Hollywood coughs it up for Jerry Brown
By Josh Richman
Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 11:56 am in 2010 governor's race, campaign finance, Jerry Brown.
Television producer (“Alias,” “Lost”) and movie director (“Cloverfield,” “Star Trek”) J.J. Abrams of Pacific Palisades gave $25,000 Tuesday to state Attorney General Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial exploratory committee. His wife, actress Katie McGrath, gave another $25,000.
A day earlier, producer Kathleen Kennedy – who with director Steven Spielberg and her husband Frank Marshall has made films such as the “Jurassic Park” series and “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” – gave Brown’s campaign $5,000.
And former Warner Bros. and CBS executive Robert Daly, now president of investment consulting firm Rulemaker Inc., gave $25,000 to Brown’s campaign, also Monday.
Other big-ticket, non-Hollywood contributions to Brown’s campaign in the past week include $50,000 on Monday from Los Angeles billionaire businessman Stewart Resnick and his wife, Lynda; $38,000 last Friday from Los Angeles real estate development mogul Curtis Tamkin, plus $5,000 on Monday from his son, Comerica Entertainment Group corporate banker Curtis Tamkin Jr.; and $25,000 on Monday from designer Diane Von Furstenberg plus $10,000 the same day from her son, Arrow Capital Management chief investment officer Alex Von Furstenberg.
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November 12th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Wrong Katie McGrath, Josh . . . J.J.’s wife might be an actress (she’s certainly not active), but the actress you linked to was born in Ireland (and therefore ineligible to give to political candidates stateside unless she’s become an American citizen) and also was born in 1983 . . . which means she was 15 years old when she sired her first (of three children) with the acclaimed impresario behind “Lost” and the reinvention of “Star Trek”. See: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009190/bio
November 12th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Good catch; I’ve removed the link from McGrath’s name. It’s quite confusing, though – the Secretary of State’s database shows a $25,000 contribution on Monday – the same day as Abrams’ contribution – from a Katie McGrath of Pacific Palisades who lists her occupation as “actress,” but I now see that various other sources list Abrams’ wife Katie McGrath as a public relations executive.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Ain’t no thang!
The State Prison Guards Union, CCPOA gave $40,000 a couple of weeks ago!
Yer’ all on the late freight
November 13th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I think Hollywood is properly terrified of this Attorney General, after his blatant disregard for the law. He launches investigations against the two filmmakers of Acorn for illegally recording people without notifying them, but then turns around and does exactly the same thing.
David Lagstein, ACORN’s lead organizer in San Diego, was recorded telling a group that Brown is a “political animal” and that “certainly every bit of communication we have had with them [Brown's office] has suggested that the fault will be found with the people that did the [hidden-camera prostitution sting] video — not with ACORN.”
Jerry Brown’s chief aides secretly recorded phone conversations with at least 5 reporters. They had the phone conversations transcribed and the transcriptions distributed to the office.
Apparently, this law is only prosecuted when the resulting recording stops child trafficking.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Hollywood didn’t “cough up” the dough, it vomited.
November 13th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
You should know, RR — that’s what your comments regularly consist of.