Tuesday, April 13, 1999 READ MORE

Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Jeffrey Douglas is leaving his post after VCA owner Russ Hampshire decided a few weeks ago to stop paying his salary. For over two years, Hampshire has paid virtually all of Douglas's $50,000 a year salary for his FSC work. Douglas will concentrate on his criminal defense practice.

"Since I became the chair of the FSC Board [about 1994]," said Jeffrey Tuesday morning, "I worked a debilitating number of hours on a voluntary basis, a manufacturer [Russ Hampshire of VCA] was generous enough to compensate me for that for a fixed period of time... Less than a year ago, we reached an agreement that we really needed a fulltime executive director. I don't have the skills or the time to do the things that this organization really needs.

"It's been a source of constant upset to me how many many balls have been dropped and opportunities lost because I am a fulltime criminal defense attorney. Our recruitment and fundraising activities have been inadaquate. We need a fulltime executive director who has experience with recruitment and fundraising and working with non-profits. We were looking at materials from one of our opponents, and they have great recruiting materials. We need that. We need to exploit our ability to galvanize the population.

"Membership dues can only suport a small number of salaries. We only have one fulltime employee, [Carol, who works out of VCA] and one parttime employee, Bill Margold of PAW. Money to pay our lobbyist Kat Sunlove and I was just money dedicated to the organization by certain groups."

Luke: "So the FSC isn't collapsing?"

Douglas: "Each year the membership has increased and diversified and our budget has increased."

Douglas passed the bar in December of 1982 and by 1985, he was employed by Lenny Friedlander's company New Beginnings.

Give Luke the Scoop on Douglas's accomplishments with the FSC.

Jeffrey struck Luke as pleasant, professional, articulate, easy to get along with, ambitious, had good rapport with porners such as Sunlove and Candida Royalle, and was difficult to get to know. A hard working single man, he could whip up a great salad. He has a similar personality to mine.

Though Luke has frequently criticized (sometimes fairly) the FSC, Douglas and Sunlove, all were polite, courteous and professional with me as I followed them around Sacramento. When they needed privacy or had a question about what I was doing, they raised their concern privately, reasonably and quietly.

FSC President Gloria Leonard fed www.geneross.com this piece of baloney about FSC's firing of Jeffrey Douglas: "Let's clear up one [in]accuracy from Luke F-rd's site...[Jeffrey] Douglas funding has not been withdrawn. Jeffrey's practice has INCREASED substantially over the last year. He has been telling us for many months that he didn't think he could maintain his practice and his job."

Nonsense, Jeffrey's funding was cut. When VCA's Russell Hampshire resigned a few weeks ago, he cut all his funding for Kat Sunlove and Douglas. Hampshire has been carrying the financial load of the FSC (and general industry representation and unity) for years and he's sick of its incompetence. He did however, agree to match Harry Mohney (Deja Vu) who pays $ 1,000 per month to the FSC. The FSC picked up Kat's paycheck because without a lobbyist, what would they have to offer?

Jeffrey Douglas is not leaving by choice. There's no way he would give up that political power. Douglas has been forced out. Is Sunlove next? Is the whole FSC going down the tubes? Perhaps it is time for the industry to start over. Perhaps they could give their next trade organization an honest name. And choose savvy professionals to run it.

Porn Industry Knows Its Worth
by Heidi Kriz for Wired News

SACRAMENTO, California -- It wasn't exactly Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. More like Suzeee does Sacramento.

Members of the Free Speech Coalition, a lobbying group that represents the adult entertainment industry, lined up Rockette-style on Tuesday to urge California state legislators to leave them alone.

The group rallied at the capitol to crow about the industry's US$5.175 billion contribution to the state's economy last year. The figure, which represents sales and rentals of adult entertainment, got a significant boost from Internet sales of $875 million.

Noting that it took porn videos to push VCRs into American homes, lobbyists said the same phenomenon is now happening on the Net.

"The popularity of Internet porn [is a strong factor] in pushing certain technologies to the edge, like streaming video," said activist Mark Kernes.

The rally was designed to attract attention for the coalition's primary goal, which is to avert potential censorship laws. Though no such legislation is pending now, the group pointed to a measure defeated in 1998 that would have targeted the adult industry for additional taxation.

"No one considers passing laws regulating the nuclear industry without consulting the nuclear industry first," said the coalition's executive director, Jeffrey Douglas.

"We are here to protect our rights," Douglas said. "There is nothing shameful about sex -- or the people who have mastered the performance art of it."

Internet porn stars XXX and videostar Shayla LaVeaux both beamed high-voltage smiles and flashed pretty ankles.

"Most importantly, we are an industry with tremendous economic impact," said ex-porn star-cum-activist Gloria Leonard.

The $5.175 billion figure is a number to be reckoned with and speaks for a voting force to be reckoned with, said Douglas. "We want to get out the vote. We are even thinking of setting up a lobbyist in Washington."

The coalition already has powerful friends -- like the American Civil Liberties Union -- who help to fight the adult entertainment industry's negative image, Douglas said.

And the Free Speech Coalition is doing its part by sending young women like Lake -- best known for her Fun Fuxx video series, in which she has sex with fans who write letters to her -- into the community.

The group also presented California lawmakers with a white paper detailing the sex industry's concerns. An effort to dispel the industry's Boogie Nights reputation, the paper addresses such as HIV and substance abuse. And it demands better and safer conditions for its workers.

