Patric Verrone was just elected President of the WGAw (Writers Guild of America, west) with a whopping 69% of the vote. If President Bush could claim that 52% was a mandate in last November's election, then Verrone's landslide is a super-duper mandate. I mean this is a Johnson/Goldwater or Nixon/McGovern size super-spanking of the opposition.
Verrone ran with a slate of other writers and every single one of them was elected in a clean sweep. Together they ran on a platform of organizing writers in reality, animation, internet, etc. and then taking a more aggressive posture to reaching out to the sister guilds of the DGA, SAG, etc. This means writers are tired of getting crumbs at the negotiating table and are going to be expecting better treatment.
I've known Patric since 2000 when I served a term on the WGA Board of Directors. He's a Harvard educated lawyer who spent his last few years working on "Futurama." He's one of the smartest guys I know. The WGA is in good hands.
