Democratic rival's campaign admits downloading Schwarzenegger tape

The campaign of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Democratic rival acknowledged Tuesday that it downloaded the audio file of a private meeting in which the governor remarked on a Hispanic legislator's fiery temperament.

Photo: Democratic rival's campaign admits downloading Schwarzenegger tape

But Cathy Calfo, campaign manager for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, said the campaign had done nothing wrong because the file was available publicly on the governor's Web site.

"No one hacked," Calfo said during a Tuesday afternoon news conference called by the Angelides campaign. "They accessed information that was available to the public."

Calfo said her staff downloads information daily and used a computer to access the audio clip on Aug. 29. Staff members downloaded at least four hours of audio from the site, she said.

"It was provided on the Web site no hacking, no password, no expertise required," she told reporters.

On Monday, Schwarzenegger's legal affairs secretary, Andrea Lynn Hoch, said the files were stored "in a password-protected area of the governor's office network computer system."

Hoch said she forwarded the Internet Protocol address used to download the file to the California Highway Patrol, which is investigating how the files became public, reports AP.