Schwarzenegger apologizes for bad behavior toward women

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, October 03, 2003

Schwarzenegger apologizes for bad behavior toward women

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Fearing a newly-exposed sex scandal could ruin his chances of winning California's recall race,Hollywood actor-turned Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday acknowledged and apologized for his bad behavior toward women.

Schwarzenegger made the apology when he kicked off a four-day bus tour in the southern California city of San Diego ahead of theOct. 7 vote.

The Los Angeles Times exposed Thursday that six women accused Schwarzenegger of sexually harassing them during movie making in the last three decades.

"Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have donethings that were not right which I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I offended people," Schwarzenegger said at a rally in San Diego.

"Those people that I have offended, I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that, and I apologize because that's not what I'm trying to do," he said.

Schwarzenegger promised that he would change his behavior toward women if he is elected to the governor's office. "When I amgovernor, I want to prove to the women that I will be a champion for the women, a champion of the women," he said.

The Los Angeles Times report said it interviewed six women who claimed that Schwarzenegger fondled them or grabbed their breasts without their consent on movie sets and in other settings. The incidents allegedly occurred as far back as 1975 and as recently as 2000.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger went on to dismiss the report as "dirty politics" played by his rivals to hurt his campaign after polls showed that he was leading among 135 candidates to replace Democrat Governor Gray Davis.

"This morning they have begun with the tearing down ... I know,I know the people of California will see through this trash politics," Schwarzenegger told the rally in San Diego.

"A lot of the stuff in the story is not true ... but I have to say that where there's smoke there's fire," he said.

A spokesman for Davis said the governor's campaign was not involved in publicizing any of the accusations. The Times also said it did not learn of any of the six women from Schwarzenegger's rivals in the recall race, and none of the women approached the paper on her own.

Rather, reporters contacted them in the course of a seven-week examination of Schwarzenegger's behavior toward women.

Schwarzenegger's attitudes toward women has been an issue on the campaign trail. But he previously denied wrongdoing, saying herespects women and that many of his comments were made in jest or simply meant to be provocative.

The scandal was exposed as the campaign to recall Democrat Governor Gray Davis reached its peak ahead of the Oct. 7 vote.

A Los Angeles Times poll has just showed that Schwarzenegger isleading among the 135 candidates with 40 percent of support, against 32 percent for Democrat Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante.

A confident Schwarzenegger acted as if the victory were in his bag Wednesday during a campaign stop in Sacramento, outlining his plan for his first 100 days of office after learning of the poll results.

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