A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall?
"John Ashcroft will be the prince of darkness for the adult Internet industry," proclaims attorney Greg Piccionelli of the L.A. law firm Brull Piccionelli Sarno Braun & Vradenburgh (www.brupic.com). The First Amendment stalwart made this declaration as a seminar panelist at the January 2001 Internext convention in Las Vegas.
Other lawyers who defend e-porn interests made similarly ominous forecasts in seminars with titles such as "Legal Update: An Overview of the Legal and Legislative Battles Facing the Industry" and "Election 2000: How the New (?) Administration Will Affect Your Business."
Attorney David Wasserman warned, "The last time there was a Reagan-Bush administration, the Justice Department ran amok, and adult entertainment was lucky to survive. I fear this type of people will get back into power, and will abuse it."
Clyde DeWitt of Weston Garrou & DeWitt ([email protected]) and Paul Cambria of Lipsitz Green Fahringer Roll Salisbury & Cambria, LLP ([email protected]), whose clients have included Larry Flynt, provided historic overviews of government obscenity cases, full of horror stories about Federal prosecutorial zeal while the senior Bush served as Vice President and President. Panelists warned that Congress has appropriated $5 million for obscenity prosecutions under the new administration. And Joe Obenberger of J.D. Obenberger & Associates ([email protected]) told 200 attendees, " I hope I'm wrong, but I'll probably be defending a number of people in this room over the next four years."
This may all be doom and gloom, presented primarily by those who stand to professionally benefit from defending adult Webmasters in court. On the other hand, consider that George W. Bush was the liaison between the religious right and his father's presidential campaign; Christian Coalition-types delivered South Carolina to G.W. at a critical moment in the primary battle with Sen. John McCain; and in Ashcroft, G.W. has appointed a reactionary - someone widely criticized by civil libertarians and civil rights groups - to head the Justice Department. The latter appears designed to appease the extreme Republican right wing, to which Bush is indebted.
Given the recent (and likely forthcoming) policy shifts that could affect cyberporn, and the importance of playing a role in the legislative process and beyond, AVN Online here takes a look at some of the organizations and individuals who lobby in favor of the adult Internet.
The Free Speech Coalition
The 1,000-member Free Speech Coalition (www.freespeechcoalition.com) is the on- and offline adult entertainment industry's vanguard organization in the struggle for constitutional rights vis-�-vis free sexual expression.
"We are the anticensorship trade association for the adult industry," says FSC Legislative Affairs Director Kat Sunlove. "FSC grew out of earlier adult trade associations and has a twofold mission: We focus on improving the working conditions and lives of people who make their living in the adult industry, providing services such as medical and other insurance, standardized contracts, and referrals to First Amendment lawyers. Our other mission is to improve external conditions - social attitudes, laws, and things of that sort - affecting the industry. We do lots of public speaking, trying to spread a message of tolerance and acceptance, and dispel some of the myths about industry. For example, our President, Gloria Leonard, spoke before the National Press Club in Washington last year."
Sunlove says that early on, the founders saw the importance of legislative activities, and got involved in specific issue-oriented activities in the early 1990s. But it was in the later '90s that the group really decided lobbying made sense, and hired California lobbyist Mike Ross, who was with FSC roughly two years. "Then they hired me as an independent contractor," Sunlove says, "and this is my fourth year."
Until August 2000, Sunlove says, she was an independent contractor with other lobbying clients. Since then, she's been on fulltime for the Coalition as the Legislative Affairs Director, meaning only about 20 percent of her time will be spent lobbying in California.
So what, you may ask, qualifies this Texas-born 50-something for the job? Sunlove has a Master's Degree in political science from the University of Hawaii, plus a year of law school - as well as a BDSM performance background. She lives near California's State capitol, and she calls Senate Pres. John Burton "my friend, a devoted First Amendment fighter who really believes in our rights. And while he's not a big supporter of the adult industry, he believes we shouldn't be discriminated against by laws."
