Is it the Hall of Fame or Stall of Shame? Only California Gov. Gavin Newsom knows for sure, but the rest of us can guess.
A ceremony in Sacramento on Monday drew invitees from former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration expecting to hear their old boss announced among the 2025 class of inductees into the California Hall of Fame, according to Politico.
But Newsom never said Schwarzenegger’s name.
So, is Scharzenegger not actually on the list?
Or did Newsom leave him out of Monday’s announcement for base political motives?
The Politico report is so vaguely worded that it’s hard to tell what’s really happening. However, it clearly implies that Schwarzenegger — former bodybuilder, internationally famous actor, and twice-elected governor of the Golden State — is on the list for induction into a Hall of Fame that was created during his first administration.
Schwarzenegger administration alumni were “invited to the event with the understanding that the former governor was going to be announced as an inductee,” the report said, without mentioning who had done the inviting or where that “understanding” had come from.
It cited a Schwarzenegger spokesman saying Schwarzenegger “had been notified of his planned induction” without saying who exactly had notified him, or how.
So it avoided saying outright that Schwarzenegger was due to be enshrined.
Will Gavin Newsom succeed in his redistricting plan?
However, it did raise the suspicion — the very strong suspicion — that the Newsoms had chosen Schwarzenegger for induction but left him out on Monday because of the current political situation in California.
See, there’s really only one way to get into the California Hall of Fame, and that’s through the sitting governor.
According to the California Museum, which hosts the Hall, inductees are decided by the sitting governor and first lady (or “first partner” in the case of Jennifer Siebel Newsom).
Schwarzenegger is a vocal opponent of Newsom’s scheme to further gerrymander California’s already lopsided congressional districts by “temporarily” suspending a commission created to draw district maps to implement districting that will increase Democratic dominance in the state’s congressional delegation.
Democrats now hold 43 of the state’s 52 congressional seats, according to The Associated Press. Newsom’s plan would increase that to 48 of 52 seats.
In order to pull off the plan, Newsom must convince voters to go along with it by approving a ballot initiative in a November election.
And Schwarzenegger, star of Hollywood’s “Terminator” franchise films, has made his opposition clear.
I’m getting ready for the gerrymandering battle. pic.twitter.com/Lbgr1bnGw8
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) August 15, 2025
In an Aug. 15 post on the social media platform X, he published a picture of himself wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “F*** the politicians” (refreshingly, he actually used stars rather than spelling out the obscenity) and “Terminate gerrymandering.”
So, Newsom announcing Schwarzenegger as an incoming member of the California Hall of Fame would likely only give publicity to a man who is not only a Republican, but also one taking a leading role against Newsom’s signature initiative.
In typical Newsom fashion, the governor’s representative declined to confirm to Politico the full list of inductees, claiming only that there was no snub of Schwarzenegger involved.
“Nobody’s being snubbed,” spokesman Bob Salladay said, according to Politico.
“The list remains the same, and we’re going to have a public announcement in a few months.”
The wording — “a few months” — pushes the announcement at least into November, Politico noted, “which would almost certainly mean after” the Nov. 4 special election on Newsom’s referendum.
Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, is taking the high road, according to Politico.
“He’s not going to worry about it,” spokesman Daniel Ketchell said. “He’s got plenty of awards on his wall that didn’t require being on the same side politically.”
Still, is Newsom capable of actually drawing up a list of California Hall of Fame inductees that includes Arnold Schwarzenegger — surely one of the most famous and successful Californians who ever lived — and then omitting him from an announcement to serve a fleeting political purpose?
Is Newsom capable of a shameful stall like this, deliberately delaying a richly deserved honor on a fellow Californian just for a cheap advantage in a seedy, unseemly power-play?
Considering this is Gavin Newsom we’re talking about — a man whose thirst for the Democratic presidential nomination is almost as palpable as his hypocrisy and his hair gel — the answer to that question is a resounding yes. In fact, it’s almost predictable.
Predictable, petty, and pitiful.
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