It apparently took a while for the message to be deciphered, but it seems that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the official conduct of his office, delivered a rather direct statement in his Oct. 12 veto of a bill by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano.

The language of the official message is a generic political diatribe about the shortcomings of the Legislature. But there is a coded message in there as well. Since this blog is hosted by family newspaper, here's what I'll say about the message: The first paragaph is four lines, and the first letter of the first line is "F." The second paragraph is three lines, and the first letter is "Y." The code can be broken by reading vertically down the left side of the page, the first letter of every line.

The veto came several days after Ammiano walked out of a San Francisco Democratic fund-raiser at which Schwarzenegger had shown up unexpectedly, a guest of former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who brought the governor from another event that was taking place in the same hotel. Schwarzenegger was loudly booed, and Ammiano walked out as the governor spoke, suggesting that Schwarzenegger kiss him on the body part last seen leaving the door.