She's just wild about Arnold (December 08, 2004)

Woodside woman launches TV campaign to amend the Constitution to allow Gov. Schwarzenegger to run for president

By Jane Knoerle

Almanac Lifestyles Editor

"Two years ago I went to a fundraiser and five minutes after meeting him, I thought, 'You could go all the way!' He has everything you need in a first-class statesman," says Lissa Morgenthaler-Jones about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In case you haven't seen Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones on the news, the attractive Woodside resident, her husband, David, and former Princeton roommate, Mimi Chen, have launched a campaign to amend the U.S. Constitution so Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can seek the presidency. The Constitution requires presidents to be native-born citizens.

She's sure she's on to a winner. And, she notes, the interest in the former bodybuilder and actor is high: The Amend for Arnold (AmendUS.org) received more than 6 million hits after a 30-second television commercial aired in five California cities the week of November 15. The ad is said to have cost $20,000.

A second commercial, due to run this week, will appear on "women's channels" and focus on the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote. It will feature a photo of Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones' grandmother, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in 1946.

Political activity runs in Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones' family. Born in Iowa, she grew up in Cleveland and graduated from Princeton University, majoring in economics. Her mother and father were both active in politics. Her father, David Morgenthaler, is president of Morgenthaler Ventures, with offices in Menlo Park and four other cities.

After studying in Europe for a year and working on Wall Street, Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones, 47, moved to the Bay Area in 1982 and became a mutual-fund manager. Lissa and David Jones were married two years ago and live in Woodside.

Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones has emerged as the campaign's poster girl since her husband is busy as a biotech company executive and Ms. Chen is a stay-at-home mom in Los Angeles. The trio worked on Mr. Schwarzenegger's election campaign last year, donating both time and money. "That was 60 days of sheer madness," she says.

Two weeks after first meeting Mr. Schwarzenegger, the Joneses gave a reception for "Arnold and Maria" at the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood Shores. Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones says she has seen them "about once every two months for the past two years."

The couple is "what I've been praying for ... a moderate Republican and a Democrat princess who kicks him in the head when he needs it."

"She (Ms. Shriver) rules the house," says Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones. "She didn't want him to run, she didn't need anything else in her life, but her mother (Eunice Kennedy Shriver) talked her into it."

When not appearing on television, including the three morning shows and interviews with Bill O'Reilly, Paula Zahn, Deborah Norville and Sam Donaldson, Ms. Morgenthaler-Jones is fielding calls in the Sand Hill Road office she is sharing with venture capitalists.

There's no paid staff, just a few volunteers and an overworked answering service. She is seeking office space where the campaign can settle in for the long haul. "We now have volunteers in all 50 states," she says.

Isn't the idea of amending the Constitution of the United States overwhelming? "The Constitution is fabulous, but it wasn't perfect. If you were a woman, slave, Native American or indentured servant, you were left out of the Constitution."

She points out that amending the Constitution is a difficult but not insurmountable task: "In the 20th century alone, the Constitution was amended 12 times -- the last one was in 1992. When there is a good reason and the time is right, the process works. This is a good reason and the time is absolutely right."

Another plus for the campaign: "For the past two months, more people than ever are discussing the Constitution."
INFORMATION

To amend the U.S. Constitution, two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and the legislatures of three-fourths of the states, must approve the proposal. The Constitution can be amended without congressional action: Two-thirds of the states can call a constitutional convention, but any proposals must be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.

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