In 2008, Arnold Schwarzenegger did not reappoint Clint Eastwood to California’s State Park and Recreation Commission, prompting a brief public rift between the two friends. The decision mattered because Eastwood and fellow commissioner Bobby Shriver had opposed a toll-road extension through San Onofre State Beach, raising concerns that their removal was linked to that disagreement.

Eastwood had served on the commission since 2001 and had been reappointed by Schwarzenegger in 2004. He treated the decision lightly, saying that somebody had “got a bee under their bonnet”, while Schwarzenegger maintained he wanted to give others an opportunity to serve; Shriver and Eastwood’s opposition concerned a proposed 16-mile, six-lane extension of State Route 241.