All board seats in Hollywood were won by MembershipFirst candidates, except for one... which went to Campaign for Unity's Morgan Fairchild. 
The Hollywood Reporter
Rosenberg slate sweeps SAG election
Sep. 24, 2005
By Jesse Hiestand
The SAG faction that has decried the union's direction for the past several years swept into power Friday with the victory of president Alan Rosenberg, secretary-treasurer Connie Stevens and the addition of several board seats that will give them control of the union.
Rosenberg received 40% of the ballot count (10,748 votes), compared to 34.7% for Morgan Fairchild (9,332 votes) and 25.3% for Robert Conrad (6,797 votes).
"I am honored that the members of this great union have placed their confidence in me," Rosenberg said. "I ran a campaign that offered a simple and straightforward promise: I will fight like hell to get actors their fair share."
Rosenberg's running mate Stevens was elected secretary-treasurer with 68.2% of the vote. Challenger Lee Garlington, who was aligned with Fairchild, got 31.8% of the vote.
Rosenberg's party, MembershipFirst, added at least six new members to the national board from its stronghold in Hollywood.
Ten of the 11 members elected to three-year terms from the Hollywood division were from MembershipFirst: JoBeth Williams, Joseph Bologna, Piper Laurie, Lainie Kazan, William Russ, Barbara Niven, Renee Aubry, Harrison Page, Millie Wright and Leigh French. The 11th person was Fairchild, who had also run for the board.
The five open seats on the New York division, which are also three-year terms, went to Angela Bullock, Matt Servitto, Jack Landron, Traci Godfrey and Jay Potter. Paul Christie was elected New York president.
SAG's branch division elected the following members to three-year terms: Will Lyman (Boston), Suzanne Burkhead (Dallas), Ed Kelly (Detroit), Henry Kana (Houston), Cece DuBois (Nashville), Art Lynch (Nevada) and Stephen Schmidt (Washington). Helen McNutt (Philadelphia) was elected to a one-year term.
The two-year officer positions and board memberships begin Sept. 25.
The victory for Rosenberg's camp, MembershipFirst, was not unprescedented in that they swept the past two annual board elections, nearly giving them control of the board last fall. Control of the board brings the power to call strikes and decide who serves as national executive director, a job filled only six months ago by former AFTRA NED Greg Hessinger.
In his campaign, Rosenberg stressed that he did not support Hessinger's handling of last year's major TV/theatrical contract, principally because it was concluded months before the deadline and did not include any gains in DVD residuals. The studios had made it clear that they were willing to risk a strike to protect that lucrative market and both WGA and DGA were likewise rebuffed in their efforts to get those residual gains.
Rosenberg said he would work aggressively to protect the interests of actors, "and we will not yield on residuals," he said, noting that the union will soon open negotiations on a basic cable contract and tackle the commercials contract early next year.
"I am looking forward to leading this organization, to working with our new board and the staff, and ensuring Screen Actors Guild is the great and powerful organization it has been and always will be," Rosenberg said.
Stevens said her immediate focus would be the union's finances.
"We have several key challenges ahead of us, particularly ensuring that the guild continues to operate within a balanced budget and strengthen our financial base," Stevens said.
Rosenberg and Stevens respectively took over for outgoing president Melissa Gilbert and secretary-treasurer James Cromwell, both of whom decided not to run. Their former party, Restore Respect, was not a factor in the election as Fairchild -- a former ally -- sought to break away and form a new party, Campaign for Unity.
Fairchild campaigned on a theme of bridging the bitter divide between Gilbert's camp and MembershipFirst.
Rosenberg also said he hoped to unite members on such key issues as runaway protection and the need for health insurance. But his larger message was the need to get tough with the employers to guarantee stronger contracts and higher residuals.
His principle complaint was that Gilbert and former national executive director Bob Pisano had been too eager to compromise with the studios, a claim summarized as "doing management's work for them."
He also vowed to resist any form of qualified voting, to open board meetings to members and to resolve the three-year impasse over a new agreement with agents.
Hessinger congratulated Rosenberg and Stevens, saying he looked forward to working closely with them.
"We were fortunate to have three presidential candidates and two candidates for secretary-treasurer who were all experienced performers familiar with the challenges facing actors in this pivotal time for the labor movement," Hessinger said.
A total of 27,053 ballots were returned, marking a 27.3% turnout for the election.
Newly elected WGA West president Patric Verrone congratulated Rosenberg and the new SAG board on behalf of the writers union, adding "we look forward to working closely together on the issues affecting the creative community."
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