Campaign Watch: You Can’t Make This Stuff Up Dept.
We saw it, and have heard from several people about it – an astonishing written statement by a candidate for SAG office. Ordinarily we wouldn’t post anything with this kind of language, but this one is so out there, so astonishing, that we thought it worthy of note.
As you read it, try to imagine this guy in office, and the reaction of other unions, particularly the WGA. The comment was about the WGA’s election of John Wells as president:
well, that’s another producer blow-job choice. here’s a dude who, DURING the WGA strike, being an EXTREMELY prominent member of the WGA AND the DGA, gets involved in the new media template which FUCKS sag actors, not to mention, to a somewhat lesser extent dga and wga members. the dga then swoops in, blows up the wga strike, and fucks everybody else with their “new media template” as we all get lumped into one pot.
in another time and another place someone like john fucking wells would be taken out and… well, you know.
and these wga pussies elect him fucking president. unbelievable.
I does not bode well for sag.“let’s keep working!”
yes, as they eventually pay us with peanut butter sandwiches and yoo-hoo.
watch a bunch of spineless pussies.
why don’t we all just let the amptp have the deeds to our house, the titles to our cars, I mean, let’s just get it over with.
makes me fucking sick.
What makes us sick is that other candidates running with this individual haven’t taken him to task for this. What makes us sick is hearing that a group calling itself the Actors Rights Coalition actually endorsed him.
Typo:
“The comment was about the DGA’s election of John Wells as president”
The comment was about the “W” GA’s election of John Wells as president”
–
Ed. Comment – Correct. My error. It’s fixed, thanks for pointing it out.
Is it possible that you could reveal this person’s name? Of course it’s too late if people have voted for this individual because the votes are to be in by 9/25/09, but they’d know to have this person removed or not vote for them again or the group that endorsed them.
“watch a bunch of spineless pussies.”
How long are we supposed to watch? I’m confused.
“in another time and another place someone like john fucking wells would be taken out and… well, you know.”
No I don’t know, because I don’t have rage issues. See you at the town meetings!
This has ALL the earmarks of our old friend Mattieboy!!!
The best part, however, is his one letter typo. Amazing how the meaning changes for the omission of one little “t”:
“I does not bode well for sag.”
He sure does not!!!!!
–
Ed. Comment: Correct, on both scores.
Actors Rights Coalition actually endorsed him. Who are they? I heard they are a sub-cult of Membership First. Anyone have more information. I’ve never heard of the Actors Rights Coalition.
I think they are based in Rye NY with an email of KeeraluHackers@gmail.com?
Anyone out there who posts on SAGActor can you fill us in on who authored this piece of trash re: Mr. Wells?
Neal
My vote is it’s definitely him.
Good catch on the I don’t bode well…maybe he also typoed the Y on bode
I don’t body well
I hope John Wells sees it.
I would hope that the President and NED, of the Screen Actors Guild, both offer their congratulations, to both the newly elected President of the Writers Guild West, John Wells and Michael Winship re-elected President, of the Writers Guild East.
The hatred in this letter is palpable, and frankly disconcerting. I’m especially interested in the hate-speech toward women: the “p”-word is bandied about as a descriptor of a weakling beneath contempt, along with the subservient on-your-knees reference to the producer “b-j” choice.
It is not surprising, then, that actual murder is advocated following the hate-speech: like setting fires and torturing cats, hatred toward women is a symptom of a dangerous, deranged mind, and ought to be taken seriously.
I’ve had it forwarded to me. It’s our boy Mattie, clearly in late meltdown phase.
Who is really surprised by this?
We know Alan Ruck is proud to say that Mattie is one of his oldest and dearest friends, so absent some public repudiation, we can be pretty sure he endorses both the sentiments and the language. Ruck turns out to be the good MF soldier; as long as his side says it, there are no lower limits.
Mattie’s running mates are clearly in support of this. Erik is so quick to respond when a poster that offends his delicate sensitivities gets stuck on a lamppost in Los Feliz, but his silence is damning here. He’s a hypocrite and a coward, and this episode proves it for all time. The invisible Melissa Leo and the rest of the slate should be embarrassed, but they had to know what they were getting with him, so embarrassment isn’t likely.
