More About AMPTP's Fabiani & Lehane
Hardball political consultants Lehane & Fabiani advising the AMPTP for $100,000 a month "may boost the likelihood of Washington-style political hijinks" in the WGA strike. "Things are going to get much more negative in Los Angeles - and the strike will increasingly be linked to the approaching presidential primary," according to Sacramento political writer Bill Bradley writing in LA Weekly (my newspaper).
The so-called "masters of disaster" Mark Fabiani and Chris
Lehane are "translating the slash-and-burn partisan style they learned inside the Washington DC Beltway to Hollywood... Their clients are not horribly
flawed Democratic leaders, but wealthy divisions of vast transnational corporations. Some bigtime Democrats are outraged. Andy Stern, powerful chief of the
huge Service Employees International Union, flatly tells LA Weekly he is out to 'blacklist' them from getting paid to oversee
labor-affiliated political campaigns and ballot measures in the future."
Further, "the entry of Fabiani and Lehane into the fray is fast becoming an awkward issue in the Democratic presidential campaigns... All of the top Democratic presidential candidates publicly support the writers. Hillary Clinton, for whom they both worked during the late Clinton administration, has walked the picket line with the writers."
But the article also clarifies what role the firm plays with Hillary's campaign now. "Lehane has been working for Clinton locally - recently fighting a plan by Republicans in Sacramento to change California's presidential vote in the Electoral College."
Also, did you know that "Liars and Fibs" -- as the WGA have
dubbed them -- also worked as hired guns for the Screen Actors Guild in 2002. "Their mission? To convince SAG members to allow ad agencies to own up to
one-fifth of talent agencies - a controversial idea and, critics noted at the time, an inherent conflict of interest. Yet as Lehane spun the deal, it was all
about union building: 'We believe strongly in the need to preserve the strength of the union and this agreement does that.' SAG members voted the
deal down."
The article also notes that Lehane and Fabiani aren't the only hired guns for the studios: "The other key PR hire by the Alliance of Motion
Picture and Television Producers at least makes some political sense - their use of Los Angeles spin doctor Steve Schmidt, a Republican who ran George W.
Bush's war room in 2004 and Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign in 2006, and still is a senior adviser to John McCain. "I'm not too concerned
about labor getting real mad at me. It's not new," Schmidt says, with a certain wry understatement. He's also working with the Indian casino
tribes who made lucrative deals with the Schwarzenegger administration - tribes that oppose unions that want to organize the burgeoning population of casino
hotel and restaurant workers."
WGA Strike = Layoffs At Warner Bros
Here's what a Warner Bros spoksperson is telling me on the
record: "These WARN notices were sent because in certain circumstances federal and California law can require employers to give notice of staffing
changes. Due to the ongoing WGA work stoppage, some studio divisions will have to lay off employees. We regret the impact this will have on our employees,
and we hope to bring them back to work once the WGA strike ends."
I'm told that Warner Bros sent "WARN" letters to the studio's facilities employees. The studio has to do this by law to put them on
notice. My sources say this doesn't necessarily mean that they will get laid off and it doesn't mean all of them will. Also, it's possible that
layoffs would be temporary. But people who've seen the letters say those laid off will be notified on Monday. It also says the studio
won't guarantee that those laid off will be rehired after the strike. In any case, it's rotten news. Which is why Warner Bros and the AMPTP need to
get back to negotiating!
I've been saying 
Not even a writer for Law & Order can get law and order when
he needs it during the WGA strike. News Corp as well as striking writers have confirmed to me that an impatient Fox employee (photo left)
driving a black SUV got into a physical fracas with picketing Rene Balcer, showrunner of Law & Order and co-creator of Law & Order:
Criminal Intent. The altercation occured while Balcer was legally walking the line in the crosswalk of Fox Studios' Gate 3 off Avenue Of The
Stars in Century City.
And finally today the driver drove into Balcer, began pushing him with
his fender, and then got into a shoving match with the celebrated writer. Here's one witness account: "It's Mr. SUV's turn to wait for
us to cross. He does not wait. He plows into us, knocking Rene Balcer back several feet. Then the guy leaps out of his car and takes a swing at Rene, and
then shoves him out onto Avenue of the Stars. Thankfully, there was no traffic at that moment."
