 20th. The parent...

The other night, as the Senate's Republicans were blocking the state budget, GOP Sen. Tom McClintock alluded to the driver's license pledge, sending an implicit but unmistakable message that a big impediment to a deal was mistrust of the governor's promises to cut enough spending to bring the budget into rough balance. Rightly or wrongly, Republicans believe that he'll sell them down the river in his eagerness to deal with Democrats. That mistrust, when coupled with Schwarzenegger's cavalier treatment of GOP politicians last year, made all but one of the senators impervious to his pleas.

By San Francisco O'Sullivan report (mp3) - Download 449k audio clip Listen to O'Sullivan report (mp3) audio clip United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Friday, and the two called for stepped-up global action on climate change. Mike O'Sullivan reports from San Francisco, the U.N. official praised the West Coast governor for his state's aggressive role in tackling the issue. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made climate change a priority at the United Nations. He had flattering words for Governor Schwarzenegger, who has set ambitious goals to reduce his state's greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global...

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Mayor Bloomberg is decrying the state of the 2008 presidential race, faulting the major party candidates for offering shallow, simplistic prescriptions, and scolding the press for failing to demand more from those seeking the White House. During an appearance at Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said the televised debates among the presidential candidates have been, in essence, a waste of time. "They have absolutely nothing to do with the job and the qualifications. And they don't tell you anything about whether or not any of those candidates would be good or bad presidents....

The other day, six Anglican archbishops called for the church to bless the unions of same-sex couples. The Anglican Church of Canada is about to have a big vote on the issue, and depending which way they swing it will either deepen the schism within the worldwide Anglican Communion or further isolate the Episcopal Church of the United States. But never mind all that. What struck me was the rationale the archbishops came up with. This gay thing, they sighed. We've been yakking about it for years. Let's just get on with it, and then we can get back to...

Shun Spanish-language media, the governor says, and immigrants will learn English more quickly - SAN JOSE -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told hundreds of Latino journalists Wednesday that immigrants who want to learn English more quickly should shun various forms of Spanish-language media."You've got to turn off the Spanish television set," Schwarzenegger said at the 25th annual National Association of Hispanic Journalists convention, which included many who produce Spanish-language material."It's that simple. You've got to learn English," he said. "I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say and I'm going to get myself in trouble....

You can read the transcript and listen to the audio here:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made nice with Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday, calling in to his radio program a day after dismissing the conservative host as "irrelevant." Limbaugh, who a day earlier had accused the governor of abandoning the conservative cause, treated Schwarzenegger cordially. But he pressed him on recent political moves that have angered conservatives, such as his $12 billion universal health care proposal. The two had a back-and-forth discussion over extending health care to illegal immigrants and whether the money to pay for the governor's health plan amounted to new taxes or fees. Limbaugh said the compromises...

Respected fiscal watchdog state Sen. Tom McClintock, writing in The Sacramento Bee, criticized a state government spending rate that has grown “significantly faster than it did under Davis,” increasing 30 percent the last three years alongside 23 percent revenue growth. McClintock said “the governor’s spending spree has now produced the biggest operating deficit in California’s history -- $8 billion, compared with Davis’s worst year of $6.6 billion.” McClintock also cited $45 billion in pension obligations and “$40 billion to $70 billion in health care obligations” owed to state employees. Warning that “pressure for tax increases” will grow “as California approaches...

For the third time since the 2006 midterm elections, CNN’s "Situation Room" has highlighted liberal Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a role model for the national GOP. On the Monday edition of the cable program, reporter Jeff Greenfield discussed the California leader’s visit to Washington to give a speech and he also described Schwarzenegger’s "centrism." Additionally, Greenfield highlighted the former movie star's liberal initiatives: Jeff Greenfield: " In 2005, frustrated by a Democratic legislature, Schwarzenegger went to war, promoting ballot measures to curb the power of unions, to cap the budget, to change redistricting. All of those measures went down...

...Under the governor's plan, nearly 1 million middle-class people would be caught in a tough bind, those experts say: They earn too much to qualify for the insurance subsidies Schwarzenegger wants the state to provide but not enough to afford comprehensive coverage. Only those whose yearly earnings are less than 250% of the federal poverty level — about $25,525 for individuals and $51,625 for families of four — would qualify for the proposed subsidies. People earning more would be required by law to have, at a minimum, a high-deductible catastrophic insurance plan. Such policies, which the administration says cost about...

