I've said it (and you've read it) many times before, I am a political animal. More often than not in the last 15 years I have looked to a voice that is now sadly, suddenly silenced to form, or confirm, my opinions.

    My kids, mates, friends all knew we didn't go to breakfast on Sunday before MEET THE PRESS was over. Between 8 and 9 on Sunday morning you didn't call me, and if you did, I didn't answer. Even more than the network [NBC] who's Washington Bureau he guided (some say built), these last few years his imprint on MSNBC has made it my constant background, in office and home.

    To have the combination of insight and brass balls to build a network that counted among it's personalities a range from Pat Buchanan to Keith Olbermann was simply genius. And all to a Springsteen soundtrack. Imagine...
 
    The last 18 hours or so, I have been as tearfully transfixed by his co-worker's coverage [flipping between NBC and MSNBC], as I always was, gleefully, by his contributions to both channels. Again, I am a political animal, and the word of Tim Russert was my manna.

    But to really understand the love and absolute respect he engendered, one need only look at the interview Matt Lauer did this morning with VP Cheney. For the last 8 years he's been in the public eye, Mr. Cheney has [quite rightfully] always been seen as the leader of the evil empire; Darth Vader incarnate. Yet he's never seemed more human, more touched by anything, than he obviously was by Tim's passing.

    I don't know how we, as a country, will get through this election cycle without his wit and wisdom. I am not especially religious, but it's said God takes the good ones early to help him. Tim is at his side.

Mrs. Clinton,
 
Ok, now go away.

At the beginning I couldn't have been a more avid supporter. With 2 daughters (and a son) I was practically drooling at the thought of such a groundbreaking run for, and win of, the presidency by someone I believed to be the most competent, able person on the scene. That you're a woman was just gravy...

BUT Mrs. Clinton, you blew it so many times in so many ways I can no longer even support you for VP, and I truly believe that you achieved the exact opposite of what you thought you were setting out to do. I believe you've now singlehandedly set the Women's Movement back a millenium, no mean feat.

You've proven yourself to be a truth-stretcher (if not an outright liar), and you and your husband (who until now has been my political idol) have proven to be just another pair of disgusting, filthy-fighting DC insiders who will stop at NOTHING to win what is not yours. Under fire in Bosnia? More people voted for you than anyone in primary history? It took the comic Sinbad (for God's sake) to blow the first lie, and your run in Michigan, in spite of an agreement NOT to run there, to validate the second. And those are just 2 of the myriad disgusting things you both have done, worst of which is the gender AND race baiting.  Jeeeezzzz.

The absolute final straw was what I consider to be the single most UNgracious, UNflattering, NONconcession speech you delivered last night. In the face of Mr. Obama's CLEAR win, you had one final chance to step up, and you clearly blew it.

GET SOME CLASS, MRS. CLINTON. Go back to carpetbagging in NY, and stay out of National politics. The country will be better served by your disappearance from the scene, and we will all enjoy the fruits of Mr. Obama's presidency far more without you being the big ugly worm in the apple.

A former supporter,

The Spielster

There’s a certain comfort in anonymity; an easy grace in operating from behind a curtain. I’ve spent my 25+ years as manager for some pretty well known, amazingly talented folks, representing them from behind that shield. That came to a screeching halt this past week.

One of my really famous clients, who’s also a friend, got in a very highly publicized altercation involving two of his sons and himself. There was a surreal frenzy surrounding the incident, and since I really like this man, I figured the right thing to do was, for the first time in my career, come out of my comfort zone to defend him against the ridiculous allegations being leveled against him, not only by the sometimes-scummy press, but his elder son, who is a real piece of work.

So first, Sunday around noon I issued a statement on his behalf. And we actually thought that might slake the thirst for inside info on celebrities lives, and things would die down and go away. Silly us. Between last Sunday morning and yesterday, when very sadly another (in)famous celebrity died and took the glare off us, I fielded well over a thousand calls and emails, was quoted and misquoted ad nauseum in more media outlets than I can count, and actually went on camera for the first time in my career. And it was freaky.

Did you know about editing? It seems no matter what you tell them, they’ll make you say what they want. Even the good ones do it. First I did an interview for the LA Times, a relatively prestigious publication. I gave my comments on the record, but wound up being reduced to “a source close to the situation”. HEY. I have a name, damn it. And missed Prince’s halftime show to give you that statement, fucker. Then the very famous, and famously tawdry, “Page 6” from the NY Post. But, oddly, they were very nice to my client, used my name, and even spelled it right! The rest of Sunday was spent fielding 292 emails and numerous calls from news outlets ranging from the Associated Press to The Shanghai News to (I swear) The PCH Press to Good Morning America, The Today Show, and countless local LA stations. (I didn’t know there were so many….). Hell, I even got an email from Dr. Phil, who offered to have all involved parties on his show to settle the mess and heal the wounds. Big man, bigger ego. I lost count of how many statements/”interviews” I gave. I headed to my girlfriend’s house to try for some normalcy (hahaha), forgetting momentarily that my cell phone was in my pocket, and I had email access at her house, too. 