The coalition has authored proposed legislation, such as the "Traci Lords Act," which seeks to criminalize the act of underage performers who misrepresent themselves as adults in order to make adult videos.

"We want to make it clear to lawmakers that, as an industry, we are now sophisticated and mature and they have to deal with us, especially in this era of term limits," Douglas said.

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Luke: The FSC seems in turmoil with the loss of Douglas, Insurance Coordinator Greg Zeboray and Hampshire in the last few weeks, and the formation of the California Cabaret Association (CCA) to represent the interests of strip clubs.

Mike Ross, who heads the CCA with attorney John Weston, writes: "(Sacramento) - In an effort to report on the FSC's political muscle (or lack thereof), Luke F-rd visited Sacramento, and got the "Scoup" on what's going on... what's really going on (not the fake stuff AVN will give us in 2 months)...... For instance, these are stories that both Luke and I plan to file:

• Jeffrey Douglas is no longer the FSC executive director .... • Zero clubs participated in the 20 person event held on Tuesday .... • Sunday Night's "Mixer" with the public attracted less than 25 people ... • The one bill that the FSC opposed that was up when they were here, they failed to testify because Kat was "blowing her horn with the media" while we testified on the bill .. • There were over a dozen bills that the FSC failed to take a position on, either support or oppose ... • Sunlove and FSC are opposed to a bill that we are sponsoring, yet have not met with the legislator (until today), did not know that the bill was being amended and taught a class telling everyone that it was a bad industry bill (yet didn't have the facts) ..."

Sunlove tells www.geneross.com: "I have worked very hard over the last two years to maintain the high road in my reactions to Mike Ross' insanely jealous "dissing" of me personally, the FSC and the adult industry as a whole. Generally, I have ignored him. (If everyone else did that, I assure you he would dry up and blow away. He lives for attention.) Only in an AVN column last December did I see fit to correct some of the multitude of lies and misinformation that he has put out. Even then, I did not stoop to name-calling but only to a statement of the facts. After all these months of repeated revelations of Ross' utter contempt for the truth, I am astounded that the adult industry gives him the time of day. As my great-grandmother always said, "I wouldn't piss in his mouth if his guts were on fire."

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Needing to get away from the pressure of www.geneross.com and the attendant worries over masculine challenge, professional rank and personal worth, Luke violated the holy Sabbath early Saturday morning. 4/10/99 Arising before 5 AM, Luke showered, packed sloppily (forgetting his suits), and drove up I-5 towards Mike Ross’s house in Sacramento.

Born in Kurri Kurri, Australia 5/28/66, I came to California’s Napa Valley 5/77 where I lived for three years. Then my parents moved to Auburn, which is 40 minutes drive above Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. I spent ten of my next thirteen years in the Gold country (graduating from Placer High School in June 1984) at my parents home.

Saturday morning, for the first time since I moved to Los Angeles five years ago, I returned home.

The long drive enabled me to get away from my controversial life in Los Angeles and meditate on what I truly wanted. Often in the heat of battle (such as my current one with Gene), I lose track of my Jewish values.

I break for two hours from examining my soul to listen to Bible tapes.

Driving through California’s dreary heartland, I realize how much I appreciate the opportunities of Los Angeles, chief among the chance to slough off a past unwanted and frustrated self.

The closer I get to Sacramento, the more melancholy I feel, It’s a return to my past, a step backwards, a regression.

Averaging 70 mph, I arrive at Mike’s house at noon, six hours earlier than I’d told him. His wife Anna welcomed me inside. We’ve never met. I’ve communicated with Mike since 12/97. We’re both six-foot Jewish Republicans blowhards, high on self aggrandizement and low on leftists. For the past 18 months, we’ve delighted in raising hell for porn’s trade group, the Free Speech Coalition, ridiculing in particular its dominatrix lobbyist Kat Sunlove and earnest executive director Jeffrey Douglas.

Mike moved to Sacramento at age 20. "I figured it was just far enough away that my parents in San Francisco would have to call before they got here," Mike told me Sunday morning as I typed on one of his four computers. "My parents were really cool. They let me smoke, drink, have sex - on one condition. That I stayed home when I did it."

Ross lost his virginity shortly before turning 16, at a retreat for McDonalds employees. "I’ve always worked hard and made more money than everybody else," says Ross, the founder and president of the Adult Industry Entertainment and Education Fund as well as other lobbying groups. In the sex field, Mike represents owners, particularly strip club owners, while in his other Sacramento work he mainly represents consumers. "My legislative practice has mainly become adult - adult entertainment, marijuana, smoking, alcohol and other sinful things."

A graduate of Sacramento State with a BA in Government, Ross, a manic Mazda Miata driver, gets high on impersonating lesbians in internet chat, smoking marijuana and power.

Power above all. He’s a power junkie, delighting in his access to and influence on Sacramento politicians, San Fernando Valley pornographers.

