Arnold for President? At Least One Hurdle May Fall

His name has never appeared on a ballot -- only a movie marquee -- but already, people are whispering about President Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Oh, no, you’re saying -- that can’t be. For starters, he hasn’t even run for California governor yet. First things first. And then there’s the little matter of the Constitution, which prohibits any but native-born Americans from being president or vice president.

Not to worry -- or do worry, depending on your politics. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch has introduced a constitutional amendment to allow the foreign-born who have been naturalized citizens for at least 20 years to run for the big job.

Arnold’s shown up at some fund-raisers for his pal Orrin, but no, no, no, that’s not what this is about.

The Deseret Morning News in Utah quoted a Hatch spokeswoman as saying that the Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment -- which is what Hatch is calling it -- is a “policy judgment not associated with any one individual.”

Why, just consider, the paper quoted Hatch: There are those foreign-born Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and HUD Secretary Mel Martinez. Banning foreign-born candidates is “an anachronism that is decidedly un-American.”

(And un-Mexican. In 2000, Mexico amended its constitution to allow Mexican-born children of the foreign-born to run for president, which opened the path for President Vicente Fox, whose mother was born in Spain.)

New Democrats Open an L.A. Office

Another branch office opens in L.A.: The New Democrat Network set up shop with a launch party last week attended by some members of Congress and a couple hundred New Democrats -- youngish folks who can’t write $10,000 checks but who can write $500 ones and put in some passion and sweat-equity, too, says NDN President Simon Rosenberg.

“The ‘90s were about big checks and big TV buys -- it didn’t leave a lot for regular people to do,” he says. “And we as a party made a tremendous mistake in the ‘90s, which is that we really didn’t create a committed pool of advocates for Democrats. You didn’t feel you made a difference.” The work now, he says, is to reach this “new generation” that has felt left out.

The NDN plans its next offices for San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

The first was in New York, natch, and last week’s invitation-only launch was atop -- where else? -- the Beverly Hills branch of Barneys New York.

Californians Bring In the Bucks for Bush

Who are those buckaroos behind the big Bush bucks?

Three Californians are “Rangers” and another eight are “Pioneers” for George W. Bush, bringing in at least $200,000 and $100,000 each, respectively, for Bush’s reelection campaign, which has already raised about $35 million.

* Ranger Katherine E. Boyd, listed as a Northern California interior designer, was appointed by President Bush I to the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. She is listed as director of the Casa Amesti Foundation. Casa Amesti is a historic adobe in Monterey described as “a stunning achievement in interior decoration,” restored by noted interior decorator Frances Elkins, Boyd’s mother.

* Ranger Bradford Freeman, Bush’s California finance chairman, adopted Bush’s six-toed cat, Ernie, after the president moved into the White House (no claw marks on the Duncan Phyfe furniture, please). Ernie did go wandering briefly from Freeman’s Brentwood Park home, but was rescued. Freeman is a friend of Liz Taylor’s and is said to be able to deliver a mean version of the Chuck Berry hit “Johnny B. Goode.”

* Ranger Gregory W. Slayton told The Times in 1999 that he was reading “Nudist on the Late Shift,” which he described as “the best guide to the Silicon Valley zeitgeist written in the last half of the ‘90s.” He should know: He’s a software wunderkind.

Among the “Pioneers” are Alex Spanos, developer and owner of the San Diego Chargers, who’s loaded dough on Republicans from Pete Wilson to Tony Hope, Bob’s son who ran for Congress ... and auto magnate and Museum of Contemporary Art Board Chairman Robert Tuttle, personnel director in the Reagan White House, son of Holmes Tuttle, the man who got Ronald Reagan to run for governor, and a guy who once picnicked off Limoges plates at the Hollywood Bowl.

Points Taken

* More Arnold Watch? The 84-year-old Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors has voted to change its bylaws so that it can endorse political candidates.

* A memo by Republican pollster Frank Luntz advises candidates to tell voters about how the other guy has “turned record surpluses into record deficits,” and lost jobs in the process. It’s Luntz’s suggestion for tactics to use in the recall effort against Gov. Gray Davis, but Democrats have gleefully seized on it. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco got a copy of the memo and handed out copies to reporters, asking, “Does that sound familiar?” -- referring to recent news of the White House’s announcement about a record federal budget deficit.

* Lancaster Republican Assemblywoman Sharon Runner wants an apology from California First Lady Sharon Davis, who last week compared learning about the recall effort to “finding out you have cancer.” Runner, whose father and father-in-law died of cancer, said Davis’ comment “trivializes the pain and emotional trauma” of cancer sufferers. Davis cared for her father after he was stricken with inoperable cancer; he died in 2000.

* Los Angeles Democratic Rep. Xavier Becerra has introduced a bill that would entice graduates to work as librarians in poor neighborhoods in exchange for forgiveness of student loans, something already being proposed for teachers of math, science and special education. Becerra said his measure would help to address a looming librarian shortage.

* The president of Santa Rosa Junior College says he was “ashamed and embarrassed” by a longtime instructor’s class assignment telling summer students to compose an e-mail using the phrase “kill the president.” The assignment by the part-time political science instructor came to authorities’ attention after a student sent the message to Rep. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) and the Secret Service stepped in. President Robert Agrella said the teacher was being “unprofessional” in using the classroom “as a bully pulpit to espouse personal political leanings.”

* E-plaudits to Orange and San Diego counties for tying for first in the state for providing government services in cyberspace. The California Assn. of Counties and Government Technology magazine praised the Web sites’ online voter registration, property tax payment and jury-duty “call-ins,” among other services. Still can’t do much online about those un-virtual potholes, though.

You Can Quote Me

“The next letter may have the word impeachment.”

Arcata City Councilman Dave Meserve. Arcata, one of scores of U.S. cities officially opposing the U.S. war with Iraq, has approved sending a letter to President Bush asking for an explanation about why weapons of mass destruction have so far eluded detection.

Patt Morrison’s columns appear Mondays and Tuesdays. Her e-mail address is patt .morrison@latimes.com. This week’s contributors include Jean O. Pasco.