That Time The Governator Snuck a Big F-U Into a Veto Letter

Arnold Schwarzenegger has had some pretty heavy duty one-liners.

Photo Credit: Giphy

He basically made a career out of it.

Though they might not always hold up in translation:

Photo Credit: did you know?

Sources: 1, 2, 3

But they were enough to keep him in Humvees for a long time.

He spun that fame into a seat at the head of California’s government.

Photo Credit: Flickr,Port of San Diego

It was there that either he or (most likely) a member of his staff dropped seven lines of veto that combined to create what might have been his best one-liner ever:

Photo Credit: did you know?

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

You need a bit of backstory to fully appreciate this one.

Let’s rewind to October 7, 2009…

Barack Obama had been elected president, and about a month earlier, Rep. Joe Wilson had yelled out, “You Lie!” during the President’s address to congress.

In California, Prop 8 had been declared unconstitutional in May, followed by a pretty hot and heavy summer filled with budget negotiations.

On October 7, the California Democrats were having a fundraiser, and though he was invited by the mayor of San Francisco, one might have expected the Governator to stay away.

He did not.

A lot of the Democrats in attendance were not happy to see him.

San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano first yelled out, “You Lie!” in an apparent homage to Rep. Wilson’s earlier stunt. He then reportedly told the Governor to, “kiss my gay ass.”

Photo Credit: Wikipedia,Pax Ahimsa Gethen

Ammiano was not alone in his heckling of the clearly unwelcome Governator, but his outbursts were, perhaps, the most memorable.

Four days later, Arnold sent a letter to the assembly explaining why he vetoed Assembly Bill 1176.

A couple of notes about that bill:

It was a bill to refurbish the port of San Francisco.
Tom “kiss my gay ass” Ammiano wrote that bill.
It passed the State Senate 40-0
It passed the assembly 78-0

So, with unanimous support from the Assembly and the Senate, you’d expect a pretty decent explanation.

And that brings us back to the letter:

Photo Credit: Web Archive.org

His office called it a coincidence, but I think just about anyone would be hard pressed to see it as anything but a dirty, passive aggressive, but still somewhat impressive acrostic message.

I mean, it doesn’t even explain the veto…

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