Mike, his wife and two friends, and I drive up to the Goldclub Centerfolds strip club, located 15 minutes drives from the capitol in Rancho Cordova with five other clubs. Posted leaflets announce the night as a Free Speech Coalition fundraiser with ten porn stars (only six show up), but the money raised is actually going to National Act, an anti-censorship group started by Sunlove and Nina Hartley’s "wife" Bobby Lilly. Kat has been succeeded as Executive Director by Sacramento swinger and sexologist Dr. David Hall. Other members of the Advisory Board include Hartley, Kat’s hubby Layne Winklebleck, editor of the Spectator Magazine (out of San Francisco), and prostitution rights activist Margo St. James. (www.n-act.org)

Lilly and company founded Californians Against Censorship Together (Cal-ACT) in 1986 in response to the Meeese Commission Report on Pornography. In 1997, the group restructured to go national.

Because Centerfolds serves no alcohol, it’s girls, generally beautiful, are allowed to go fully nude. They spread their vaginas, masturbate and run their bikini bottoms through their pussy lips. Dancers get friendly with the patrons, shaking their tits over their faces, and rubbing against crotches. Patrons are not allowed to touch the dancers, but the girls abundantly touch the patrons, and shoved their spread pussies within a few inches of rapt faces.

I never attends strip shows for fun because they tease but don’t please. I have no desire to get sexually aroused unless I can be satisfied quickly.

I find the strip experience arousing and depressing. Girls gyrating on a stage with lifeless eyes, revealing their private parts to men they clearly despise but must pretend to like to get tips. Patron conversation tends to coarsely evaluate the looks of the performers and their relative heat. The sex industry reduces men to voyeurs and women to objects. "Adult entertainment" exacerbates teenage tendencies.

In past years, the FSC has paid for porn stars to make this lobbying trip to Sacramento but this year they have to pay their own way. So they dance and strip on stage, and sell their videos and pictures. It costs about $20 to get your picture taken with a nude Jenteal, Nina Hartley, Johnny Black, Shayla LaVeaux, Midori or XXX.

FSC President Gloria Leonard and lobbyist Kat Sunlove warned me weeks ago to not waste my time or money coming to Sacramento as the FSC trip "was by invitation only." I am not a welcomed presence in the club by at least half of the porners, including Lake, Sunlove, Lilly, Hartley, Black, attorney Alan Gelbard and their hangers-on. Lake’s hatred burns particularly intense, as last year I had her real name up on my website.

Ross introduces me to Centerfolds part-owner Mark (one of three male owners) and asks him to explain to me what Mike does for him and why Mike’s better than Kat.

Mark stumbles. Meanwhile the DJ frequently announces a particular dancer as Miss March or Miss some other month, giving me and others the impression that they are Playboy playmates.

"Those are internal awards," explains Mark. "From our calendar. Not the Playboy level."

Luke: "If a girl got caught giving a customer a BJ, would she get fired?"

Mark emphatically: "Yes. Even if a girl goes out of the building with a customer to have a drink, they’re fired."

Mark, 44 yo, says he does not boink his girls. He does not even want to, which Luke finds hard to believe.

"Their mindset is just different," says Mark. "It’s like any other business. If you’re a manager or an owner, it’s not wise to date people in your company.

"We have 200 entertainers, contractors and employees, all between the ages of 18-25. That’s the most difficult age group to work with. Think about 200 McDonalds employees and the problems you’d have. It’s mind boggling. Ours are older and are making more money… We’re as tight as it gets. We do locker searches [to make sure they don’t have drugs]. Because of the nature of our legal relationship, they’re sub contractors, we can do it without notice. The whole facility is on camera for security.

"The girls pay a licensing fee to be here. For a day shift, $15, in-between shifts, $25, and for night shifts, $35.

"They are paid by customers’ tips. Some girls are happy making $100 a night, most take home $300-$500.

"The entertainer mentality is to look at customers as a dollar sign, and nowhere near a dating situation.

"When Playboy came here to do Strip Search, we thought the girls would demand to be on a Playboy video. We had zero demand. These girls want to come here, dance, make their money and leave. They’re not in this for a career.

"We set up our internet where you can be more aggressive because it is not in a public environment. You can do anything you want. We couldn’t find any girls who’d do it. We went outside and hired girls to do shows. All our girls wanted to do on the internet was chat with customers and flash their tits. They’d do more on stage than in our internet room, which blew us away. We thought we’d make a mint by having a captive talent that we were getting for virtually nothing. We’ve essentially shut that down and we’re rethinking our whole internet concept - www.goldclubcenterfolds.com.

"I’ve heard that the average Home Depot gets 3000 customers a week. We get 3000 customers a week.

"I call them entertainers rather than strippers. We’re trying to take this form of entertainment to a higher level, and entertainment is a more proper term…"

Luke: "Have you ever seen any evidence of the Mafia in this business?"

Mark: "There is a club in San Francisco called the Gold Club… I believe that the two guys running it are involved…"

Mark has two kids and lives with his ex-wife. "We get along extremely well. My kids are 8 and 13 and I simply don’t discuss it. They don’t know about it. I have other businesses. A lot of my friends don’t know… If you’re an abortion doctor, you don’t blast that around, even though that is an honorable profession."

Highly nervous, Johnny Black comes out for her first stripping gig ever. She first appears in a U.S. army uniform. Her peers Shayla LaVeaux, XXX and Jenteal gather around the stage to support her.

Black’s enthusiastic but unskilled. Her dancing ability matches Luke’s.

