A Role Model Goes Up in Smoke

Fifty-year-old Jim Walker has had three public-figure role models in his life: Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He loved their self-confidence, their unique auras. Walker was primed on Tuesday to vote for now-Gov. Schwarzenegger’s pet ballot projects to raise $15 billion in bond sales to handle the budget deficit.

So it’s with a twinge of post-Election Day sadness that Walker, who lives in Santa Ana and has been involved in various neighborhood-activist campaigns over the years, is challenging the governor over what he considers a serious flaw in his superhero image.

The issue is Schwarzenegger’s penchant for a fine cigar.

There’s no ballot proposal that can make Schwarzenegger quit smoking, but Walker, now directing a nonprofit, anti-smoking operation, would probably be happy to craft one. What Walker really wants is for the icon to stand in front of a camera and renounce stogies, once and for all.

“What I’d hope,” Walker says, “is that the governor would recognize that just as only Nixon could go to China, what if he were to realize that only he could take on the tobacco industry and win? That’s the bottom line, that the governor has the chance to recognize that what may have been fun and something he did in the past, he could change and be recognized as a real hero.”

Schwarzenegger’s enjoyment of a fine cigar took on comic proportions last month when the Washington Times reported that he had a “plan” to remove part of the state Capitol roof to create a smoking area in an interior courtyard. It was a good story that had the unfortunate element of being wrong; the governor merely installed a tent in part of the courtyard where he likes to smoke and close out tough negotiations.

If only Schwarzenegger could see the light, Walker says. The fact that Schwarzenegger smokes mostly in private is an ashtray half-empty, not half-full.

“If he were to champion our cause, instead of trying to undermine it,” Walker says, “he could literally save [thousands] that die each year.” A 1999 study done for the California Department of Health Services reported 43,000 deaths in the state that year “attributable to smoking,” according to its authors.

Walker’s is something of a one-man crusade in Orange County, but he’s loosely affiliated with anti-smoking advocates around the state who recoiled after Schwarzenegger lent his mug to the cover of a cigar lovers magazine.

“Right now, he’s giving people permission to smoke cigars,” Walker laments. “He’s literally a poster boy.”

Walker envisions his hero flipping that image. “If he were to put down his cigar and recognize that by that simple action alone, he could save lives and money, he could exercise personal leadership we need at all levels of government today.”

Walker fears that the governor’s smoking will influence youngsters. That’s why Walker calls his crusade Stop Tobacco Abuse of Minors Pronto (STAMP).

“The sad thing is that kids are the first to go for a role model,” Walker says. “They’re looking for what defines a hero, what defines being cool. That’s exactly what Arnold has.”

This week, the governor has other things on his mind. But, Walker hopes, there’s always next week. Or the next. There’ll always be an obliging camera that Schwarzenegger can seek out and stamp out a stogie.

“He’s a very special role model for many people and he continues to be,” Walker says. “I like the guy, his charm, the fact that he considers himself to be a competitor with a smile, a smart fellow. If he wants to go to the White House ... he needs to show he has the courage of leadership and not just the patter and news bites.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821, at dana.parsons@latimes.com or at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.