Store
clerk, Rahmat Assad explained his stunned surprise at being confronted
by an officer of the Governor's Canadian security detail and told to prepare for
a visit from a "special guest."
"I was very surprised. I couldn't believe my eyes. I've seen his movies."
Describing
the Governor as dressed casually in a blue shirt, Assad said he stayed
only long enough to have his aide purchase a sixteen dollar (cdn.)
Partagas cigar.
"They paid for it," said the star-struck Rahmat, adding; "he put it in his mouth, and he left."
Schwarzenegger is one of the world's more famous cigar smokers, appearing with regularity in the pages, and on the cover of
Cigar Aficionado, an upscale life-style magazine glorifying the weed.
As
President Clinton before him, Arnold may find this cigar a bit of a
public relations problem, because Partagas is a Cuban cigar; that is to
say: It is a crime for an American citizen, whether in the U.S. or
abroad, to purchase Cuban goods.
But did he inhale?
The cagey Arnold may have some defense here, as it was his
aide who purchased the offensive stogey, and the fact he was not
witnessed actually lighting it. He may contend the Partagas was an
official research project, spontaneously launched by the Governor for
some as yet classifed reason, otherwise he may have to take the fall
for breaking the decades-old embargo against Castro's tiny island, a
perennial thorn in America's side. Arnold can afford the fine,
but how would a criminal record effect his long-rumoured ambitions for
the presidency? (True, only American-born citizens are currently allowed
the privilege of standing for the presidency, but there have been
concerted efforts in recent years to overturn the centuries-old law.)
Just ask George W. Bush.
Canadian news reported today on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's unexplained public sojourn into criminality, a side trip taken yesterday before leaving the nation's capital after signing a "