ARE Californians taxed too much, or not enough? Taxes are the central question of how to fund Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's massive $12 billion expansion of government-run health care with its 4 percent payroll tax, 4 percent hospital tax and 2 percent doctor tax. Ironically, Schwarzenegger lambasted Phil Angelides during last year's gubernatorial campaign for wanting to raise taxes by $7 billion to create a new government health care entitlement. Angelides argued mightily that his proposal amounted to fees, not taxes. But the governor called Angelides' "fee" a "tax," so a "tax" it was. Now that Schwarzenegger is proposing a government...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, attending a California YMCA Youth and Government conference on Thursday, said he won't sign a bill to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in California if the measure is passed by the Legislature. Asked by a high school student if he would sign a gay marriage bill, the governor said: "No. I wouldn't sign it because the people of California have voted on that issue." He was referring to the passage of Proposition 22 in 2000 to limit marriage to a man and a woman. Last year, the Republican governor cited the same initiative in vetoing...

Only three hours before addressing California's semiannual state Republican convention, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the appointment of two Democrats to the state Air Resources Board. Environmentalists and Democrats cheered the appointees to the commission given the task of overseeing the implementation of last year's landmark global warming agreement. The new members of the air board are Jerry Hill, 59, a member of the San Mateo County Utility Sustainability Task Force and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and Daniel Sperling, 55, founding director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis. "These are great appointments. These...

When politicians break their pledges not to raise taxes, they come up with the darnedest evasions. Take Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wants to levy new charges on California doctors, hospitals and employers to help pay for his $12 billion health-care plan. "It is not a tax, just a loan, because it does not go for general [expenditures]," he told the Sacramento Bee last Thursday. "It goes back to health care." A loan? The first reaction of many Californians was: What state office will I be able to go to and get my loan back--perhaps with interest? It's preposterous, for example,...

Paved with good intentions, California's proposed road to Universal Health Coverage will lead straight to chaos. The Governor's January 8th, 2007 proposal aims to provide relief for Californians suffering under a healthcare system in desperate need of repair. It does not lack noble goals. What it lacks is common sense. Achieving a workable solution first requires that we understand the problem. For 4.8 million uninsured Californians, no further explanation is necessary (the often-cited figure of 6.5 million refers to those uninsured "at some point" during the prior year, including many who are currently covered). But for the rest of us,...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his first full term in office this week by announcing during his state-of-the-state address that he intends to implement a state health insurance plan to cover all residents, including illegal aliens. But before riding the universal health care train too far, Gov. Schwarzenegger might want to make a stop in Nashville to see exactly how such a plan has actually worked for Tennessee, where that state's abysmal TennCare program has forced dozens of hospitals out of business, pushed thousands of doctors and other health care professionals out of the state, destroyed any semblance of...

A lame-duck governor morphs into a Bill Clinton-Phil Angelides composite on policy and rhetoric. “That depends what the definition of ‘is’ is.” — Soon-to-be-disbarred William Clinton, speaking to the Lewinsky grand jury and showing that weasels know well how to use weasel words. Of the many indignities Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has inflicted of late on common sense and fundamental Republican principals, his support for the long-held socialist dream of state-run health insurance is perhaps the worst. As if his support for this deformed monster of public policy weren’t enough, he adds the insult of hiding behind weasel words as shamelessly,...

(snip) Many conservatives rallied around his candidacy because they believed that he truly understood the need to control the size of government and reduce the tax burden on businesses and families. Today, many of those early Schwarzenegger supporters feel he has walked away from his commitment to curb the growth of government. His health-care proposal, which proposes a new tax on California businesses, and his State of the State address, which called for more spending and doesn't fundamentally deal with the state's spending problem, didn't do much to alleviate that concern. Rather than tell Republicans he is abandoning them, and...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Hobbling to his inauguration on crutches, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised Friday not to be beholden to a political party in his second term and declared that "centrist does not mean weak." Nursing a badly broken right leg, Schwarzenegger missed the first part of the program before coming out to deliver his speech. Centrist "does not mean watered down or warmed over," he said. "It means well-balanced and well-grounded." The Republican governor said his dismal year in 2005, when a clash with the state's public employees union cut his approval rating in half, had awakened him to a...

Too much testosterone can kill brain cells, researchers said on Tuesday in a finding that may help explain why steroid abuse can cause behavior changes like aggressiveness and suicidal tendencies. Tests on brain cells in lab dishes showed that while a little of the male hormone is good, too much of it causes cells to self-destruct in a process similar to that seen in brain illnesses such as Alzheimer's. "Too little testosterone is bad, too much is bad but the right amount is perfect," said Barbara Ehrlich of Yale University in Connecticut, who led the study. Testosterone is key to...

Some of Hollywood's most reliable and generous donors to the Democratic Party — Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and media mogul Haim Saban — are endorsing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bid for reelection. Their support is partly a matter of friendship over partisanship. But it could deal a blow to the governor's main opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, by signaling to other Democrats that it's acceptable to embrace a Republican.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger holds a solid lead over either Democratic challenger in a head-to-head battle in the November election, at least among those who have a preference, but 30 percent of likely voters remain undecided, according to a nonpartisan poll released today. The survey, by the Public Policy Institute of California, is wide ranging but a theme emerges: The news is good, or at least better, for the governor on virtually all fronts - and it's clear his two Democratic challengers have a lot of work to do. One-on-one, Schwarzenegger holds an 8 percentage point advantage...

