American Media Inc.'s relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to be a little more involved than mere fitness consulting. Now it looks like David Pecker's empire helped pay off a woman and her friend from speaking about an alleged affair with the very married action hero.

The Los Angeles Times has the story on the $20,000 contract with Gigi Goyette, signed Aug. 8 2003, or two days after Arnold announced his candidacy for governor. Bonnie Fuller's Star revenue also helped pay $1,000 to Goyette's friend Judy Mora to keep quiet.

The 2-page contracts – titled "Confidentiality Agreement," creatively – force them not to speak to anyone regarding their "interactions" with Schwarzenegger and have no expiration dates..

AMI's generosity on behalf of Schwarzenegger, of course, didn't come without strings. It was at that time they were courting him for that notorious arrangement (originally structured to sign Arnold as executive editor of Flex and Muscle & Fitness) that eventually kept nutritional supplement regulations off California's books.

Surely this can only help Arnold's quickly slipping approval rating.