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Only 2,348 valid ballots were cast, which sounds puny. But this was one of the largest election voter turnouts in WGAW history. Interestingly, outgoing president Patric Verrone, who termed out, received more votes than any of the candidates running. John Wells is the new president (again) after winning with 52.8% of the vote vs Elias Davis’ 47.2%; It was Davis ally Tom Schulman 55.5% vs Wells slate member Howard Michael Gould 44.5% for vice president. And current VP and Elias slate member David N. Weiss 53.3% vs Wells ally Christopher Keyser 46.7% for secretary-treasurer. Wells supported all nine board winners while Davis had supported all but two (Ian Deitchman and Steven Schwartz.) (I’ll have an analysis on Saturday.)
LOS ANGELES – The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) has announced the final results of its 2009 WGAW Officers and Board of Directors election.
The following members were elected to serve as Officers: President – John Wells; Vice President – Tom Schulman; Secretary-Treasurer – David N. Weiss.
“I’m remarkably humbled by the membership returning me to the Presidency of the Guild. I look forward to working with the Board again and to working with David Young and his talented staff to meet the many challenges that lie ahead,” said Wells.
“My congratulations to John Wells for his success in a hard-fought campaign. And my congratulations to all members elected to the board. We writers can be somewhat argumentative and opinionated, as anyone who has ever sat around a writers’ table knows. This campaign certainly highlighted some our differences. Now, it’s time to pull together and work for the benefit of us all,” said Elias Davis.
The following nine members were elected to the WGAW’s Board of Directors: Patric M. Verrone, Howard A. Rodman (inc.), Dan Wilcox (inc.), Linda Burstyn, Billy Ray, Steven Schwartz, Chip Johannessen, Carleton Eastlake, Ian Deitchman.
There was a tie for the eighth seat on the Board of Directors. Under the Guild’s constitution, both candidates will be seated.
NUMERICAL RESULTS: President: John Wells (1,191, 52.8%); Vice President: Tom Schulman (1,204, 55.5%), Secretary-Treasurer: David N. Weiss (1,114, 53.3%). Board of Directors: Patric M. Verrone (1,364, 10.1%), Howard A. Rodman (1, 270, 9.4%), Dan Wilcox (1,132, 8.4%), Linda Burstyn (953, 7.1%), Billy Ray (915, 6.8%), Steven Schwartz (914, 6.8%), Chip Johannessen (865, 6.4%), Carleton Eastlake (818, 6.1%), Ian Deitchman (818, 6.1%).
The Officers and Board members will serve for a term of two years, effective immediately.
OTHER RESULTS: Candidates for Officers: President: Elias Davis (1,066, 47.2%); Vice President: Howard Michael Gould (967, 44.5%); Secretary-Treasurer: Christopher Keyser (976, 46.7%). Candidates for members of the Board of Directors: Mick Betancourt (766, 5.7%), Jeff Lowell (745, 5.5%), Jan Oxenberg (725, 5.4%), Luvh Rakhe (636, 4.7%), David Wyatt (511, 3.8%), Jennifer Heath (437, 3.2%), Eric Wallace (273, 2.0%), Jed Weintrob (239, 1.8%).
A total of 2,348 valid ballots were cast, making this one of the largest election voter turnouts in WGAW history – illustrating ongoing Guild member engagement. The ballot count was supervised by Robbin Johnson of Pacific Election Services, Inc., an independent firm.
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Interesting to see that Patric Verrone got more votes than any other candidate, not just for the board, but for president, vice president, and secretary/treasurer as well. And although his vote total is listed as 10.1% (of all the votes cast for the board), he actually received a landslide 58% of all the votes cast in the election (1364 of 2348). Quite a testimony after the turmoil of the last few years.
An interesting fact that nobody is mentioning is that Patric Verrone received more votes than anyone else in the entire election.
The reason “nobody is mentioning” it (which isn’t even true – Nikki mentions it in this article) is that it’s meaningless. You only get to vote for one president or vice president, but you can vote for eight board members. So it stands to reason that several board members would receive more votes than any of the president, vice president or secy candidates. In fact, three other board members besides Verrone (I think Rodman, Wilcox, maybe one other) also received more votes than anyone. And the next two down the list received about as many votes as either Wells or Davis. Wells himself said in his candidate statement that it was “essential” that Verrone be elected to the board, since as president for the last two terms he provides a crucial link to the new administration. So it stands to reason that lots of people voted for him who also voted for Wells. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill. This is not a ringing endorsement of Patric Verrone.
