Gov. Downplays His Idea on Leno Show

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, appearing on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on Friday, downplayed his idea of creating a part-time Legislature.

“It’s just something I mentioned; it’s just an idea,” Schwarzenegger said. “It’s an issue I’ll address later on.”

The governor recently said he would call for a special election to let voters decide whether the jobs of state senator and Assembly member should be part time. Anti-tax advocate Ted Costa announced this week that he has begun collecting signatures for such an initiative.

Schwarzenegger’s TV appearance came on the anniversary of the then-actor’s bombshell announcement to Leno that he would run for governor.

Now a national political figure, Schwarzenegger sidestepped Leno’s question Friday of whether he planned to campaign with President Bush, who is scheduled to visit California next week.

“I’ll bring him right here to ‘The Tonight Show,’ ” the governor quipped.

And on his controversial comment last month during deadlocked budget negotiations that Democratic lawmakers were “girlie men,” Schwarzenegger said people should lighten up.

“People are so serious, especially in the political arena. Everything is interpreted, you know, attacking gay people and lesbians and all this stuff. I didn’t even think about that. It was a joke.”