Currently, Sunlove is creating a training manual to be used to teach people in the industry how to lobby. "Our desire is to develop a legislative agenda and national network, with chapters all around the country, at least in those states and communities, as well as in Washington, where there's enough interest and support from members of our trade," she says, pointing out the FSC has already testified at several Congressional hearings. "[Attorney] Jeffrey Douglas, the former Executive Director, spoke before, I believe, the COPA commission," Sunlove states. "Our new Executive Director, William Lyon - a businessman and communications specialist who comes from outside of the industry - is really quite well-versed in DC politics and knows many people there, mostly Republican. He worked in the previous Bush administration.
"The work we do in lobbying is so unique," she explains, "because it's the first time adult entertainment has had a face that was industry-wide. I'd been in Sacramento lobbying for many years, but usually I was coming up there on behalf of The Spectator, or more broadly, for a Bay Area coalition. But the adult industry, as an industry like the computer or healthcare industry, has not had that kind of fulltime presence in Sacramento. That makes a tremendous difference in our reception there and the kind of laws that get introduced. Because when an interest group has a presence, legislators know they can't just always slip one by like they could in the past, when we didn't have fulltimers looking over their shoulders."
FSC lobbied against regulation of nude dance clubs, and succeeded in grandfathering in the existing venues.
"The Internet, of course, has been a new topic for legislators, which - along with other subjects - they're expected to become instant experts on," Sunlove asserts. "They're sometimes really sloppy with legislation, and haven't thought it through. Then-California State Senator Joe Baca came out with a bill, SB238, that purported to deal with filters in schools and libraries. We argued that in public libraries, when an adult wants to access a computer, that adult should not have to ask for filters to be turned off. A child should have to ask to use computers, and at that time, the librarian should turn the filter on.
As it turns out, Sunlove says she had a "wonderful" working relationship with one of Baca's staffers. "The Senator accepted our proposal," she says.
Coalition members include major players such as Wicked Pictures, Babenet, Danni Ashe, and Larry Flynt. "We have a good working relationship with Bob Guccione and Penthouse," says Sunlove. "We have some support short of membership from Playboy; we had a reception at the mansion in LA a few years back."
Recipients of the Coalition's weekly newsletter, The Free Speech Express, include the ACLU. But while many so-called alternative-news weeklies carry 20 pages or more of adult ads and often support free speech causes, Sunlove laments, "they are not members of the Coalition. Sadly, their organization, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies... see themselves as somewhat different than the adult world." Nevertheless, Sunlove says, most of these publications charge a premium price for their adult advertisements.
According to Sunlove, "politicians absolutely do knowingly accept campaign contributions from the FSC and members of the adult community. Our typical campaign donation would be $1,000, usually in the form of buying a ticket to a fundraiser. Mostly for Democrats; but certainly, I'd go to a Republican fundraiser if I thought they could be helpful.
"We've contributed to John Burton, Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, and to San Diego Sen. Dede Alberts," Sunlove reveals. "She opposed the 'porn tax' - a proposed sin tax on adult products and services in order to raise funds for domestic violence clinics, which was defeated - saying she'd never vote for a tax on the First Amendment. She's a very strong supporter of our issues, though not our industry."
Sunlove says she'll greatly miss Tom Hayden, the former Chicago 7 radical and Jane Fonda's ex-husband, who left the state legislature due to term limits. Although Sunlove never donated money to Hayden, Larry Flynt told this reporter that Hayden is the only politician he'll go on record saying he contributed campaign funds to.
Sen. Sheila Kuehl's office once asked FSC to endorse a bill, which Sunlove did. Kuehl is California's first openly lesbian legislator (and in the early '60s, co-starred as Zelda on the old Dobie Gillis TV sitcom).
Sunlove adds that Libertarians are friendly to the industry, and when a Green Party candidate was elected to the California Assembly, she gave condoms away on her office.
The lobbyist gives another example of the advantage the industry has by having a presence at the legislature: "Sen. Jack O'Connell drafted a child porn bill in 2000. The language was good; his office had picked up from a brief conversation with me. Our issue with child porn bills is that so often, they use sloppy language. They say 'child pornography and obscenity,' and these are two completely different animals," states Sunlove.
However, she points out that the tabu nature of the industry makes it an easy target. "These are safe issues for politicians," says Sunlove. "They'll never lose any of their constituency by voting against the adult industry. People who like adult entertainment - millions of them - don't speak up about it. We're still so constrained by sex-negative religious prudery. Given Pat Buchanan's 'culture war' charge, our opponents are all the right wing groups. They cloak themselves often in deceptive titles, such as the 'Committee to Help Children.' In Sacramento, I deal with the Committee on Moral Concerns, the American Family Association, and the Rev. Lou Sheldon, a hysterical preacher type.
