SAG Confirms It Hired Former Clinton Staffers

Underscoring the high stakes involved in its new agreement governing relations with agents, the Screen Actors Guild on Thursday confirmed that two former Clinton administration strategists are working for the union as consultants on the issue.

Crisis experts Mark Fabiani and Christopher Lehane were hired in January to consult for the union in case either an impasse or agreement was reached, SAG said. SAG and the agents struck a tentative deal over the weekend.

The SAG proposal would allow limited investments in talent agencies by advertising firms and advertisers, although it has yet to be approved by SAG directors and members. Presidential candidate Valerie Harper opposes the deal, but her opponent, SAG President Melissa Gilbert, supports it. Fabiani and Lehane worked in the White House counsel’s office, with Fabiani serving as one of Clinton’s most visible defenders during the Whitewater and Monica S. Lewinsky investigations. Lehane is a onetime press secretary for former Vice President Al Gore.

Separately, SAG, seeking to bolster support for the deal, said its studies show that 3,000 jobs for its members would be created over five years by a provision requiring agents to make sure that foreign productions employ actors under their SAG contracts.