Austrians criticize Schwarzenegger

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hollywood's most famous Austrian, is paying the price in his homeland for the highly charged decision to allow Stanley "Tookie" Williams to be executed in California.

Politicians in Schwarzenegger's hometown of Graz have called for the onetime bodybuilder's name to be removed from a local soccer stadium and for the erasure of a circuit of walking paths that take visitors to key places in Schwarzenegger's life. There has even been a suggestion that he be stripped of his Austrian citizenship.

One Christian political grouping suggested the stadium be renamed in honor of Williams, saying the onetime gang leader "had converted and, unlike Mr. Schwarzenegger, opposed any form of violence," said Richard Schadauer, chairman of the Association of Christianity and Social Democracy.

"Whoever, out of political calculation, allows the death of a person rehabilitated in such an exemplary manner has rejected the basic values of Austrian society," said Peter Pilz, a leader of Austria's Green Party.

"Governor Schwarzenegger has clearly forgotten his heritage," said Kurt Flecker, deputy premier of Steiermark region. "How else can one explain the lapse of conscience that allowed him to reject Stanley Williams's clemency plea, thus letting a six-time Nobel Prize nominee die by execution?"

Capital punishment is verboten in Austria, as it is throughout the European Union, so Schwarzenegger's role in allowing the execution to proceed, despite Williams's anti-violence campaigning and his claims of personal redemption, has resulted in consternation across the country.

"I regret every execution that is carried out anywhere in the world," said Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel after a cabinet meeting Tuesday. He maintained, however, that the idea of stripping the governor of his citizenship was "absurd."

Vienna journalist Gerd Edlinger said Schwarzenegger has long since been transformed by California.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger is not an Austrian. This guy grew up in the States," said Edlinger, contrasting him to another Steiermark native son made good, Canadian auto-parts magnate Frank Stronach, who still spends a lot of time in Austria, where he has extensive business interests.

"Stronach understands himself as an Austrian much more than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold is an American, a pure American. Frank is (still) 30 per cent Austrian," said Edlinger.

Schwarzenegger's decision to reject Williams's plea for clemency was also criticized at the Vatican, where Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict's top official on justice affairs, said that the death penalty solves nothing.

"Even a criminal is worthy of respect because he is a human being. The death penalty is a negation of human dignity."