Better Late Than Never

Arnold grudgingly surrenders:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday he will end his multimillion-dollar consulting deal with two fitness magazines amid criticism that the work was a conflict of interest.

The governor said he will relinquish his title as executive editor of Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazines and forego any compensation.

...He plans to continue writing columns for both magazines but will not be paid. He said he has no plans to return money from the consulting work "because we haven't done anything wrong."

California law allows elected officials to keep outside jobs, and Schwarzenegger does not accept his $175,000 annual salary from the state.

...The governor said Friday that he has had "an extraordinarily close personal and business relationship" with Weider Publications for more than 35 years and saw no reason to end it after he was elected governor in 2003.

"Sometimes there's two different things - there's reality and there's perception, and perception is very powerful," he said.