Mark Kernes comments: "Dear Gene, In a posting on your site yesterday, Mike Ross, lobbyist and de facto head of the National Cabaret Assn. writes:
(( "Mark Kernes, Jane Hamilton and I have had conversations about raising money for Free Speech. My intention is to show how to lobby in the 21st Century. My methods may not be the best or the worst, but I'm raising money, I'm effective, I'm doing what needs to be done." ))
"This is incorrect. Mike and I have never had conversations about raising money for Free Speech. The situation was that Jane informed me that Russ Hampshire had agreed to shoot a "how to lobby" tape for Mike, which I have yet to see a script for, so I am unaware of just what is intended to be in this tape. However, from what Jane told me, one thing that seemed missing from the concept was basically, to borrow a slogan from Frank Capra, 'Why We Fight.' In other words, the philosophical basis for supporting free speech and, in my case, since I'm a board member, Free Speech. I offered to write such a philosophical statement for the tape because I believe the tape would be significantly less valuable without it, and because it's one of the things I'm good at talking about. That is the extent to which Mike Ross and I are working together on 'raising money for Free Speech,' which is to say, not at all.
(( Ross attributes his volume of activity to hiring people to do little projects. "I'm operating my system on a business foundation. I take it very personally. I'm very concerned about where money goes. There's a whole lot of things that need to go into building an infrastructure. I've done that. Conversely, I don't think Free Speech has done it in a proper way. I'm surprised when I've offered to participate - I'm willing to spend my own money, I want to do this, I've been denied every opportunity to participate on the Free Speech Coalition board. I want to put on an event. They don't want me to. I want to raise money for them. They don't want to take my money. They don't want me to lobby for them. The problem with this industry is the egos." ))
"And, of course, one of the biggest egos in' (and I use that term loosely) the industry is Mike Ross himself, so perhaps he knows what he's talking about here. But I think it's a bit disingenuous of Mike to claim to want to help raise money for Free Speech when, less than a year ago, he didn't have a good word to say about the organization, has called its Executive Director (Jeffrey Douglas) and lobbyist (Kat Sunlove) supporters of child pornography, and claimed the organization itself was useless. That must be why he's campaigning so hard right now to be elected to its board. Simply put, Mike Ross has been two-faced about Free Speech ever since his lobbying contract was not renewed - something it's obvious that he holds a grudge about to this day, though sometimes I get the feeling he won't even admit that to himself. There's the public face he uses when talking to Gene and, to a certain extent, myself, and there's the more 'honest' face that shows up in his news faxes, several of which have contained digs against Free Speech, often in an attempt to bolster his own organization, the National Cabaret Assn.
"I would certainly not consider restricting Mike Ross' free speech - in fact, I've run several pieces by him in the legal news in AVN - but I do not consider him to be a forthright individual where anything concerning the Free Speech Coalition is concerned. Mark Kernes."
Gene sez: "Mark, if those comments from Ross, drove you nutso, here's Part 2 of what Ross had to say, including remarks about the "how to lobby" tape.
Ross: "I'm doing so many things that I'm losing track. I need to hire a p.r. person. I hired a web master.
"Look at the Free Speech website. Compare it to mine or AVN's. AVN is a user-friendly site. It's not the greatest design, but it's designed for you to go there and get information. When you go to Free Speech what do you get? When you go to my site you get all these fucking sites and it drives you bananas, but there's information there. I've had attornies tell me they couldn't find everything that they wanted, but one attorney told me he spent an hour-and-a-half on my website. To be on that long, that's a helluva good comment. My site might not work all the time, but people are impressed. It looks nice, it looks fresh, it looks clean. It's got up-to-date information. It's not the greatest. I'm not Exxon. I don't have the money. But the adult industry guys have the money. They have the staff. They just don't do it. But because of the way the egos are, there's a misunderstanding as to the way non-profit should operate. Non-profit should operate focused to bring everybody together, to make business and to promote business.
"I have some commitments from some people who'd like to be on the Free Speech board. I'm thinking about putting a slate together to put some new members on the board. I have several who I think are very qualified. I've been asked to start a new board and forget the old board. I do have a mechanism to be able to do that. I've even been asked by one company to just turn around and submit a proposal to all the companies just to lobby for them. They don't need a trade association or anything. I can charge them $500 a month and it's cheaper than the bills they're getting now from Free Speech. The point is they'll get better service, more service, and correct and more information.
"One of the things I do with my board members [the National Cabaret Association] is I fax them everyday. That way they know what I'm doing. If they have a complaint they can call me. I would do the same thing if I was the executive director of the Free Speech Coalition. There's 13 people on the board of Free Speech? It may cost a little money, but there's a staff person, we got the equipment and I know how to get people motivated. I would really like to do it.
"If you read the want ad in the paper [for Free Speech executive director], there's only one person in America qualified to do that. That's me. Gloria [Leonard] says there's no money? I'll do it for free. I've had conversation with major club owners. They want their own organization, but the second thing they tell me it's very important that the Free Speech Coalition stays alive.
"Politics is a world where there's all kinds of information and all kinds of turns. Kat [Sunlove] plays a vital role, simply because I can't cover everything. I play a vital role for her because she can't cover everything. There has to be a better working relationship, and I think that's the kind of thing VCA and Jane [Hamilton] and are trying to do.
"We are doing the movie. My hopes are for the movie, Christi Lake said she'd like to do it. I have asked Serenity to do it. Juli Ashton has already said she'd like to do it. Nina Hartley and Mike Horner have already shot their stuff. I'm very excited because we're getting big names to participate in it. It'll be great. I hope it's going to be the largest selling adult film ever made. I want to give away a quarter million copies around the country.
"That's a whole brand new idea - giving away something to the consumers to get them involved. We need to be more consumer-oriented. We bring 12 billion dollars worth of money into this country, we need to stand up for our economic rights. We create a lot of jobs. We do a lot of things, and a lot of people depend on our products and services. We just need to pitch it correctly. Fine tuning the board will allow that to happen. Bringing it into the 21st century will allow that to happen. By choosing people from around the country as opposed to just LA, that will help.
"There are a lot of things that can be done. Getting the United Way to spend a weekend with a group will give them all kinds of education and ideas. Even if they don't want to do the retreat, they can call the United Way and tell them to send over the books of rules and procedure.
"Have you ever been to a Free Speech Board Meeting? Do they operate on Robert's Rules of Procedure? But most of the groups in trade associations operate on some Parliamentary procedure. Just cause they're rebels and individuals doesn't mean that they can't operate on rules and procedures. One of the first things I would do is revamp the board procedures and put it out for a vote or do a run with a slate to show there are people from around the country who support what Free Speech has done.
"I have people in my group who belong to Free Speech. They do it because it's the right thing to do. I want to support Free Speech and make sure they survive. They've made some mistakes. I've made some mistakes. I want to be able to help them overcome them. I'd like to be on the board. I think I deserve to be on the board. I represent a lot of businesses already. I think I can bring that to the board. If they choose not to, I still have my own function and my own ability with my own clients to go out and do lobbying. I think the board would be making a mistake by not taking the olive branch. I can help them raise money, I can help them get members. I can help them do all the things that need to be done. All they have to do is say, sure, Mike, we'd love to have you