The California Democratic Party is asking for an investigation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. John McCain for alleged violations of campaign finance law. The allegations center on a scheduled March 20th fund-raiser in Beverly Hills in which donors have been asked to contribute up to 100 thousand dollars for the governor and the state Republican Party. McCain is the featured speaker at the event. At issue is whether McCain's appearance violates restrictions on federal officeholders taking part in events that solicit political funds. Ironically, McCain is being accused of violating a law he helped write. Katie Levinson, a spokeswoman...

January 24, 2006--California's Republican governor is neck and neck with either of two potential Democratic challengers.In a match-up with State Treasurer Phil Angelides, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger leads Angelides 41% to 39% (see crosstabs). Matched with State Comptroller Steve Westly, Schwarzenegger trails 39% to 40% (see crosstabs).In mid-December, our polling showed Angelides leading Schwarzenegger 44% to 40%. Westly led him 46% to 39%.Much of the incumbent's political muscle, dramatically displayed just a little more than two years ago in a post-recall election victory, seemed to turn to flab last year. A recent "move to the center" may be converting some of...

GOP activists are set to issue resolutions denouncing Schwarzenegger's key actions. Republican activists are poised to denounce every major action Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken in the past few months - from appointing a Democrat chief of staff to proposing a massive statewide building plan to growing the state budget deficit. Drafts of five resolutions, which declare their grievances with the governor, were circulating this week and will probably be discussed as part of a meeting today in Palm Springs among the party faithful, including several leaders from Orange County. "The governor's had a free ride from the conservatives ever...

Political parties in California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Austrian hometown have started a petition drive to remove his name from a sports stadium. The dispute stems from the governor’s decision to deny clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams. The co-founder of the Crips gang was executed early Tuesday in San Quentin State Prison for four 1979 murders. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria, and the once-popular Schwarzenegger has lost much of his shine since becoming California governor for refusing to spare convicted murderers on death row. The outcry was especially sharp after the clemency denial for Williams, who had...

The past few weeks have been a wakeup call to those Republicans, and especially those conservatives, who got stars in their eyes and supported movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor during the historic Gray Davis recall campaign. On the heels of a decisive defeat in the recent special election for his reform ballot initiatives, the Terminator is acting like he wants to terminate his alliance with the Republican Party. Since he has failed to even slow the nonstop spending of the California Legislature, Arnold's false reading of the election-results tea leaves has now led him to join the Democrat Party...

California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointment of longtime Democrat, lesbian activist and pro-abortion leader Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff is more evidence of The Terminator's disdain for social conservatives. But the move also illustrates the strong collaboration between homosexual activists and the abortion lobby. For years, the two radical social movements have worked hand in hand to destroy the primacy of marriage and family and the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic. All too often, pro-life conservatives looked the other way when ostensibly pro-life politicians and clerics embraced or ignored the homosexual agenda, as if the two issues were not closely...

Team Arnold lost his Big Four measures -- Propositions 74 through 77 -- on the California ballot Tuesday because this band of political hired guns deserved to lose. They ran a cynical campaign. After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's big recall-election win in 2003 and his successful fight in 2004 against some well-funded ballot measures -- like the two Big Casino measures and a three-strikes makeover that rode high in the polls until he opposed it -- the team figured he could sell anything to the California voter. So they didn't do a careful job of lining up initiatives with curb appeal...

Here Are The Results of SurveyUSA Election Poll #7043 Geography Surveyed: California Data Collected: 09/30/2005 - 10/02/2005 Release Date: 10/03/2005 12:25 PM ET Sponsoring News Organizations: KABC-TV Los Angeles, KGTV-TV San Diego, KPIX-TV San Francisco, KXTV-TV Sacramento Analysis: In an election today, 10/3/05, 36 days to the 11/8/05 vote, California voters approve Proposition 73, Proposition 74, Proposition 75, Proposition 76 and Proposition 77, according to an exclusive SurveyUSA poll of 532 likely voters. Proposition 74, on teacher tenure, passes today by 11 points, 55% to 44%. Propositions 73, 75, 76, and 77 all pass by at least 20 points. Republicans...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law on Friday tripling damages celebrities can win from paparazzi if they are assaulted during a shoot and denying the photographers profits from any pictures taken during an altercation. The new law comes as Los Angeles authorities try to crack down on aggressive photographers following a series of altercations involving actresses Reese Witherspoon, Lindsay Lohan and Scarlett Johansson, among others. As an actor, Schwarzenegger had testified against two photographers convicted in a 1998 incident involving him and his wife. He also once lobbied for a buffer zone protecting celebrities. "We...