It’s misleading to view this as a victory for Patric. Writers could only vote for one President, but each writer got eight votes to spread among the pool of board candidates.
I think it’s interesting that 42% of the voters chose not to spend one of those eight on Patric.
It’s actually not very interesting at all that 42% of voters chose not to spend one of their board votes on Patric’s run for the Board… because that means 58% of voters DID choose to return him to a position of power, and 58%-42% is a higher margin of victory than any US Presidential election ever.
It’s amazing to me how much some people HATE Patric Verrone and will stretch and twist and dance to prevent him from getting any credit or acclaim for anything he does.
First I want to say congratulations to all of those elected (or in some cases) reelected to offices in the WGAW and the WGAE.
I have had some time to think over these results and what they might mean so I hope my comment comes more from a place of reason than of passion.
In the case of the WGA East, apparently most writers are happy enough with the status quo to have returned the incumbent leadership to power. Having had the chance to personally meet Michael Winship, I think he’ll continue doing great things for the guild.
(If you haven’t seen them, the results for the WGAE are here:
http://www.wgaeast.org/index.php?id=284&tx_ttnewstt_news=2054&tx_ttnewsbackPid=75&cHash=9575f36634)
Turning to the WGA West results it is clear to me that at least at the officer level, writers voted for those who had the most experience in those roles. While my personal preference would have been Elias Davis for president, I don’t think that politically the divisions in the guild are as vast as the mainstream (conglomerate-owned) media would have us believe nor the acrimony as intense. In fact if you have read the statements of the candidates at their campaign websites you are struck by how much more cordial they are to one another and how philosophically similar they are. In campaigns such as this one the rhetoric and posturing can of course flare up, but once the ballots are tallied, the guild can get back to the business of securing fair pay & working conditions for its members.
I do want to say to Mr. Wells that as one of the many fans who took a leadership role in supporting the 2007-8 WGA strike, I would not counsel you to evicerate the recently formed & empowered WGA PAC. The WGAE’s mock debate between The Daily Show writers and The Colbert Report writers on Capitol Hill back in January of 2008 was a watershed moment for writers, a revelation for many of our political leaders, and one whose impact should be fully capitalized upon.
Let’s face it, the conglomerates are not shy or squeamish about going to the govermnent to get laws and policies that favor them and their business interests at everyone else’s expense. It would be naive of writers to think they can achieve what they need (much less what they want) without the help of Capitol Hill, Madison Avenue, Wall Street and of course we the little people in the audiences on Main Streets all over the world. So please think twice before making the guild’s focus a little too insular. You’re now on the world’s stage as it were in an era of ever increasing inter-connectedness and transparency. We’re here and glad to help you, but we can’t do that unless and until you ask us.
Finally I want to express my congratulations to Patric Verrone. It’s unfortunate that he was term-limited and could not run once again for the presidency but from the election results it’s clear that he has a mandate from the membership and an important role to play in the guild’s future. We’ve already got a peronal working relationship going and so 2011 shouldn’t be as challenging an exercise as 2007-8 was, at least not in terms of getting outside help and winning our hearts & minds. You writers already have them.
Looking forward to helping writers secure what is due them
S.E. Olson
Verrone’s vote total is easy to explain–he was the public face of the strike (a role he cherished and protected)–and that was a period when many guild members experienced a sense of shared high purpose. To the extent that Verrone was attacked by the AMPTP, he received additional support and sympathy from rank-and-file WGA members, especially those with limited knowledge of guild affairs (the lucky bastards). But make no mistake, Verrone’s reign was divisive, strategically inept (the reality campaign; the strike resolution), financially ruinous (taking us from surplus to deficit), devastating to guild services, a towering monument to hypocrisy (the Leno dance), and altogther embarrassing to the WGA in ways that will hurt us for years to come. Yes, with Wells on the way it’s now time to move on, to turn away from animosity. But it’s also a time to remember what we’ve been through as a guild, and make sure we never pass that way again.
Enough of the crowing about Verrone’s vote tally being the most. You’re leaving out an important fact.
We vote for EIGHT board members. So that means, yes, he was on 1300+ ballots. But all it means is that he was part of a lot of people’s board slate. NOT that he was the most popular candidate. Had he been in a head to head election, only then would it be impressive. He wasn’t.
I received two calls from friends who wanted to discuss their vote. Many were confused by the choices nothing that it seemed like the lesser of two idiots. Well, that it was. In the end, most people felt that Wells was the stronger person and that Davis would just be a puppet for the old regime. Even though people like Verrone, it was important to have a President with his own mind. Also, the attempted character assassination on Wells backfired.
