Variety is carrying the story that SAG president Melissa Gilbert is stepping down from her post due to political infighting as she was quoted saying, “What’s my motivation?”
The two-time pres questioned “rifts that may very well be irreparable” within the guild’s leadership and decided not to seek another term as Morgan Fairchild, Robert Conrad and Alan Rosenberg filed to succeed Gilbert. Fairchild is a Gilbert ally; Rosenberg is married to C.S.I. star Marg Helgenberger and is part of Membership First and a current board member, while Conrad has not previously held SAG office.
In September ballots will go out to SAG’s 100,000 members to decide who will become the union’s 24th president.
Variety went on to say that Gilbert’s decision not to run leveled the playing field considerably between the two political factions within the guild: Membership First, which advocates a more confrontationalist stance with producers, and Gilbert’s Restore Respect, which seeks a more pragmatic approach to negotiations with employers.