Then, literally at daybreak Monday, things really picked up steam. (The phone calls alone Monday passed the 350 mark). The most tenacious among them were TMZ.Com, (a site I’ve grown to love because Harvey Levin, a lawyer and former legal reporter I’ve always admired, runs it, along with a terrific woman, Gillian Sheldon, and they “vet” information better than anyone, and are accurate to the point of gospel), and Good Morning America. I gave statements and confirmed info for TMZ numerous times Monday, and they always got, and printed, it right. Can’t say that for all the other outlets I spoke to, and there were a lot, but with that renewed belief TMZ gave me that the press could get it right, and my beautiful Leah’s urging, I agreed to an on camera interview with GMA. On one condition: they didn’t show up until after we’d watched “24”!! (Gotta have some sanity in my life, even if it is only straining to hear Jack Bauer’s whispered words…..) Sure as shit, they agreed and showed up at her house at 10:30 pm to tape the piece for Tuesday morning. The crew was really nice and unobtrusive, and I know (‘cause my honey told me so) for my very first on-camera interview, I did my client, and myself, proud.

But you’ll never see it, or know how they cut me up, because Tuesday morning I awoke at 5 am to find another ridiculous amount of emails and phone messages, among them one from GMA telling me we’d been bumped by the breaking astronaut-in-a-diaper-love-triangle story!! So much for my first shot at this. But Leah convinced me, since my “cherry” was already popped, to pick a few others and get as much of the truth out there as I could. She’s a good one, and smart as hell, so of course I took her advice.

Next on Tuesday morning, I agreed to do “Entertainment Tonight”, only, as it turns out, ET is really only half of an hour block of “infotainment”, (a word I’ve quickly grown to hate), and I wound up on The Insider, too. These pieces were overseen by an amazing woman named Bonnie Tiegel. How she took 45 minutes of taped Q and A, cut them down to about 3 seconds on each show, and maintained the gist of what I said quite accurately is beyond me, but she did. And I was grateful, and pumped enough to keep talking….that is until a very famous media-whore-attorney held a press conference mid-morning to say absolutely nothing on behalf of the idiot son and his girlfriend. Followed in short order by my client’s attorney, Mark Werksman’s news conference at which he stated a lot, and refuted the insinuations made at the earlier dog-and-pony show. The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday we closed ranks and kept quiet.

Thursday was Jerry Penicoli on Extra. He was very nice and did a really good piece, coordinated by his assignment editor, also a really nice guy, Christopher Liss, who pursued me relentlessly. I’m glad I gave in to him. Then came the absolute nicest among the lot, Jim Moret, the lawyer/entertainment reporter for Inside Edition. Jim dug deep for truth, but did it incredibly warmly, and respectfully. Not at all what I expected. His piece got bumped Thursday night by the celebrity death story, but it’ll run on their “Weekend Edition” show this weekend. I’m a bit anxious, but looking forward to it nonetheless. My client deserves what I hope will be, from me anyway, this last shot at getting the real story out.  

I won’t bore you (or myself) with too many more details, but I will tell you this: I have a newfound respect and admiration for those PR folks who specialize in “damage control”. It’s a thankless, tedious job with huge risks. Most of the rest of the press I did, on camera and off, was edited to suit the particular outlet’s style. Some of the other papers, radio and TV outlets weren’t so nice so I won’t even dignify them by printing their names. But I guess that’s what their audiences demand, and they sure pile it on for them. So be it.

Finally, personally, I reconfirmed something I already knew. For 5 days, my gf, Leah, propped me up, urged me on, fed me, comforted and supported me, and kept me going when I thought I couldn’t. But mostly she put up with what can only be described as MY utterly insane week. And did it selflessly with the kind of wit, grace, and love I don’t think I could have. Lucky for my client….luckier for me.

   I'll preface this by saying while it seems like I'm "lumping" all men and all women into camps, I do not believe that's always the case. But it is enough of the time for me to vent this way. And it did happen to me this way, twice, so it's my perspective. Although, from the emails and calls I've gotten already, I do seem to personally know a lot of women who played it, if not completely honest, as straight as they could. A dear friend's lawyer called her son's beating the "unfortunate misunderstanding" and her beating "one unfortuntate ugly incident". So it does go both ways, just not as often as it should. 


                                                                     
   When I posted my intent to write a piece about what Alec Baldwin, Charlie Sheen, Me, and thousands of other men had in common, the most beautiful event planner in LA, my friend Barbara, guessed the topic, and emailed me to be cautious: "you never know what goes on in private". So I will be. But I can say with absolute honesty, clarity and certainty what I personally experienced. And my guess is for those two celebs, and many more celebs and civilians of the male persuasion, it's not a whole lot different.

   I've written before about the insanity, and risks, of living and loving so publicly, (scroll down to "Britney to Justin to Cameron..."). I'll give ya that the ridiculousness of it does occasionally border on the sublime. But just as, (if not more), often, the subhuman. To wit: imagine how frustrated you'd be, after being promised things would stay friendly and "clean",  to see details of the most nasty, misleading, exaggerated and/or false filings on every "entertainment" show on the air; then hearing the frustrated voicemails you left, after being falsely (or at least exaggeratedly) accused of these horrible acts, on the morning news...(and don't you think she let that stuff out to lessen the impact of those pics of her on the balcony with Richie? It worked didn't it?)...at least I didn't have to go through that. But believe me, not having them aired publicly doesn't lessen their impact.

