Nina Hartley and other as-yet unnamed adult film stars will be part of the entertainment during this year's Celebrate Free Speech Lobbying Days in Sacramento May 7-9.
"We want to enlarge our presence in the Capitol," says Free Speech Coalition spokeswoman Kat Sunlove. "This year's event will be more exciting than ever."
Entertainment this year, she says, will include one special guest - Jerry McQuire, a consultant to the California state Senate Public Safety Committee and a blues musician, who has offered entertainment and dance music for the May 8 buffet dinner. "Staffers from the Capitol are already making plans to come along to dance with their favorite stars," Sunlove says.
Hartley was one of the highlights of last year's event, along with Midori, Christi Lake, Shayla LaVeaux, and Johnni Black.
Sunlove says the Sunday afternoon Salon even will be expanded to what she calls a full-fledged community forum, co-sponsored by FSC and National Against Censorship Together (N-ACT) and open to the public. Gold Club Centerfolds in Rancho Cordova has agreed to host a fundraiser the night before the three-day convention begins. Sunlove says FSC expects to go on with the event as a benefit.
Some prominent speakers Sunlove hopes will appear include Anthony Weeks of the Coro Foundation; Stephen Levine with the Center for Investigative Reporting; and, Carl London, lobbyist for the Recording Industry Association of America. Hartley is already slated to speak at the forum.
"I expect this to be a scintillating and educational event for participants, fans, and the general public," Sunlove says.
"The educational program is also being re-vamped to include an advanced training module for experienced attendees, including how to be a team leader and how to prepare testimony for a hearing," she continues. "The basic course in the ABC's of lobbying and First Amendment law is a pre-requisite for first-timers or for those wanting a review."
Those attending will then get a kind of crash course in reading and analyzing legislation, learning about laws in other states, and practice in both legislative analysis and writing lawmakers effectively, not to mention role-playing exercises for the full lobbying day set for May 9.
Those who want to attend Lobbying Days should apply no later than March 30, with word of their selection coming by April 7, Sunlove says.
