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Opponents of Daniels' faction accuse the PA of fostering an environment in which screaming and bullying trumped polite debate. Some board members recall men bumping into women to intimidate them at meetings. But David Jolliffe, a voice-over artist and founding PA member who was just voted off the board, disputes the charges. "It's not bullying, it's speaking the truth," he says of the PA's tactics. "Sometimes there's jockeying for position at the mics. And there's been this accusation of shoving. Shoving implies assault. No one's ever assaulted anyone."

Not that anti-PA forces have sat on their hands. Many admit to raising the volume of their response in recent years. "When you're in a stadium, if one row decides to stand, then the rows behind them either have to stand up or they're not gonna see the game," explains Amy Aquino, a Gilbert backer who lost to Kent McCord (Adam 12) for treasurer.

The squabbling has been so unrelenting that last summer, when the board recruited a non-SAG CEO, former Disney exec John Cooke, he resigned after only 10 days on the job. His reasoning befuddled board members: Nine of them, including Gilbert, had sent a letter asking him to amend the constitution to reconcile his new position, and Cooke said this was a sign SAG wouldn't give him the authority he needed to stay. (Cooke did not return calls for comment.)

Intense partisanship has resulted in the hyperpoliticization of elections. Just four years ago, SAG candidates advertised largely through a small platform statement on a SAG newsletter. This year, the candidates sent out expensive campaign fliers and erected websites. Gilbert even publicly demanded a debate, which Harper turned down. "I was loath to have Rhoda and Half-Pint go at it," says Harper, "and expose plans and questions inside our union to people who have no interest other than that it's two actresses they know from television in the '70s." (Gilbert says she would have been happy with a members-only debate.)

The election lapsed into another key component of modern politics: mudslinging. Harper, an L.A. resident, was taken to task for not attending board meetings during her current Broadway run in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife--even though the New York office is videoconferenced into meetings. Gilbert also maintained that Daniels' supporters (who were backing Harper) were responsible for a needlessly costly commercial strike and for antagonizing the rest of Hollywood. In turn, Gilbert was attacked for having worked in a non-SAG production in 1989, though the board had found her not guilty. Harper's endorsers also scolded Gilbert and her candidate for first VP, Providence's Mike Farrell, for not joining the 2000 picket lines. Then Farrell sent an e-mail to all SAG members to argue that judging people by their strike support was akin to McCarthyism. (Farrell won his post.)

Despite the threat of formal challenges dragging out an already bitter election battle, there is hope that the worst of the sniping may be over. In September, the board appointed a new CEO, former MGM exec A. Robert Pisano, and both sides are optimistic about his ability to restore order. Plus, the board voted just last month to shrink from 107 to 71, pending approval by SAG's full membership. That would at least reduce the number of people screaming--if not the screaming itself.


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