MEMBERSHIP FIRST ANNOUNCES '09 CANDIDATES

SAG ELECTIONS '09
MEMBERSHIP FIRST PICKS ANNE MARIE JOHNSON FOR PREZ
ALAN ROSENBERG DROPS OUT OF RACE AS "TAINTED"
IN NEW YORK: MEMBERSHIP FIRST FRONTS CANDIDATES

Hollywood's Membership First faction has chosen current SAG VP and anti-AFTRA advocate Anne-Marie Johnson to lead their ticket as President.

At a fundraiser for Membership First, Alan Rosenberg has said that he's "a bit tainted in terms of getting elected again" and has therefore stepped aside for Johnson. During Rosenberg's presidency, he was unsuccessful in negotiating any of the Guild's outstanding and lapsed contracts. In addition, Rosenberg, along with Johnson, Diane Ladd and Kent McCord are currently suing the Screen Actors Guild in a strong-armed attempt to overturn the National Board's firing of SAG's previous National Director, Doug Allen. This legal action has been expensive for members of the Screen Actors Guild, costing upwards of $170,000 of Members hard earned dues money.

Rosenberg will, however, run for a seat on the Hollywood Board, along with incumbents Joseph Bologna, George Coe, Elliott Gould, Robert Hays, David Jolliffe and Diane Ladd. Renee Aubry, Jane Austin, Jeff Austin, Clancy Brown, Jordana Capra, David Clennon, Brett Cullen, Joe d'Angerio, Anne DeSalvo, Anthony DeSantis, John Diehl, Kevin Dobson, Ron Harper, Hector Herrera, Marcus Lindsey, France Nuyen, Alan Ruck, Michele Santopietro and Charles Shaughnessy are also running under the MembershipFirst banner.



Anne Marie Johnson, along with Membership Firsters Rosenberg, Ladd and McCord, continue to fight in court. It is unclear how this lawsuit will impact Johnson's bid for the presidency.

Johnson, who lead Membership First's fight against the ratification of the recent TV/Theatrical contract, and after the membership did indeed ratify it, vowed to "shame David White" (SAG's current Interim National Director), if the contract was ratified. After the contract was ratified, Johnson announced that she would lead SAG into a strike in 2011, when the contracts came back up for negotiation. A "strike clock" was posted on the Membership First website.

Membership First's Hollywood Division slate includes hardliners Martin Sheen, Ed Harris, Ed Asner, all of whom worked hard to defeat the TV/Theatrical ratification. Asner, a former SAG president, spoke at a rally for Membership First on May 17, 2009, and urged Hollywood Members to craft a plan to create a new union for Hollywood actors, breaking away from SAG, if the members approved the then pending TV/Theatrical contract. Said Asner to a group of Membership First supporters in Griffith Park, "We have to re-create Hollywood, if neccesary, if National SAG betrays us with this contract. Remember that. Think about it. Think about how to do that."

In New York, running for New York Division seats, Membership First candidates include Melissa Leo, Tony Lo Bianco, Celia Weston, Mitch Green, Matt Mulhern and Erik-Anders Nilsson.