And just as an aside, I can’t wait to hear the “reasonable” Clancy Brown say he has no opinion about the language used because he wasn’t in the room when Matt wrote it. Hey, the excuse worked for Clancy before!
What’s frightening is the number of people of this same exact mindset who are elected to the Hollywood Board, probably because they don’t publish these views the way MM does.
VG
Could someone please see to it that John Wells gets a copy of this with Mulhern’s name on it – or at the very least a link to the sagactor post?
http://sagactor.com/bb2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4550
Just to toss in another two cents, today Jonathan Handel posts a “guarantee” from AMJ that there WILL be a strike vote in the next negotiating cycle if she’s elected. A comment made at the very end of the voting cycle.
Jeeezzzz I fear the ramifications if these despicable, lying, cursing, abhorent mooks win….
Certainly his lawyer should be advised to keep a record. I’m not kidding. A pal of mine in the Regions sent me a lot of information about this kind of fellow — let me share some of it with you as a cautionary tale:
“Pathological narcissism is a spectrum of disorders. People suffering from the full blown, all-pervasive, personality distorting mental health disorder known as the Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) – are, indeed, more prone to violence than others. Actually, the differential diagnosis (=the difference) between NPD and AsPD (Antisocial PD, psychopaths) is very blurred. Most psychopaths have narcissistic traits and many a narcissist are also sadists.
Both types are devoid of empathy, remorseless, ruthless, and relentless in their pursuit of their goals (the narcissist’s goal is narcissistic supply or the avoidance of narcissistic injury). Narcissists often use verbal and psychological abuse and violence against those closest to them. Some of them move from abstract aggression (the emotion leading to violence and permeating it) to the physically concrete sphere of violence.
Many narcissists are also paranoid and vindictive. They aim to punish (by tormenting) and destroy the source of their frustration and pain.”
It’s a shame that the entire MF cult – inlcuding their East Coast Dvidion, aka Solidarity and Gains NOW – are so blind with rage. How could they possilby lead us to anything other than a strike?! We are far off from even starting thw W&W and negotiations, and they are calling for a strike authorization vote.
Our member – and the inudstry – has not recovered from the 1-2 punch of the MF-cause stalemate and the bad economy, and they’re already talking strike!?
Again, I point out that SAG is obligated to commence AMPTP negotiations in October, 2010, but AFTRA is not. If AFTRA agrees to return to Phase I for this contract round, and joins SAG in October 2010, then the Phase I rules require (a) that the joint board of SAG and AFTRA vote to send out a strike authorization, and (b) that the joint membership approve strike authorization.
AMJ is pretty clueless in general, and probably hasn’t thought about this. Her remarks can be interpreted as meaning that she has no intention of even inviting AFTRA to negotiate jointly, or they may mean something else.
The point, however, is that under Phase I it takes two to tango, and AMJ certainly hasn’t offered any hints as to how she plans to get AFTRA on board with a strike authorization.
VG
I commented on this quote in the Wells thread.
Mulhern either doesn’t understand what happened during the WGA Strike or he doesn’t want to understand it. This problem appears to be common among those hardliners who still harbor frustration about not getting their own picket line last year. It goes without saying that they are rewriting history, and that this must be corrected at every opportunity.
The facts are: The DGA did NOT blow up the WGA Strike – it ended the stalemate and got everyone back to the table. And the idea that the AMPTP had some magical offer waiting in the wings is a fallacy proved by the statements made at the time by Patric Verrone, among others. Verrone pointed out that the WGA could wait all the way into the summer of 2008 and in turn get a marginally better offer at best. And in the meantime, much of the WGA membership would have lost their health coverage and most of their income for the year. The people who keep fomenting for a strike always forget that, and it’s crucial to understanding why the strike ended when it did.
