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Tech problem fixed! Read Story with pic! Crazy Mike, “Liar, Liar, pants on fire!

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Date: Thursday 2/12/2009

Here’s Mike Farrell’s “Report From Crazytown.” No it’s not an autobiography…I call it "Crazy Mike" Liar, Liar, Pants on fire. (Check the bottom of this post! Yikes sounds like something's burning! Could it be Mikes Pants? Naw!) -- February 9, 2009 by WW. Report from Crazytown Mike Farrell Feb. 8, 2009 Because the board of the Hollywood Division of SAG now allows members from its area to attend board meetings (after signing a form about no-no’s), I thought it would be worthwhile to see if they’d let me in to watch the February 2nd meeting last week. This was the first meeting scheduled after National *Executive Director Doug Allen was fired by the National Board and replaced by Interim NED David White, who I knew when he was SAG’s General Counsel from 2002 to 2006. Because Doug Allen’s hard-nosed style made him the champion and the favorite of the Membership First faction that hired him, and because said faction continues to control the Hollywood Board even after losing control of the National Board in the last election, this meeting, being David White’s first as NED, promised to be interesting. Hard-nosed style; to Mike and his gang, that means he didn’t have his nose up Nick Counters ass. To set the stage, as it were,Membership First is the current name of the faction that, in essence, split our union into ‘political’ groups. If Mike would bother to do a little research, instead of repeating his groups talking points, he’d know that this union has been split into political factions since it was formed over 75 years ago. And, it's his group, with the help of some hi-profile actor/PRODUCERS, that has parroted producer propaganda, splitting from, and eliminating SAG's negotiating team, replacing it with their New York centric Taskfarce. Organizing an effort to assert control over the Guild in the 90s, this group succeeded in defeating then-President Richard Masur and installing William Daniels, their titular head, as president. Of course, please don’t think that Richard Masur and his group were trying to assert control over the guild with their “go-along-to-get-along” group. Naw! And, of course, Mr. Daniels wasn’t anyone's titular head, but he did proceed Restore Respect's titular head…right rIGhT! Oops! Did I bump into my words? The Daniels Administration led us into the commercials strike of 2000… Thank God! If Masur had still been in control we’d have lost Class A commercials, and instead of $2600 hundred a cycle for cable commercials, actors would now be making around $1300 bucks a cycle, and those health care payments, like AFTRA’s would most likely be around triple SAG'a current $50 bucks a month. …Torpedoed a Masur-led effort to solve problems between SAG and the ATA (the collection of agents representing most of the working actors) Translation: He's talking about those who opposed Masur’s behind the scenes effort allowing employers to own agencies, and agencies to become employers, Saved SAG members from having their agent/employers negotiating with themselves on their behalf. Oh, and just to correct Mikes revisionist history; it was the membership that torpedoed the “deal” in referendum. And then, he and his pals, refused to enforce the will of the membership, and instead advised members, who had problems with agents, to hire a lawyer to protect their rights. …Re-wrote the Guild’s constitution and, in general, disdained and tried to minimize the input, effect and value of members in the New York and Regional Branch Divisions of our national union. Poor Mike, seems to be a tad confused here. Neither President Daniels, nor Membership First, has unfairly tried to minimize, or change proportionality. Mike I hate to break it to you, but it is your pals that just terminated Committee Constitutional Guidelines to give themselves control of their new negotiating Taskfarce. Oh, and speaking of minimizing imput, Mike and his pals eliminated imput by disallowing a minority report on the CONsolidation referendum. This Hollywood-centric group, operating under different names, but known in recent years as Membership First (MF), has demonstrated a proclivity for tactics and rhetoric that have caused it to be referred to in the media as the ‘militant’ faction of SAG. Mike and his group just keep repeating lies, hoping that if they do it long enough, they will become true. You’ll notice he never bothers to substantiate any of his allegations. But, but, Mike, the Ol’ Dog will now prove that you are full of sh*t, and your New York Pals are the real centric group. Let’s have a look at one of their USAN campaign fliers. So, Mike, tell us again how Membership First is Hollywood-centric. I know that you are used to bullsh*tting and getting away with it, but not on this website. I challenge you to substantiate your lie. What was that, but, but, but… You know how you can tell that Mike and his pals are lying…their lips are moving. In the years my wife, Shelley Fabares, and I served as National Board members and on the Hollywood Division Board (Approx. 2001 – 2005) - Shelley for three years on both Boards and I for three years as SAG’s First VP under President Melissa Gilbert and one year as a National and Hollywood Board member - we worked hard, along with allies in Hollywood, New York and the Regional Branch Division, to repair what we saw as the damage done by the attitudes, choices and behaviors of the Hollywood-centric-types who continued to be a loud and often obstructionist presence in the union by dint of their strength on the Hollywood Board. Right, and it’s Hollywood’s Membership First that are centric. Obstructionist? Oh, I get what you mean. They obstructed you from giving the union over to agents, and employers. Last year, those so-called Membership militants, had three Ralph Morgan award winners on the board…and how many has Mike Boy’s group had on the board…ah, ZERO. On the other hand, if the AMPTP had a "Nick Counter" award for SAG members, I’m sure that they'd do much better. During our terms, for example, they sabotaged an agreement we negotiated with the ATA agents, waged a dishonest campaign that just barely kept the Consolidation and Affiliation agreement (that would have merged AFTRA and SAG and averted our current problems) from succeeding, and made life so miserable for our bright, inventive and gutsy NED, Bob Pisano, that he decided to step aside and allow the position to be taken over by the terrific man who had been running AFTRA, Greg Hessinger. Let’s see they stopped Mike and his pals from giving financial interest to agents, stopped them from CONsolidation, which would have stripped SAG of its autonomy, and made life miserable for Pisano, who was raking in millions from Netflix a company he helped make a secret profit sharing deal with employers( Potentially screwing SAG members out of millions of dollars) and never bothered to tell SAG about it It only came out because of the Scott Wilson/Tom Bower suit against him. Oh, by the way, right after poor miserable Pisano was fired, he was hired by as a Co-leader to the MPAA. That Farrell tells you how terrific this employer shill was, tells you all you need to know about him. In the 2005 elections, Membership First achieved its long-sought goal by attaining enough votes in Hollywood to give it control over the majority of the Guild’s National Board, with the single voice of moderation in Hollywood provided by the incredibly courageous Morgan Fairchild, who has maintained her seat, and somehow her sanity, in the ensuing years. Hey, Morgan, Crazy Mike says you're sane. Uh, what does that tell you? The first National Board meeting under this new majority and its president, Alan Rosenberg, engineered the firing of Greg Hessinger and the abrogation of the contracts of two executives he had hired, acts that cost the Guild’s members hundreds of thousands of dollars and a significant portion of the union’s already-battered reputation. What Mike doesn’t mention is that Greg Hessinger defied the board by hiring his AFTRA cronies, even after he was ordered not too. On the other hand, NED Allen was fired to circumvent the memberships' right to vote on a strike referendum which NED Allen was about to send out. Have you noticed that this failed Restore Respect member is more concerned about SAG’s reputation with employers than giving members the leverage to negotiate a fair contract. In fact, if he and his Taskfarce negotiators go along with the AMPTP final offer, and you know they will, perhaps our next group of campaigners can use part of his old groups name; "Restore Residuals." Look for Part Two of “Crazy Mikes: Liar, Liar, pants on fire" which will be added to this post in an update. A.L. Miller SW Editor & Chief Alas, The Ol' Dog will not be sending out the usual Teasors because my address book, puff, just disappeared. I will try and try and get it back, but, but, but...in the meantime, you'll just have to drop by from time to time. It's post time.