It is, indeed, quite a testament that Verrone got so many votes. A sad testament. Let’s see: just as ballots were mailed he sent out a libelous email which lied about Wells’ involvement in the last negotiation. His wrong-headed approach to reality organizing has depleted the Guild’s budget reserves while producing painfully few results. And his aggressive posturing ginned up the membership and led them into an industry-crippling strike.
He’s clearly a man more convinced of his own rightness and more concerned with winning than with serving his constituency. (I really miss that “Downfall” parody about him.) Let’s hope this mixed-slate vote is the first step in slowly easing him and his cronies out of Guild politics.
Congrats to John Wells and all the new board candidates. I sincerely hope that with new voices on the board, the WGA will finally be able to pass a public resolution in support of Keep the MPTF Nursing Home Open.
There’s a candlelight vigil tonight, from 7 to 10 PM on Century Park East, where the MPTF will be holding a lavish party to benefit the Fund.
Unfortunately, none of the money raised will be earmarked to save our Industry’s nursing home and stop its 70 elderly residents from being transferred into unfamiliar and often inferior facilities.
Please join us to peacefully protest the closing of the nursing home and ask that a fundraising plan be put into place to save it.
Thanks! WGA’ers, break out those red shirts! Happy New Year!
Congrats to John Wells and all the new board candidates. I sincerely hope that with new voices on the board, the WGA will finally be able to pass a public resolution in support of Keeping the MPTF Nursing Home Open.
There’s a candlelight vigil tonight, from 7 to 10 PM on Century Park East, where the MPTF will be holding a lavish party to benefit the Fund.
Unfortunately, none of the money raised will be earmarked to save our Industry’s nursing home and stop its 70 elderly residents from being transferred into unfamiliar and often inferior facilities.
Please join us to peacefully protest the closing of the nursing home and ask that a fund raising plan be put into place to save it.
Thanks! WGA’ers, break out those red shirts! Happy New Year!
Joe Gillis, somebody IS mentioning that fact — in the very post you’re responding to.
But the fact is, Verrone is coming off of four years as president of the guild (and eight years in office total, I believe), and he led us through a strike. It’s not a surprise that he got the most votes of any candidate. What is surprising, however, is that nearly half of voters apparently don’t even consider him fit for a board seat now.
That does not reflect well on how his administration is viewed among guild members.
The Wells supporters (and Patric haters) were very vocal and active on message boards such as this one before the strike. Listening to them, you would have thought most of the WGA resented the strike and Verrone and that this would be a landslide for Wells. And what happened?
1. Huge voter turnout. Which is great for our guild. Period.
2. Wells won. But he only beat Davis by 125 votes, despite a massive disparity in name recognition (and let’s face it, that’s what many of the rank and file voters vote on).
3. Wells’ running mates for VP and treasurer were defeated.
4. Board candidates from both sides (and some “independents”) were elected. People keep saying that Wells endorsed all of the people that got on the board. That’s misleading. Yes, he endorsed them, but they were not supporting HIM. People like Rodman, Wilcox and Verrone all supported Davis.
The bottom line is, this vote was not a repudiation of the strike, despite how the AMPTP might want to spin it (hell, even Wells said that the strike was necessary and successful). This was also not a repudiation of the Verrone administration. If it was, Verrone’s cohorts would not have won VP and Treasurer and a bunch of board seats.
What this was, was a case of WGA members voting for who they thought the strongest candidates were for each seat. Which is the way it should be. And hopefully this will be the end of slate politics within our guild.
Elias Davis is a good man, but he was a weak candidate to fill Verrone’s big shoes. John Wells just felt to many voters like a stronger leader. I don’t believe this in any way foretells of a more moderate approach to the next negotiation. In fact, and this is just a hunch, we may see Wells be much more aggressive than he was in his past presidency. I think he wants to rebuild his reputation among the WGA and silence all of those people who have talked about his previous tenure as one of appeasement. That’s my hope anyway.
Even if Wells won, it’s hardly a mandate to go back to his and John McLean’s era of appeasement. His margin of victory wasn’t great, and he had no coattails. If he behaves the way he did back in that era, too many writers, on both coasts, will call him out.
I didn’t want Wells and I hope Schulman and Weiss can keep his pompous ass in check.
I don’t want ekb9, and I hope simple intelligence will keep his pompous ass in check, and his big mouth shut.