US: For many days, aides have portrayed California Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger as hard at work in meetings on his new administration which takes office on Monday.
It turns out that the actor and his wife Ms Maria Shriver have been vacationing in Hawaii with their four children, a person close to the family told Reuters.
"They took the children off to Hawaii," he said yesterday, adding that the couple's kids missed some schooling as a result of the pre-inaugural travels.
In communications to the media, his transition office has sought to project the image of a man hard at work.
"He will hold private transition meetings and discussions with members of his transition team," his office has said in a routine statement put out daily in recent days.
From the capital Sacramento, his office has also announced a series of announcements. But they are declining to talk about Hawaii.
"We are not going to discuss his private time and what he chooses to do in his private time," spokeswoman Ms Karen Hanretty said.
"On a daily basis he continues to work on establishing a new administration, regardless of where he is." Under California's constitution, Lt Gov Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat who ran against Schwarzenegger, acts as governor when an incumbent is out of the state.
"It is a different situation once he is sworn in but he is not yet sworn into office," Ms Hanretty said.
Any rest in Hawaii may prove valuable as Republican Schwarzenegger has planned an ambitious political debut.
After taking office on Monday, he will call a special session of the legislature the next day, in hopes of convincing the Democratic-dominated bodies to back his programmes.
Most pressing of the issues facing the neophyte politician is the state's budget, which goes into the next fiscal year already $8 billion in deficit. The former body-builder and actor has also pledged to roll back $4 billion in car taxes.
The star of the Terminator films also faces questions about allegations of past sexual harassment of women.
Attorney General Mr Bill Lockyer, a Democrat, last week said the issue would not die until an independent investigator looks into the charges, which Schwarzenegger now says he will do. - (Reuters)