Incumbents win AFTRA elections
Performers Alliance wins 5 of 11 slots, Working Actors Unite 26 of 34
The Performers Alliance, which has transformed the leadership of the Screen Actors Guild, won five of the 11 slots it sought. Working Actors Unite, which backed performers who have been actively working, saw victories for 26 of its 34 endorsements.
The Alliance, which campaigned successfully in 1999 for SAG posts on a platform of tougher contract bargaining, recorded victories for national board incumbents Jay Gerber, Russell McConnell, Paul Napier and Virginia Watson, along with strike captain Carole Elliot, who eked out a win by 27 votes over Cedering Fox for 4th vice president.
Other winners for the national board included incumbents Alice Backes, Barbara Barri, Bobbie Bates, Nina Diamante, Robert Easton, Jackie Joseph, Marvin Kaplan, Bill Ratner, Sally Stevens and Jackie Ward, along with newcomers Lori Alan, Lorin Dreyfuss, Fox, Matthew Kimbrough, Dan Navarro, Bill Ratner and Steve Susskind. Working Actors Unite backed 14 of the 20 board winners.
In the only other challenge for a Los Angeles officer slot, incumbent Ron Morgan easily topped Millie Wright for 2nd VP. Susan Boyd ran unopposed for a fourth term as L.A. president, while Kaplan was unopposed for 1st VP, as was Backes for 3rd VP, Joseph for secretary and Gerber for treasurer.
Incumbents won eight of the nine actor vacancies on the L.A. Local board -- Backes, Fox, Joseph, Kaplan, Morgan, Ratner, Betsy Salkind and Watson. Lori Alan also won an actor slot. Barri took the announcer slot; Stevens and Navarro won singer slots; Steve Grad was unopposed for the sportscaster slot, as was Cheryl Baxter for dance.
There were 2,694 ballots cast out of 25,777 sent out.