Ross relentlessly presses the flesh of the adult industry leaders at the club, explaining to them the difference between his lobbying efforts and those of the Free Speech Coalition. He’s passionately committed to driving Sunlove and Douglas into the ground. He believes they stole his ideas before they fired him 10/97, so he’s gathering information and evidence to sue them for anti-trust violations, etc.

We get home by midnight. I get my own room with the same bed once slept on by Ron Jeremy and Shyla Foxxx. Luke's not used to sleeping on a bed, so he lies down on the floor.

By 9AM Sunday, I'm typing my notes with Ross's computer. One of his screensavers features a pierced blonde with a cucmber in her ass and a female fist in her vagina.

"Has anyone ever seen you work," Mike asks me Sunday morning.

"Dunno."

"You know how your portrayed - as someone who doesn’t think before he writes. And here I see you thinking."

At noon, I drive with Mike Ross to the Radisson Hotel where we found Sandy Weinsten and Mike Renzulli, Phoenix businessmen in town on $300 scholarships from the FSC. They're chatting with Smiling Al Gelbard and Margot, a blonde law student and stripper. Al frowns when he sees me and he and Margot decide not to accompany us to lunch.

Mike (a libertarian whose father is an Anglican priest), Sandy (an enormous man who managed a strip club in Long Island for almost three years), Mike and I eat Mexican.

Sandy: "I don't believe in independent contractors. The IRS scored points in New York, West Virginia and Florida, by going after clubs that hired independent contractors. The decisions held and it cost the clubs a lot of money. They found out that the IRS does not believe in independent contractors in a lot of businesses. When you have a person bound by your schedule, they're an employee.

"The IRS headed west. Then the hearings into IRS abuses (1996?) and the IRS stopped at the Mississippi River. Soon they'll start again and move all the way to the ocean."

Later, Mike pitches Sandy. "Here's the difference between the way I operate and the way Free Speech operates," says Ross. "I'm not just worried about obscenity laws. I'm worried about how your business can operate. The government is looking into the issue of independent contractors. We have to have an organized response and we have to have a way to fight back.

"Legislators look at clubs as a regular bar. That's one reason why we're sponsoring a smoking bill this year. And if you act professionally, operate professionally... We sent in our letters of opposition last week. The name of our organization is the California Cabaret Association. Everybody knows what it is. It's not this mythological thing... Nobody knows what "Free Speech Coalition" stands for. One of my organizations is the Adult Entertainment Industry Education Fund (AEIEF). When a politicians looks at that, he knows it's a PAC (Political Action Committee). Education funds are always PACs. Because we market ourselves better, we keep winning.

"You go to my website. Tell me about it."

Sandy: "It's busy. There are interesting things on it. If you'd only put some stuff on the net instead of putting "Not Available Yet.""

Luke to Mike: "When you send in these letters of opposition to various bills, do you have strippers deliver them?"

Mike: "No."

Sandy: "This business needs to come more to the center, and not be all left. It needs to be considered more mainstream. You'll get more acceptance and business."

Mike: "You know why Kat and I have such a difficult time?"

Luke: "Because she wouldn't blow you?"

Mike: "No, come on Luke. She's a liberal Democratic and I'm a moderate Republican. My issues are economic, revolving around adult issues like smoking, marijuana..."

Sandy: "It comes down to your constituency. I know who Kat represents - the production companies. She doesn't represent distributors because they have their own deal."

Mike: "National ACT has not taken one position on a consumer bill in the last 20 years." [The organization started in San Francisco in 1986 and only just went national.]

"I'm concerned about the blurring of the images. Today's salon is for the Free Speech Coalition. Last night's show was for National ACT. Why wasn't it for Free Speech? She gets paid by them."

Sandy and Mike compare notes on picking up lesbians and wearing earrings. Mike takes his off when he lobbies the legislature. "I am the face that represents the industry."

Sandy calls him a "naked Ralph Nader."

Sunlove's Porn Star Salon Sunday afternoon attracts about 20 customers paying $15 a head to talk politics with porn stars. I pay, then run into AVN's Mark Kernes at the entrance. He's shocked to see me.

Mark: "What are you doing here? You weren't invited."

Luke: "I like to go to places where I'm not invited."

Mark: "Why don't you just leave?"

Luke: "Free speech."

Mark: "You don't believe in free speech. That's the problem."

The FSC contingent, including the performers, numbers about 25 and includes Richard Pacheco, Midori, Shayla LaVeaux, Juli Ashton, Dyanna Lauren, Juliet Anderson, Margot, a blonde stripper in law school, Pete Kuzinich, the sleazy looking owner of San Jose’s club Pink Poodle, and Pete's buxom blonde stripper Madison, big imposing muscular blond Dennis Hoff, owner of the Bunny Ranch, and Hoff's 19-year old girlfriend. Hoff’s warned by Kernes, his standard MO, to not speak to me.

From 4-6PM, people sit around four main tables to discuss whether pornography is constitutionally protected speech. The earnest high-minded event feels like discussion groups I've participated in at church, school and synagogue.

My table includes Phillip, a longtime friend of Kat Sunlove’s who did promotion for the event, Philip Yoder, Portland publisher of the T&A Times, his editor David Gloden, porn veteran Juliet Anderson, Shayla LaVeaux and her husband James.

"When I move, I speak," says Juliet. "When I act, I speak. I speak through my moves and actions."

