WED MAY 25, 2005 12:38:49 ET XXXXX

SPLITSVILLE: MARIA LEAVES ARNOLD, FINALLY

**Exclusive**

California First Lady Maria Shriver has officially left her husband, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, based on court documents filed last week by Martin Singer, the couple’s $400-an-hour Beverly Hills-based trial attorney, the Sludge Report has learned exclusively.

In a candid admission opening her husband to more charges of hypocrisy , Shriver formally removed her name from a lawsuit Singer filed in California court on the couple’s behalf in February 2005 against a Chicago-area greeting card company, Recycled Paper Greetings.

Schwarzenegger’s latest private civil lawsuit objects to four satirical greeting cards the company sold in 2004, each of which poked fun at California’s Governor. Singer, with a hard-nosed reputation, is said to demand a shakedown payment of over $1 million from the card firm’s insurance settlement funds. Without the $1 million, Singer claims Schwarzenegger will pursue a protracted and expensive court battle.

Shriver’s abandonment leaves Schwarzenegger all alone to defend this latest lawsuit, filed under California’s ‘right of publicity’ law.

However, Shriver has conceded privately to several friends that as a Governor her husband is now subject to political commentary and First Amendment privileges granted all Americans under the US Constitution.

With her husband now a public official, a ‘right of publicity’ claim is frivolous, Shriver admits. She worries that Singer’s continual legal miscues, blatant shakedowns and a lack of basic legal knowledge will soon backfire on her family, her friends reveal to the Sludge Report.

“Why Arnold relies on this legal Bozo is beyond me” one friend fumed.

The former NBC TV journalist believes trial lawyer Singer has exposed the couple to likely multi-million dollar judgments from future countersuits filed under California’s SLAPP statutes that protect free speech rights.

Three of the greeting cards cited in Schwarzenegger’s lawsuit are political cartoons poking gentle fun at the actor-turned-Governor; the fourth is a political birthday card spoofing Schwarzenegger and Shriver together. The cards’ political nature validates Shriver’s concerns.

Shriver is also known to be livid still at Singer for his apparent mishandling of a similar 2004 lawsuit involving an “Arnold with a Gun” bobblehead sold for a cancer charity. Shriver realizes Singer caused her husband to be portrayed for the next several years as a “ Governor Girlie Man, Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Pink Dress” bobblehead.

Developing...

-----------------------------------------------------------

BELOW IS STUFF ARNOLD DOES NOT WANT YOU TO SEE:

See Arnold Dance	Win his money!	Boy, he's fast!
It's Payback time!	Solve the Puzzle!	Great for Mosquitoes
A Leaked Memo...	Lassie's Favorite	Arnold's Favorite
	Our 'Best of' Collection