A saying comes to mind, that applies to Mulhern, AMJ, and minions of MF;
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
You all keep treating these people as though they are logical. Each of the MF candidates that have posted far out declarations are the ultimate conclusion to the MF position. They are rabid haters whose own careers tanked, or ended as they should have when it became apparent that nothing else was forthcoming. The politics are just a hook to hang the anger on. Matt/Phil is the culmination of that kind of thinking.
I think it is best to presume, unless proven otherwise, that they do have the exact mindset.
EriK Anders Nilsson? Do you approve or your slate-mate’s bashing of another union’s recently elected president? Do you think this is a step towards Unity?
ERIK??? EEEERRRRIKKK? Are you there???
Typo not “or”…Do you approve OF your slate-mate’s…etc.
“Her remarks can be interpreted as meaning that she has no intention of even inviting AFTRA to negotiate jointly, or they may mean something else.”
You’re wasting time trying to figure out any long-term strategy involved in this. There is NO long-term strategy involved. This is about winning the election, and that’s it.
She’s saying what she said in order to get elected, and that’s all that matters.
Luckily, John Wells is a bigger man than his harshest critics will ever be. Eyes on the prize, people.
Well said, Geo. Very true (about Wells) and astute (eyes/prize).
The word “tool” has several meanings if you get my drift.
If Mulhern had bothered to read further into whatever article he got this election information from, he would have realized that the WGAw elected a rather mixed bag of candidates, representing both moderate and “hardline”. No slate dominated, since Wells’s new VP and Treasurer are from Writer’s United, and both men were very involved during the strike. Patric Verrone was elected to the board by a huge number of votes. There’s nothing to indicate that the membership was repudiating the leadership of the last four years, or disavowing the strike, or kowtowing to management. Members voted for the person they thought could do the job best, not for the slate, and I personally think that’s the intelligent way to go.
“Mulhern…read” is an oxymoron. He gets a message left for him daily of that day’s talking points and adds his own particular brand of “emphasis” to them.
I’d rather watch the spiny kind. They’re much more fascinating!
I would agree that the rank and file WGA members were definitely voting for the person they thought would do the best work in the difficult negotiations coming next fall. But I wouldn’t put too much into the vote count received by Patric Verrone. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the numbers for the board candidates worked a bit differently than the numbers for the officers.
The sentiment I heard from the writers with whom I regularly work and discuss these matters was one of disappointment with the Verrone/Young leadership during the strike. In some cases this was due to their disappointment in the actual contract achieved in the end after all the rhetoric. In most cases, this was due to the alarm they were feeling when it became clear that their was no exit strategy for the strike other than to hope that the AMPTP came up with a better offer before the membership lost their health benefits. They were also very upset about the granting of contracts to Worldwide Pants during the strike and the double standard then shown to Jay Leno. (Many hardline members are angry about this, but from the opposite perspective, and apparently without any real knowledge of what happened with Leno.)
The biggest impression I have gotten from the voting results is that the WGA membership does not want a repeat of 2007′s mistakes, but that this does not mean they simply wish to roll over and take a bad contract. In my lifetime, I have never seen any WGA membership body that was willing to do that – and today is no exception to that. Mulhern’s position about this appears to be that unless a guild is willing to throw over the table right at the beginning of negotiations, that somehow they’re just “caving.” Thankfully, that perspective does not appear to hold a majority at the WGA. We’ll know for sure about SAG very shortly.
“In most cases, this was due to the alarm they were feeling when it became clear that their was no exit strategy for the strike other than to hope that the AMPTP came up with a better offer before the membership lost their health benefits.”
This is precisely what marked MF’s turn at the helm during the TV/Theatrical negotiations. The entire strategy was based on the premise that a mere show of strength would suffice to get SAG everything that was “fair.”
I understand the intricacies regarding Verrone’s vote count, but personally I was shocked that he was elected to the board at all, let alone that decisively. Given the sentiments my friends (former hardliners all) express in hindsight about how the strike was handled, I thought he would be shut out. Months ago, somewhere on this board I predicted Wells would win by a landslide. The fact that the vote was close indicates to me that the membership may be srike weary, but they’re not willing, as you say, to roll over. I was cheered by the turnout and by the results, which I thought would be much worse.