SAG Election Is a Drama Straight out of Hollywood

When it comes to scripting long, drawn-out cliffhangers, it’s hard to compete with the Screen Actors Guild.

Last November, the 98,000-member union elected new leaders including actress Melissa Gilbert as president, who vowed to try to heal long-standing rifts between aggressive activists and pragmatic moderates that have plagued the guild for three years .

Or so it looked. This month, a five-member SAG elections committee in Los Angeles scrapped last fall’s results when it was discovered that New York members had two extra days to vote and the company printing East Coast ballots failed to include a signature line like those on ballots sent to members elsewhere.

So a new election has been scheduled: SAG plans to mail out new ballots Feb. 11, to be returned by March 8.

A backlash to that decision is growing that threatens to further divide a union in which chaos and factional wars are so common that some members lately have called the union that represents TV, film and commercial actors Hollywood’s equivalent of Afghanistan. “This is tragic when one considers the impact this has on people’s impressions of what our union is,” said Mike Farrell, SAG’s first vice president, best known for starring in “MASH.”

In the last two weeks, fax machines, e-mails and Web sites have buzzed with accusations that scrapping the election violates SAG rules, was done over minor technicalities that did not influence the end result and that the decision to rerun the vote is a coup attempt in disguise by supporters of defeated presidential candidate Valerie Harper. Gilbert defeated Harper by more than 1,500 votes out of about 28,000 cast.

Critics further complain that a new election will cost the financially strapped guild at least $100,000.

“The membership is infuriated,” said child-actor activist Paul Petersen, a SAG member since the 1950s, when he starred in “The Donna Reed Show.”

Petersen has petitioned to have SAG’s board of directors consider overturning the decision when they meet today, although the board isn’t obligated to do so. Some other members are threatening to file a complaint with the Department of Labor, possibly as early as this week.

In its Jan. 7 decision, the SAG elections committee, chaired by actor Fred Savage, contended that a new election was needed as long as voting irregularities potentially could have affected the outcome, arguing that elections can’t have separate voting deadlines for members. SAG said that under its rules the committee’s decision is final and a new election will be held.

RadioFreeFacts.com, a Web site devoted to SAG issues, recently posted an extensive critique of the decision, saying that the different voting deadlines have been the norm for years and that Gilbert gained no advantage.

It also says the elections committee was made up only of Los Angeles members, so it didn’t represent SAG members nationwide, and that all were active Harper supporters, including Savage and actress Sally Kirkland. A SAG spokeswoman said no committee members would comment.

But Harper, best known for starring in the 1970s hit “Rhoda,” calls the decision a victory for integrity, insisting it isn’t about trying to get her another shot at the job.

“It was never simply about a recount with Melissa,” Harper said. “The issue was that the election was tainted. It was botched and the mistakes in the November election were so serious they cast a serious doubt on the results.”

Gilbert, who became a star during the 1970s with “Little House on the Prairie,” so far has refrained from commenting. She did issue one brief statement saying “election issues will take care of themselves. I am not going to make the process more difficult or complicated by commenting.”

In addition to Gilbert’s post, the new election affects SAG’s two other national offices: treasurer, won by actor Kent McCord, and recording secretary, won by Elliott Gould.

Gould won handily, defeating Kevin Kilner by more than 5,000 votes. McCord’s race was the closest, winning by 34 votes against actress Amy Aquino.

Despite winning, McCord and Gould, who ran on Harper’s ticket, joined Harper in appealing the election along with a group of other SAG members.

The election fiasco is set against a backdrop of an ongoing struggle for control of the guild activists who believe that SAG needs to flex its muscle more and pragmatists who believe a measured approach accomplishes more.

In 1999, a group of activists led by actor William Daniels ousted a moderate regime led by actor Richard Masur, arguing that SAG had been too tame in contract negotiations. The following year, Daniels led SAG on a six-month strike against advertisers that supporters call a resounding success and critics say was a colossal failure.

Harper was Daniels’ hand-picked successor, pledging to continue his policies. Gilbert argued that Harper was a puppet of the Daniels regime, which she said had worsened SAG’s problems.

The election turned into a nasty campaign, with both sides regularly hurling insults.

Now, another bitter election, which also includes presidential candidates Eugene Boggs and Angeltompkins, is starting again.

Last fall, Harper, who is starring in the Broadway play “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife,” spurned a challenge from Gilbert to debate. Miffed at Gilbert’s criticisms that she was ducking her, Harper last week faxed a debate challenge to Gilbert.

Gilbert has yet to respond, but is expected to accept.