Arnold Schwarzenegger is severing ties with his hometown in Austria after politicians there had the gall (gasp!) to criticize him for allowing the execution of Tookie Williams to proceed. Arnold even asked them to take his name off the local stadium.
Can’t take a little criticism, Arnold? Or are you hoping that denial of your heritage puts you one step closer to higher US political aspirations??
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s name has been expunged from the websites of his Austrian hometown in the latest chapter of the row over the US death penalty.
The editing came a day after the California governor’s name was removed from Graz’s main football stadium.
Mr Schwarzenegger – one of Graz’s most famous sons – was berated by local politicians after he refused to grant clemency to a US death row inmate. The governor subsequently made clear he wanted nothing more to do with Graz.
He returned a “ring of honour” the city awarded him in 1999 and demanded his name no longer be used in promotional material.
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“It’s all settled,” Thomas Rajakovics, a spokesman for Graz Mayor Siegfried Nagl, told Austrian media.
The official Graz site still carried a news account of the renaming of the stadium, which reverted to its original name of Liebenau Stadium after his name was removed late on Sunday.
The spat is over Mr Schwarzenegger’s refusal to use his powers [to] pardon the former Los Angeles gang leader Stanley “Tookie” Williams, who was executed for murder earlier this month.
US campaigners had long called for Williams’ life to be spared, arguing that he had left behind his violent past in jail to become an advocate of reconciliation.
Graz assembly members condemned Mr Schwarzenegger’s support for the death penalty, which is illegal in Austria.