   Whether it's the women involved, or their lawyers, (so ultimately, again, the women, as lawyers work for them not vice versa), the majority of the distaff half of these court equations, be said battles custody, divorce, or both, seem to think they have a pass to invent stories that fit the needs of their cases; and not just a pass, but usually the encouragement of these s.o.b.s with JDs. Now, heeding Barbara's advice will be easy. Because while I know that publicly Kim is accusing Alec, and Denise Charlie, of heinous acts to which I was not witness, I personally suffered a similar unjust fate and can tell you that first person.

   The courts will accept whatever is filed. That's their job. Then it's the mediator/evaluator/commissioner's job to sift through the animus and figure out what's real and what's not. In three years of my custody fight I sat through a lot of other cases while waiting for mine to be called, and I can tell you there wasn't one single case that had the husband/father making the initial accusations. And it never ceased to amaze me what gets said in these papers. Even guys like me, who were the ones who filed, (the plaintiffs), to a man, took the high road, at least in their first filings. Then, if your lawyer convinces you of the need to "compete" you, too, get nasty. I was lucky that my lawyer, (the amazing Rita Kahlenberg, Esq.), stood with me in truth and never once encouraged me to, or insisted I, make false or exaggerated claims for the benefit of my case. As she loved to point out, I didn't have to. My son's mother's claims were so unfounded, outrageous, and plain out fabricated, that the truth did eventually win, although at the cost of my involvement in the first four years of his life. I was awarded joint legal custody, and a really reasonable physical custody schedule. So I'm making up for lost time now, and I have the power to say no to his mom's crazy demands and whims, finally.

   I doubt that'll be the case with Alec or Charlie, though, because they're being played. And rather than let their (somewhat) good names be dragged through the mud, I can almost guarantee you they'll quietly settle for some shitty custody plan. Their careers are at stake, in an industry that will penalise them for being less than the men they claim to be. Even if their claims are just. And they likely are, moreso than Kim and Denise are portraying. But Kim and Denise are playing the victims and victims are far more sympathetic. Forget that Kim's accusations are being discredited by almost everyone close to her, even some of her own family. And credit Alec for staying relatively strong and silent and not levelling false claims, or even the true ones, against her publicly. (I know someone involved in his case and he, like me, insisted his lawyers stick to the high road). Forget that Denise, while making her terrible claims, is very publicly flaunting her own fooling around with her former best friend's very recent ex-husband. And credit Charlie for keeping his mouth shut about the entire case, but mostly that part of it. Because he certainly could accuse her of being a lowlife, and not just for being a liar/exaggerator but a homewrecker. It would seem an easy jump to say she'd been fooling around with him all along, or was the reason he and Heather broke up. Ya just never know, but it would surely be believed by some. And broadcast, because true, half-true, or false makes no difference to Access Hollywood. It's the story that counts.

   My son's mother pulled a lot of similar, horrible crap, made a lot of false claims, was inflexible in letting me spend time with my son, pitted some of my own family against me, and generally drove me into emotional, (and financial), bankruptcy. She had a boyfriend, they had a "Grand Plan" and were convinced I'd walk away, and they'd live happily-ever-after on the east coast. They couldn't have been more determined to make that happen at any cost. And all the while did what she pleased, travelled at will, made unilateral decisions in our son's interest, and made sure our son had little regard for me. But after three years of postponements and maneuvering, mostly by her scumbag attorneys, we finally had a trial because I wouldn't back down from what was right, just and truthful. And when she finally had the chance to rule, the commissioner ruled almost 100% in my favor. And all his mother could say was "I was just doing what I truly believed was best for our son". Which even the commissioner clearly knew was bullshit, and said as much in her filing. But the real benefit for me wasn't a lawyer who made me stick to my guns, which were loaded with truth, but the lack of having to defend myself against public airing of the sordidness of it all. And thus the undue influence of public opinion. So pity those involved in Alec v. Kim and Charlie v. Denise. But mostly pity the kids, because ultimately it's about them, and they'll suffer the most.

   I feel for these guys. And the millions like them who have to go through this whether they're famous, infamous, or just regular guys. I can because I've been one of them. Twice. The courts, especially in custody disputes, are horrifically biased towards mothers, and in this day and age, that's just plain wrong. Men make great parents and every man I know who wants to be involved with his children does as good a job, or better, than his wife or ex. Even in families that are together, men have stepped up and parent with the best of them. Change diapers, feed kids, clothe them, drive carpools, coach sports, hold hands, fix booboos, play with dolls with their daughters as well as they play baseball with their sons, and yet that bias, at the end, still exists.

   But men rarely get to play victims as well as women, if at all. And that's the worst injustice in the system, because when all is said and done, the supposed victims are more often than not the victimizers. Good luck Alec and Charlie. Stick to your guns. Sometimes, it works out.