Entertainment Union Expected to Endorse Gephardt

Rep. Richard A. Gephardt’s efforts to invigorate his presidential bid with Hollywood political money is likely to get a boost today with an expected en- dorsement from the union representing the industry’s blue-collar workforce.

The formal endorsement by the more than 104,000-member International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees is expected to be announced at a New York news conference. The union’s political action committee also is planning a fund-raiser for the Missouri Democrat tonight in New York.

It will be the first entertainment labor organization to endorse a presidential candidate in the 2004 election. It also marks the first time the union has endorsed a presidential candidate.

In an interview, union President Thomas C. Short said that union officials were breaking with tradition with the endorsement because of Gephardt’s history of supporting labor and because they like his views on the nation’s troubled health-care system.

The union represents about 25,000 Southern California workers in the film and TV business, including lighting technicians, set and costume designers and art directors.

According to Gephardt’s campaign, celebrities and executives who have donated to his campaign include Michael Douglas, Barbra Streisand and Courteney Cox Arquette; moguls Marvin Davis and Haim Saban; Universal Studios President Ron Meyer; and the two top Warner Bros. executives, Chairman Barry Meyer and President Alan Horn.