"Lobbying really is all about relationships - being there and getting your point of view across in a quiet way, and letting people learn over time who you are and what you're about," advises Sunlove.
She belongs to a women's networking group, called Capitol Network. Sunlove adds that FSC collaborates with the Association of Club Executives, the trade organization for adult nightclubs. FSC board member Wasserman also gives kudos to Mike Ross of the National Cabaret Association.
"If there are some busts in 2001, members of the industry may start being more supportive of FSC," Sunlove predicts. "That's what I've seen in my 20-plus years in the adult industry - people get mobilized when they face a crisis - unfortunately, not before. We're not as supported as we should be by this industry. It's tragic - FSC constantly struggles to keep membership dues coming in and to function as a viable trade organization. The money's out there, but people don't see it in their interests. I receive the low end of average pay for a state lobbyist, so I'm very underpaid to be a national lobbyist.
"The maverick individuals of this industry need to think of themselves as something bigger," she says.
David Wasserman
Attorney David Wasserman is a political consultant who has represented adult clients for more than a decade. Wasserman says he was a registered lobbyist in the Florida for years, and is currently a registered Republican. As a board member of the Free Speech Coalition, he has also lobbied in Washington. The attorney/consultant has long worked on political campaigns on both sides of the aisle, from Senator John Danforth (R-MO) to Lawton Chiles, the Democrat who beat Jeb Bush in a Florida gubernatorial race, as well as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's reelection effort. Wasserman continues as a consultant for mainstream candidates, and brings his political acumen to the adult community. This includes lobbying outside of the legislative arena per se.
"There are grass roots lobbying tactics," Wasserman points out. "In the early 1990s, Coors Brewing Company was donating lots of money to many extreme right-wing groups. Morality in Media used the funds to cause problems for the adult industry. We put together a very inexpensive flyer, telling people what Coors does with the money they use to buy Coors beer, and urging them to boycott Coors; we included the company's toll free number. We started in Orlando and the campaign spread nationally. I brought flyers to a CES convention, and 30,000 flyers were passed out in San Francisco alone. It fit inside video boxes, and asked people in the adult industry to help distribute them by passing them out every time someone rented a video.
"Coors was totally in shock," claims Wasserman. "This small group of people who didn't know any better took on the mighty Coors Brewing Company. Shortly afterwards, Coors called saying they'd already spent $10,000 for calls to their 800 number. Company representatives flew from Colorado to meet me in Florida, and suggested while they weren't politically able to donate funds to free speech organizations, which is what we requested, they did agree to cease all funding of our enemies, Morality in Media."
Before this, the attorney says he organized against the Great Orlando Coalition Against Pornography, which tried to stop mom and pop video shops from renting XXX-movies. "They had top politicians in their group and a $350,000 media budget, and printed maps identifying the shops, and anti-porn billboards," says Wasserman. "I banded the small video store operators together, raised less than $1,000, and published our own literature. We defeated them - some of the movies were taken to a grand jury, which found they were not obscene. Then, the American Family Association tried to start an Orlando chapter, and we turned out 2,000 people to protest them. They got scared, locked the doors to the church to their meeting, and cancelled starting the branch.
"What I found is that I work best behind the scenes," the circumspect attorney relates. "As I'm located in Florida, many moderate Republicans seek me out there in order to assist them in fighting the religious right. I fashion attack ads and strategies for them, in order to defeat religious right candidates."
He adds, "I'm constantly writing checks during election season, to both Republicans and Democrats. I donate money on behalf of myself and the firm; I usually don't ask adult clients specifically for contributions. But clients who need something that can be resolved politically know we, like any other lobbyists, do those things we need to do. And politicians accept the money - there's relatively few who don't and send checks back to me saying, 'You know I can't take money from you.' I've also had politicians come in my office, sit down in my chair, put their feet on my desk, and say 'I need you to raise money for me.'
"There are organizations I've given $5,000 to on a yearly basis," states Wasserman.
