Fabiani and Lehane

Principals
Chris Lehane and Mark Fabiani, the two principals at Fabiani Lehane, were known as the "Masters of Disaster" for their work providing damage control the various public relations flare-ups of the Bill Clinton presidency.

Gray Davis and Southern California Edison
Fabiani and Lehane were hired by Governor Gray Davis (D-Calif.) during the 2001 energy crisis to help improve Davis' public image and his poll ratings. However, they were also under contract to Southern California Edison at the same time, an energy company that was negotiating with Davis and the California Legislature to secure a favorable deal to avert bankruptcy. When Davis and Lehane were criticized for the apparent conflict of interest, Lehane said "The Governor and Edison have the same energy policy; there's no conflict in working for both."

However, California State Controller Kathleen Connell refused to pay Lehane and Fabiani's $30,000 a month salary, and taxpayers filed suit to prevent them from continuing their work for Davis. As part of an out-of-court settlement Fabiani and Lehane agreed to end their work for Governor Davis and did not collect any money for their work with him. Davis was recalled from office in October 2003, having been fatally weakened by the energy crisis.

Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) hired Fabiani and Lehane in 2002 during their dispute with the Association of Talent Agents. Specifically, they were hired to sell a skeptical membership on a deal allowing ad agencies to own up to 20% of talent agencies, reversing a 50-year old ban on the practice. The hiring of Fabiani and Lehane was controversial and criticized by those within SAG who opposed the deal. The firm reportedly took a 2/3 pay cut for the job, receiving only $10,000 per month in fees instead of their usual $30,000. Asked to defend their fee, Lehane emphasized the discount, saying "First, we believe strongly in the need to preserve the strength of the union and this agreement does that. We both come from liberal, progressive backgrounds, and this union represents working people." Lehane also reportedly said they realized that SAG raises its money from union dues and was not as wealthy as their usual clients. Ultimately, the SAG rank and file voted against the deal.

Television studios in 2007 writers' strike
In 2007 the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP, which represents the major television studios) hired Fabiani and Lehane, presumably for PR work on the Writers Guild of America strike. The writers went on strike after their request for a portion of the dividends from online content sales was turned down by the studios.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Fabiani and Lehane "is being paid $100,000 a month to spin for the movie studios in their battle with striking writers." The article called their AMPTP work "especially noteworthy because nearly every Democratic presidential contender has shown up on the picket line in support of the writers - including Hillary Rodham Clinton, with whom Lehane has been working as an unpaid adviser for months."

Lehane dismissed Service Employees International Union president Andy Stern's criticism of his firm's AMPTP work. Lehane told the Chronicle that "he's earned 'zero, nada' from the unions and that everything he's done for them (including helping resolve a cafeteria workers' health care fight in Los Angeles) was done either at cost or pro bono." Referring to the "below the line" technical and support workers impacted by the strike, Lehane said: "The real issue here is that Stern needs to do some explaining on how it is that he is fighting for people who make more than doctors and pilots against the interest of real working-class people."

Californians for Fair Election Reform
Lehane worked for Californians for Fair Election Reform, a group opposing a Republican-backed initiative to award California's electoral college votes proportionally and based on the congressional districts, rather than the current winner-take-all system.

California Majority Report
Lehane is a "majority reporter" for the California Majority Report

Contact
Website: http://fabianiandlehane.com/

Chris Lehane:
 * (202) 549-5911
 * [mailto:clhehane@fabianiandlehane.com clhehane@fabianiandlehane.com]

SourceWatch resources

 * Glover Park Group

Articles

 * Jane Hamsher, "Union Busting Asshole Chris Lehane Anti-Worker Health And Safety, Too," FireDogLake.com, Dec. 9, 2007.
 * Jane Hamsher, "Bad Faith Studio Heads Buy Democratic Consultant Chris Lehane," FireDogLake.com, Dec. 7, 2007.
 * Laeta Kalogridis, "Call to Action: Show There's No Money in Union Busting," UnitedHollywood.blogspot.com, Dec. 7, 2007.
 * Laeta Kalogridis, " WGA Willing to Stay at the Table Day and Night Until We Have a Deal: Patric Verrone and Michael Winship just sent this message to the membership. The WGA is determined to stay at the table until we have a deal. If the AMPTP wants to negotiate in good faith, and end the strike, we are at the table,"UnitedHollywood.blogspot.com, Dec. 7, 2007.
 * sdpolitico, "What is Cal Labor Fed's Position on Chris Lehane," Calitics.com, Dec. 7, 2007.
 * Fred Schruers, "The Masters of Disaster Meet Tenacious D," Portfolio.com, Dec. 7, 2007.
 * "Writers, producers resume contract talks," NewsFeedResearcher.com, Dec. 7, 2007.
 * Ray Gustini and Nick Curran, "Writers' Strike: Behind the Studios' PR Push," Radar Online, Dec. 7, 2007.
 * hekebolos, "Tell the Presidentials: Union Busting is NOT acceptable," DailyKos, Dec. 7, 2007.
 * Matt Stoller, "Clinton Surrogate Chris Lehane Working to Break the WGA Strike," OpenLeft.com, Dec. 6, 2007.
 * Richard Verrier, "Studios bring in PR doctors," Los Angeles Times, Dec. 6, 2007.
 * "MP", "AMPTP brings in Fabiani-Lehane PR muscle," Variety blog, Dec. 5, 2007.
 * Nikki Finke, "Talks Day #7: AMPTP "Stalling Tactics"; Are The Moguls About To Quit The Talks?" Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily, Dec. 6, 2007.
 * Nikki Finke, "What This Strike Doesn't Need: More PR," Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily, Dec. 5, 2007.
 * Brian Leubitz, "Chris Lehane: Union Buster to the Stars," Calitics.com, Dec. 5, 2007.
 * Gracchus, "Democratic Consultants Fabiani and Lehane to work against Writers Union," San Diego Politico (blog), Dec. 5, 2007.
 * Joe Garofoli, "How Chris Lehane, revered by some and reviled by others, gets the campaign consultant job done," San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 24, 2007.
 * Matt Stoller, "Clinton Unleashes Attack Dog Chris Lehane on Obama," MyDD.com, June 12, 2007.
 * Josh Richman, "CA: Bridge builder's new flack a true PR virtuoso (Chris Lehane)," FreeRepublic reposting of Oakland Tribune article, April 16, 2005.
 * John McCrory, "Miramax hires Chris Lehane, Mark Fabiani et al to defend Fahrenheit 9/11: Right prepares to go negative on Moore," JohnMcCrory.com, May 26, 2004.
 * Paul Bedard, "Wesley Clark's soap opera," U.S. News and World Report, Oct. 3, 2003.
 * kos, "Clark's team takes shape," DailyKos, Sept. 16, 2003.
 * Steve Gilliard, "Why Clark's campaign will be fun to watch ," SteveGilliard.blogspot.com, Sept. 13, 2003.
 * John Fund, "Davis Gets Desperate: The governor's answer to California's energy crisis? Hire a couple of Clinton-Gore hatchet men," (op-ed) Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2001.
 * David Lazarus, "Master of disaster doing well," San Francisco Chronicle, May 19, 2002.
 * Mrigaya Subramanian, "Lehane: 'A fly on the wall to history'," Amherst Student, Oct. 22, 2001.
 * "Mark Fabiani: Special Counsel to the President," (bio) San Diego Chargers website, captured Dec. 10, 2007.
 * "Chris Lehane" (bio), CaliforniaMajorityReport, captured Dec. 10, 2007.
 * "John Kerry-Campaign Organization" (bios), captured Dec. 10, 2007.