Phil notes that as the 20th century wore on, the US Supreme Court increasingly regarded dance, music and film as forms of speech.

Juliet: "I’ve had hundreds, probably thousands of people write to me to thank me for my films. They say "I learned so much from you. About love and sex."

James, sounding like a Boogie Nights Mark Wahlberg: "We helped people through tough times. When they didn’t have anyone, they could take a tape and jerk off to it."

Shayla: "Lots of girls say they do well on Christmas because there are so many lonely men. If these guys didn’t have this outlet, who knows what they’d do?"

Juliet: "The churches want to control people’s behavior. They find passion threatening.

"I would not be alive except for sex. Just thinking about sex boosts the immune system. My doctor agrees with me."

From the Free Speech Coalition newsletter for Spring 1999. Headline "Lobbying Days Skedded For April 11-13."

Gloria Leonard writes in her column about various producers (such as Metro) relaxing their commitment to mandate the use of condoms. Leonard can’t figure it out. "It can’t be sales," she writes, which have not changed since the switch to condoms. No, it’s youthful recklessness. "And making light of such potential problems as lawsuits and contaminated consciences merely underscores the public perception of us as a pack of amoral animals, driven only by the quest for the holy green!

"Is it competition? Certainly, the dynamics of this carelessness is, in part, being fueled by the so-called Gen-X warfare, presently being waged by a few poseur wannabes who are trying to get a foothold in the business by upping the ante outrageously…

"…It is entirely possible that our industry has reached a saturation level where more product is being generated than there are horny humans capable of consuming it.

"…The critically important marketplace of New York City, has pretty much bitten the dust, the result of one Mayor’s misguided political agenda, likely in cahoots with a vast evil empire ruled by a mouse."

Kat Sunlove uses her column to bemoan the new California Cabaret Association (started by Mike Ross and attorney John Weston) which represents strip clubs. Kat writes:

"I am appalled that the future of our industry is being jeopardized by an effort to splinter us into sub-groups, each casting stones at each other. It is playing into the hands of our enemies in the most pernicious way.

"…They [Ross and Weston] promoted the idea of our industry is better than the rest of the adult industry, is contaminated by the rest of the industry, and thus, should separate itself from the rest of the industry.

"In his presentation to the group, Weston argued that gentlemen’s clubs are upscale and attractive, while much of the rest of the adult world is made up of seedier elements. For example, in Weston’s model, even adult videos are less wholesome than strip clubs because people actually have sex on camera.

"According to Weston, the moralistic opposition lumps the "legitimate" portion of the industry with that which embraces illegal activites such as massage parlors where prostitution sometimes occurs. He thus concludes that the cabaret sector is damaged by association with those segments and should segregate itself from them…

"It is disingenious to suggest that today’s nightclubs, with their hefty stage fees and private lap dance rooms, are totally free of the activities he ascribes to other "seedier" elements... [In her Exotic Dancer article, on which this shorter one is based, Kat adds: 'Hey John, what do you think goes on in those back rooms, Scrabble?']

"In my dream world of the future, the Free Speech Coalition would represent every single entrepreneur in this $8 billion dollar industry."

Recently departed FSC Insurance Coordinator Greg Zeboray warns producers that they need liability insurance and workers compensation insurance. And that manufacturers and distributors should require their producers to furnish proof of such.

Greg writes: "The reality is that most producers are "lawsuit proof." Basically, they don’t have enough assets and earning potential to warrant a suit. As a result, a plaintiff will go after the so-called "deep pockets," and the more well-heeled manufacturers are going to bear the brunt of any claim.

"For those producers who do not maintain workers comp policies, PC Cast & Crew will "employ" the talent (and crew) for a nominal service fee - 3% of gross payroll."

Greg recommends producers ask an attorney regarding the use of another’s production insurance [Luke suspects this means World Modeling], and contact the State of California EDD (Employment and Development Department) regarding their position on talent as 1099 contractors. They will tell you that talent are employees, not contractors, unless they have their own corporation."

Tuesday morning I drive in to the capitol with Mike Ross and his two assistants. We arrive at the north steps at 9:30. The FSC press conference is already under way. Three TV cameras and about five reporters stand around.

Outgoing FSC executive director Jeffrey Douglas says they have 30-40 appointments with legislators. Ross tells me that this is mainly with legislative staffs, and that when he ran the event, the FSC gained access to 70-100 legislators.

When the FSC throws the conference open to questions, I dive in. What's the difference between National ACT and the FSC?

XXX jumps forward to answer. "Free Speech is a national organization for the bigger businesses like dance clubs," says Lake. "National ACT is for the people, the fans, to participate in what we do. We want to reach the fans to let them know that if they want to continue to see us dance on stage or watch films, they need to vote for that right because it's being taken away from you all across the country. One is a trade organization and one is for the consumer."

Luke: "So is the FSC more representative of owners than talent?"

FSC President Gloria Leonard: "No. I have people in my art department [at Private] who are members... Anybody can join at any level."

Douglas: "And since it is one member one vote, the largest number of members are artists on either side of the camera."

Luke: "I heard you were adding a lobbyist in Washington?"

Douglas: "It's been an aspiration of our organization to have a lobbyist in every state and Washington D.C.. There are economic consequences to that kind of decision and we are working on that now."

Luke: "Were many legislators scared to meet with people representing the adult industry?"