ACLU
A number of non-adult organizations conduct lobbying efforts against censorship of the Web and other media, and for privacy rights - all of which is to the benefit of the adult Internet. These include the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Library Association, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, and the Foundation for Information Policy Research, which opposes the British "Big Brother" RIP e-surveillance law.
Preeminent among these groups is the 300,000-member American Civil Liberties Union, which, since 1920, has been the vanguard US organization fighting for constitutionally-protected free expression and other rights.
According to ACLU Pres. Nadine Strossen, author of Defending Pornography, Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women's Rights, cyberspace is now the frontline for battles over freedom of speech. "Traditionally, the ACLU lobbies in favor of laws that would enhance civil liberties, and against laws that would restrict civil liberties," says Strossen. "We have always been active in the legislative arena, as well as litigation. We lobby at every level of government. On the cyberliberties front, we've won every lawsuit we've lodged against state cybercensorship laws. In the local arena, we've been quite successful in persuading many cities and library- and school-boards not to adopt certain repressive laws, usually requiring blocking software.
"We often realize we're unlikely to succeed in our lobbying efforts, so we simultaneously prepare lawsuits," the ACLU President advises. "For example, we lobbied down to the wire against the Communications Decency Act, and COPA. We were really trying very hard to stop members of Congress from passing them and to stop the President from signing them. But we recognized we were unlikely to succeed, so in both cases, we simultaneously prepared lawsuits we were able to file the minute the President signed the laws.
"Recently, we lobbied furiously against the McCain filtering legislation," declares Strossen.
"We really need pro-privacy legislation because the U.S. Constitution does not contain a general privacy guarantee. If we are to have any protection against things like the FBI's Carnivore (DCS1000), or cybersnooping by the private sector, we need laws that will specifically prohibit that," states Strossen.
Don't Moan - Organize
"No politician wants to come out or be seen on behalf of our industry," counsels Wasserman. "It's in the industry's best interests to be part of broader free speech groups, to get their issues brought forward. If the Democrats won't hold a fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion, certainly this industry - which generally makes Playboy look tame in comparison - needs to be part of broader coalitions. Not standing up, just saying we're the adult entertainment industry, against this or that - they won't get support. I found repeatedly that I can't get people to turn out in favor of adult entertainment, but can against censorship. We're fortunate in that lots of people feel disenfranchised by the 2000 election and oppose the Bush presidency, and we can work with them.
"The Ashcroft appointment has energized opposition, too," Wasserman points out.
"We've been working for many years now in very broad bipartisan coalitions to try and pass privacy legislation," Strossen says, noting that, politically, lawmakers want to vote for anti-porn laws like CDA and COPA; just as Communists were scapegoats during the McCarthy era, adult entertainment is a convenient fall guy today. Leftist movie stars provided an easy way for minor legislators to get their names in the news, and today, pornsters could play a similar role in catapulting unknown politicians into prominence.
"The Free Speech Coalition is certainly under-funded," laments Wasserman. "It needs money to lobby. Congress is split and the adult Internet industry needs to have its voice heard, and we have to speak very, very loudly when the Justice Department starts to prosecute, in order to take our case to the American people. Bush has to know that when he runs for reelection, he has a credible opposition."
The lawyer/lobbyist adds, "One thing that disappoints me is I've tried to get the adult Web to use its means. One company claims 50 million people go through its site daily. There was enough power in mass communications to have swayed the outcome of the election, when it boiled down to a few hundred votes in Florida.
"I say to myself, 'We could have changed things,'" he insists.
Another attorney who feels that the medium is the message is Greg Piccionelli. "With passage of the Digital Signature Act, it may be possible to generate initiatives and petitions online," he suggests.
Shortly before he stepped down as CEO of SexTracker, Andrew Edmond - who had spoken before the COPA Commission - had this to say: "Most adult companies are so vulnerable, spending so much money lavishly on marketing, and putting nothing away for that rainy day, which is coming. You're going to see lots of people currently enjoying a wonderful lifestyle who go out of business. It's very expensive to fight an enemy in the courts, in public opinion. There's no such thing as offense for us - only defense.
"The point is, if you care about your adult business, you should get involved in lobbying and the legislative process. Participation should be part of the way you do business - otherwise it will be taken away from you.
"We're in for a war, and we've got to defend ourselves."
