Gov. Schwarzenegger's Challenger Admits Tape Leak

By
SUNLEN MILLER
September 13, 2006, 4:58 PM ET
2 min read

Sept. 13, 2006 — -- In an exclusive interview with Sam Donaldson on ABC News Now's "Politics Live," California Treasurer Phil Angelides admitted that his campaign leaked controversial tapes of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the media.

"It's my understanding that this tape was available on a publicly available Web site, and it was downloaded by a staff member of the campaign and provided to the press," said Angelides, the Democratic candidate running for governor against Schwarzenegger.

The audio tapes were first leaked to the Los Angeles Times, which last week published the controversial exchange between Gov. Schwarzenegger and his aides. While in his office, Schwarzenegger joked about State Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, saying that black blood and Latino blood makes Puerto Ricans and Cubans "very hot." Gov. Schwarzenegger was quick to apologize, appearing at a news conference alongside Garcia the next day.

Angelides pounced on the comments, saying, "They are insulting, degrading, and they embarrass the state of California."

The legality of the way the tapes were obtained is in question. The Angelides campaign insists that the tapes were downloaded from a publicly available state governor's Web site. Schwarzenegger's campaign staff and legal affairs secretary claim there was an unauthorized breach of security protocols within the governor's office.

Katie Levinson, communications director for the Schwarzenegger campaign, told ABC News that "the governor's legal affairs secretary in the state office has made it clear that this was an unauthorized use of private material from a password protected section of the governor's state Web site."

Levinson added that what the Angelides campaign did was "unethical at best, criminal at worst."

When pressed by Donaldson on how the tapes were acquired, Angelides said there was nothing done illegally and reiterated, "My understanding ... is that this was available on the governor's public Web site ... downloaded from the governor's Web site."

Angelides said that he sees nothing wrong with using the tapes, likening them to the tapes in the Watergate scandal. "The fact is that they are his comments, made in the governor's office. This is like Nixon in the White House."