Douglas: "I was pleased and shocked by the warm reception we've received everywhere."

Dave Cummings: "We've been welcomed everywhere."

Dyanna Lauren: "People fear things that they don't understand. Even in a relationship. Say you're having an extra-marital affair and somebody finds out about it. If they don't know what the person looks like and how the person feels about things, the second they meet them, they realize, 'I'm hurting somebody. This is an actual human being.'

"It's the same thing with us. People tend to forget that we're human beings with rights. Once they can put a face to us, 'oh, maybe they are normal.'"

Cummings: "Legislators talk to us about bills, they don't talk to us about movies and who did what when and how."

Luke: "I heard there was controversy at your meeting Monday over whether the FSC represents clubs?"

Douglas: "All across the country, the owner of the biggest chain of clubs in the country is a generous supporter of our organiations (Harry Mohney of Deja Vu)."

Kat Sunlove: "Does anybody else [aside from Luke] have questions?

"In general, the Democratic Party is more full of free speech advocates... We've found that since the last election, the number of problem bills is fewer."

Leonard: "We certainly hope that the media, who appreciate the First Amendment, will be our friend."

Luke to Jeffrey Douglas: "Is is legal for companies to require performers to use condoms?"

Douglas: "This is way out of my expertise... Just like a company requires a company to wear headgear or certain shoes for safety reasons... A condom not only protects the individuals performing, but also has impact on the community. We are role models. Generations have grown up learning about sex from watching adult entertainment."

Luke to Kat Sunlove: "Your essay for Exotic Dancer ticked off some club people. You wrote, 'Hey John [Weston], what do you think goes on in those back rooms? Scrabble?'"

Sunlove: "I just put it out in a straight way. I think we need to talk about these things. Not all clubs operate the same. Not all have backrooms. But those who do... And I have no problem with it..."

Luke: "Right, you're for decriminalizing prostitution."

Sunlove: "Right. Yes, and the whole secondary affects issue becomes more difficult to dismiss if a legislator goes in [to a strip club] and has more fun than he expected to.

"We [sex businesses] face the same issues, such as zoning... We should recognize our common ground and stay together. I want to find common ground with anyone. One of our guests last night at our cocktail party was a staffer from the Republican caucus.

"Years ago, I did undercover journalism while at Spectator. I went to Memphis, Tennesse to report on this Christian's woman's group that was having a big seminar. And I listened to these folks, and I'm a parent and a grandparent, and I recognized that I shared their concerns. I differed with their techniques."

Luke: "I'm staying with Mike Ross. I'm totally compromised. I'm even wearing his clothes. I forgot to bring a suit. Mike is pissed off because he says that you guys went to dinner [and Mike says he picked up the $150 check] before you became legislative analyst, and discussed ideas, and he thinks you ripped off his ideas."

Kat: "I beg to differ. Before I became a lobbyist, I worked hard to help him overcome blind spots about the industry. He doesn't come out of this industry and so his instincts are not at ease with it. I see him as a bull in a china closet. He doesn't get it. To propose a porn tax and shop it to legislators, I could never get over that.

"It is totally untrue that I copied anything of his. In fact, it's quite the opposite but I don't go around attacking people like he does. It is not my style."

Luke: "Didn't Mike start this lobbying day?"

Kat: "This is not a creative idea. Last night I was talking to another lobbyist who came to our event, who said, 'We're going to have 300 people down here next week. We're doing it just like you're doing it. We're training them one day and having a press conference the next day.' This is not brain surgery. He did not invent this idea. Every lobbying group does this. It's called "ledg day." It's so common that they have shorthand for it."

Douglas: "At the other end of the stairs, there was another group doing the same thing."

Luke: "Wasn't the industry white paper Mike's idea?"

Douglas: "I don't think so. He contributed to it. There's still language and structure from the first year when he helped prepare it. The primary author was Paul Fishbein, myself and a member of VCA. Mike participated... The notion of a whitepaper is fundamental to lobbying.

"I've got no beef with what Mike did for us. He helped us in a vital early stage. And when we chose to hire someone else... There's nothing in print that says anything negative about what Mike did for us. And I have nothing negative to say to this point."

Luke: "He hates you guys with a passion."

Douglas: "I read hateful things about myself by people I don't know and who don't know me."

Sunlove: "It's unfortunate. I would much rather work in a friendly way. On the first hearing we were both at last year, when I called him the next day to pass on something he might not know, he was so rude to me. So incredibly rude to me. So I said, 'well, fine then, I'll just do my thing and you do yours.'

"I do my thing, he seems to worry so much about what I'm doing."

Luke: "Yeah, I hear all the time about what you're doing wrong."

Sunlove: "He has every right to say what he wants to, I just wish that I could sue him for libel."

The porners split up to visit various legislators. Luke follows Bobby Lilly, Sunlove and Douglas around various legislators. A crew from TV Ontario's Studio Two show, including Paula Todd, follows us. First off, we hit the office of 32nd District Senator Joe Baca, a Democrat. Kat and Jeffrey meet with Baca's beautiful legislative aide Barbara J. Beard. If the porno industry truly wanted to boost profits, they should recruit the stunners who work for California's politicians and get them sucking and f---ing on camera instead of under the desk.

