Eastwood's termination: 'Somebody got a bee under their bonnet'
The actor says he was surprised at his removal from the state parks board in the wake of his opposition to a toll road. But he says he holds no hard feelings toward Schwarzenegger.
SACRAMENTO — After Clint Eastwood learned last week that his friend Arnold Schwarzenegger no longer wanted him on the state parks commission, he spoke with Bobby Shriver, the governor's brother-in-law, who had also been dropped. Somewhat incredulous, they joked about it, each saying the other should be more offended.
"I talked to him the day we were not reappointed, or as Donald Trump would say, 'You're fired,' " Eastwood said in an interview, his gravelly impression of Schwarzenegger's Austrian accent producing a kind of Dirty-Harry-meets-the-Terminator effect.
"So we laughed about it," Eastwood said, "and I said, 'Me? But you're his brother-in-law!' and he said, 'But you're his friend and longtime mentor!' "
San Onofre: An article in Wednesday's California section about the removal of actor Clint Eastwood from a state parks panel said that San Onofre State Beach is in Orange County. It is in San Diego County.
The governor has said that he decided not to reappoint the men, who were first named to the Park and Recreation Commission in 2001 by then-Gov. Gray Davis and reappointed by Schwarzenegger in 2004. He said their terms had expired and he wanted to give others a chance to serve.
But Eastwood and Shriver have attributed the governor's move to their opposition to a plan to build the Foothill South toll road through San Onofre State Beach, a park in Orange County that is popular for its surfing and scenery. The project was defeated at the California Coastal Commission in February.
"I think it was just somebody got a bee under their bonnet at the right moment, so there we are," Eastwood said. Of the governor, he added: "I guess he felt we were going to be guys who were going to be obstructionists for anything through state parks."
Schwarzenegger declined to be interviewed Tuesday. He and other supporters say the six-lane toll road, which would run past the Trestles marine estuary, would relieve traffic in Orange County. The governor also asserts that it would reduce global warming.
Eastwood seemed at peace with last week's events. He said there are no hard feelings between him and Schwarzenegger, 60, a fellow Republican and "a friend of mine for a very long time."
But he seemed perplexed because his opposition to the road predated by more than two years the governor's endorsement of it in January. He said he told Schwarzenegger long ago of his reservations, and the governor urged him to follow his conscience.
"You're not going to get people who are interested in state parks who want to build freeways through state parks," Eastwood said. "So I don't know what the big surprise was there."