Sunlove has met with Beard several times and calls her Barbie. Kat wangles a brief meeting with Senator Baca who clearly does not know her. During an interview with afterwards Todd, Baca keeps referring to her as "Kate."

Luke stands in the hallway outside the senator's office, watching him interviewed by Todd. She asks if the porners have an influence on his politicas. He says no. He believes they have a right to be heard, and when he supports their views, it is simply because they are right and constitutional. Douglas and Sunlove look pleased.

Next we meet with Senator John Burton's aide Donald Moulds, who appeared briefly in an AP story on the FSC's last visit to the state capitol. The porners thank Senator Burton for his support with a particular bill. Mould replies, don't credit Senator Burton for that, especially with the TV here.

Mould: "We meet with everyone. It would be wrong for us to make decisions about who we meet with and who we don't. Just like we'd meet with people on the other side of the issue." [This is nonsense. I doubt that legislators meet with Nazis or skinheads. That Moulds met with Sunlove and company accords porners respectability.]

Luke: "How professional do you think the adult industry lobbying is?"

Mould: "Reasonably professional. Kat Sunlove is around regularly monitoring bills. From time to time she'll tell us, 'this bill has First Amendment considerations.' Just like if someone told us 'this bill violates our religious freedom, why don't you take a look?', we'd take a look."

At lunch, Luke sits with two lobbyists for senior citizens. Luke asks them to guess which group is at the next table? Lobbyists guess accountants. Wrong. It was modestly dressed porn stars like Juli Ashton.

Portland publisher of the T&A Times, Philip Yoder, says that Oregon has more constitutional protection for free epxression than the US. No X-rated movie has been busted since 1973. Some Oregon video stores offer European sections with defecation, urination and dog videos.

Luke leaves the capitol at 2:30 with Mike Ross and his two assistants. It doesn't seem that the FSC lobbying is more than a PR and education show.

Mike: "AB749 by Wesson says that if you sell X-rated videos at a liquor, you must put them in a separate section and require ID. The Free Speech Cdoalition was opposed to that. My organization (the AIEEF) supported the bill. While Kat was promenading around showing off to the press, the bill came up [for a vote in the Assembly Public Safety committee]. I testified for it and the bill passed out 8-0. She didn't even know. When she went to testify, the bill had already been passed.

"We believe that minors should not have access to adult materials and that bars who have to check people for IDs on alcohol, should have to do the same for X-rated videos. We want businesses to be socially responsible. There's no social responsibility on their part.

"We as a staff worked hard. They came up here and missed. Jeffrey was fired. We won. There's no question who is the most professional. Even though we (AIEEF) spend one-tenth what Free Speech raises and spends. And we kicked their ass all over the place.

"We worked hard for two weeks to make sure that no bills came up this week so that we could have command of the issues. The bills were up last week and will be up next week.

"There was a club owner, Pete from Pink Poodle, who did not show up for the press conference. Their mission statement has nothing to do with clubs. They don't know what they're doing. Many of them left early. They had nothing to do."

Ross says that in past years legislators asked him for appointments to meet with the porn girls because legislators "are human and want to meet with these curiosities."

Mike Ross says that 95% of the FSC White Paper was written by him.

Mike Ross says that Juli Ashton’s Playboy TV program Nightcalls "is more boring than having sex with Jeffrey Douglas."

Dyanna Lauren has directed 15-20 gonzos. She’s done only three movies in last couple of years, her last one a year ago - Where the Boys Are 10-11. She plans to release her CD over her internet site.

Juli Ashton says Shayla LaVeaux is her contract girl for her production company Ashton View which will soon release through Wicked its third production - Essentially Shayla. All Ashton’s movies are shot by Moonlight’s Mark Stone.

Ashton heads later this week to the Erotic USA fair in New York and then to the AVN Conference in Cancun.

Juli then heads to Budapest to shoot Essentially Dee. Vicca and Nikita, from Budapest, will act as tour guides but because they’re VCA contract girls, they can’t appear on camera.

Juli took her production company to Wicked because this smaller company will allow her more hands-on learning about production and distribution. VCA resembles McDonalds with separate departments that completely handle, say, art work, editing, etc…

Mike Ross replies to Gene Ross

I read your column yesterday and today... and both are a crock... not from the stand point of what you wrote, but what Sunlove "said".....

For instance, she knows that we are the sponsors of AB 1446... its been in my newsletter... and I know she reads it, because she makes comments in her newsletter show it (ask members of the club community).

Second, as for Skulking, I had 14 bills up in over a half a dozen committees on that day... I have nothing to "skulk" for... I am proud of what I do and whom I represent.

Third, yes, I watched the press conference, only after I was in the room for AB 749. I don't listen to the ACLU, I make up my own mind, for my clients. I watched the conference for two reasons... first it was public
and second, as a businessman, you always try to watch and learn from
the competition.

[Sunlove told www.geneross.com: "I was called by the committee counsel for my reaction to the harmful matter section of the bill. I told him how I saw it and he agreed with my analysis. The bill was "fixed" by changing that flawed language to the language from the current Penal Code section which deals with the segregation of adult videotapes. Our letter of opposition was very specific in its focus and once that was corrected, we no longer opposed the bill. I actually did go to the hearing that morning just to be sure things were as I had understood them from the ACLU lobbyist. They were
so there was no need for me to stay at the hearing. Mike Ross would have you see things in black and white because that serves his purpose of self-aggrandizement. He's right and everyone else is wrong. But lobbying and politics is not black and white, it is endless shades of gray. Perhaps that's why Ross always reminds me of "a bull in a china closet" - crude and clumsy, running on raw testosterone."]

Fourth, as per the legislature and the committee hearing, how could Kat
have left to talk to the ACLU to find out what she should do, after all, she was at a press conference. Additionally, why is it that I didn't see her in the room? The rule of thumb is that if you are opposed to a bill, you sit in the room until amendments are made and adopted officially or send a letter removing opposition. When you oppose a bill, if you don't have time to do those, you show up and tell the committee offiically that you remove opposition. That's professionalism.

Fifth, from what I understand, the Pink Poodle representatives, the only california club owner to participate in the event, left the meeting because of a problem with the FSC mission statement, which when delivered to the press, SAID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT CLUBS. ADDITIONALLY, MADISION WAS UPSET ABOUT THIS. This was confirmed by two
people in the FSC event. Additionaly, Jeffrey lied to the press saying that there were clubs in attendence during the press conference. There
were none. Ask Luke, he was there. [True, unless you count Sandy Weinstein from Phoenix.]

Sixth, Sunlove says I am a baby? Would you like to see the article she
wrote for publication in Exotic Dancer? Some of it was published in the FSC "Free Thinker." I don't think that the industry would be happy with it.

Seventh, about the bills we have participated on or are: First, Kat only does something on a bill after it is mentioned in my newsletter (which she copied). Second, Currently there are a dozen bills she has not reported on... Like AB 70 The independent contractor bill or SB 77 the HIV bill that extends Workers Comp Benefits from 365 days after you leave employment to 365 days after "death". The bill was amended, but the FSC was silent on the bill before the amendments. Third, and I can prove this with several legislators offices, Kat had never entered their office to talk about the bill (that includes calls). And that includes AB 1446, the bill we are sponsoring.

Eighth, my bill load.... it's obvious that Kat doesn't understand this industry's needs..... I take positions on lots of bills like "Phone" because there are many of us affected by the operations of the phone compnay. For instance, is she working with anyone on any internet stuff designed to increase "bandwidth?" Does she even know or care about the bill numbers? Doesn't that affect the internet and adult websites like hers and AVN's?

Ninth, as for talking to her, I have extended my hand to the FSC several
times and had it bitten off. Ask Russel Hampshire what happend to my
video? Ask Jeffrey Douglas where the initial bill language he claims FSC
wrote came from? Additionally, ask Gloria Leonard, who wrote the basic
parts of the FSC White Paper? The FSC has stolen my information, and I
believe is hurting itself by lying to the community. If I am so wrong, so bad or so evil, why has no one sued me?

Tenth, and this is a biggie, what happened in Indiana is not "little incidental bulls---"... it affected over 100 clubs and businesses, and they chose me, not the FSC, to help them... why? To them it was the end of the world. To Kat, its just another sign of things that they don't care about.

Eleventh, Sacramento...Gene, you were lied to... there were over a dozen
administrative meetings and hearings on the bill, and I can show you proof.... Rather, I can send you directly to the club owners and other businesses who hired me and were there with me, elbow to elbow fighting. She joined AFTER the hearing process was over, and never once mentioned it in her newsletter nor spoke to any businesses about how it would affect her. AND SHE LIVES IN TOWN. Additionally, her statement is ludicrus... why? Simple.. the staff person who conducted the project had nothing to do with the Attorney's office.. it was Lynn Olsen... and she was the chief licensing officer for Sacramento (she has now moved on) and during the process, NEVER ONCE TOLD US SHE WAS CONTACTED BY FSC -
EVER AND WE TALKED EVERY DAY.

In closing, I will wait for you to complete your promise and print the
rest of the story... namely what happened to the money that they raised
on behalf of FSC, but somehow went to N-act (which by the way her
website located at www.n-act.org as of Sunday did not work....why?).
Additionally, you didn't ask who owns the Free Speech X-press like I
asked you to.

I look forward to talking to you about this at your earliest.

Michael Ross

P. S. there is no discussion from Kat or Jeffrey about the qualifications I hold/have for running the FSC. But I will give you a hint Gene....... I worked for the Jewish federation in Sacramento for over six years and am an experienced non-profit fundraiser.

Mike Ross Runs For FSC

AVN journalist Mark Kernes writes a one-page article on Mike Ross in the 5/98 AVN. How can Kernes, a member of the Free Speech Coalition board, write objectively about the FSC, Ross and related issues?

Sacramento lobbyist Mike Ross writes

I believe that I am the most qualified person in the country to be the new
Executive Director for the FSC. Here is an outline of what I would do for
the first 100 days to get the FSC back on track.

1) Revamp the board to include clubs, phone companies and dancers;

2) Treat the board to an educational retreat designed to organize, educate
and involve. The retreat would be assisted by the United Way;

3) Create and implement a fundraising program;

4) Evaluate staff and make appropriate recommendations for job descriptions and termination;

5) Establish a consumer friendly media program;

6) Redesign all related "promotional material" so that it has a
comprehensive theme;

7) Create a lobbying program we as an industry can be proud of;

8) Reinstate my salary of $1 a month (that is what I was paid before). [Sunlove and Douglas earn about $50,000 a year.]

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