Hollywood Elite Wants Another Gov. Brown : Politics: About 150 will pay $500 apiece toward her gubernatorial campaign to attend a cocktail party at Morton's. The most generous get dinner too.

By TERRY PRISTIN

May 31, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The gubernatorial election may be 17 months away, but Hollywood has already anointed State Treasurer Kathleen Brown as its favored candidate.

As one sign of their high esteem for Brown, about 150 entertainment luminaries will pay $500 apiece to gather Tuesday night at Morton’s Restaurant in West Hollywood for a cocktail party sponsored by four dozen of the industry’s biggest names. The most generous contributors will get to stay for dinner.

So solidly is Hollywood lining up behind Brown that MCA Inc. President Sidney Sheinberg is said to be the only mogul supporting Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, likely to be Brown’s fiercest rival for the Democratic nomination for governor. Entertainment figures say they hope that by making a strong showing early in the game, Brown will be able to avoid a bruising primary fight with Garamendi.

Garamendi strategist Darry Sragow conceded that Brown is “a very well-known person on the West Side of L.A.” but cautioned against making too much of her industry stronghold. “When you look at the real voters in California, the race is up for grabs,” he said.

Although President Clinton has recently been ridiculed for fraternizing with celebrities, most Brown enthusiasts say they are not worried about a backlash against their candidate. “The entertainment industry is part of the business of California,” said Kathy Garmezy, executive director of the Hollywood Policy Center. “That puts a different cast on it.”

Attributing the scorn heaped on Clinton for his new-found friendship with such stars as Barbra Streisand to “East Coast snobbery,” Atlantic Records executive Danny Goldberg said he doubted any of it would rub off on Brown. “I don’t think the media or the public here view it that way,” he explained. “We are part of them, and they are part of us.”

Heavily Democratic Hollywood has never been enthusiastic about Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican with the lowest approval rating of any California governor in the last 30 years, according to a Field Poll released last week. But the Brown juggernaut can be attributed to more than just dissatisfaction with the incumbent.

Bob Burkett is the politically knowledgeable vice president of the David Geffen Co. Burkett and others cited Brown’s “charisma,” a quality especially prized in the entertainment community. “She’s an exciting visionary candidate who will make people believe in government again,” he said.

“She’s enormously charismatic, very straightforward and down-to-earth and articulate,” said producer Lynda Obst (“The Fisher King”). “She feels very familiar in many ways. . . . You want to sit next to her at dinner.”

Elected to statewide office for the first time in 1990, Brown lives in Los Angeles and has many longstanding ties to entertainment industry figures. The daughter of former Gov. Pat Brown, sister of former Gov. Jerry Brown and wife of Fox TV News President Van Gordon Sauter, she counts among her close friends agent-turned-producer Rosalie Swedlin; television producer Barbara Corday (“Cagney & Lacey”) and novelist Judith Krantz (“Scruples”), who last year donated $17,000 to Brown’s exploratory committee. (This year’s donations do not have to be reported until June 30.)

Among her longtime supporters are “Brooklyn Bridge” creator Gary David Goldberg and his feminist-activist wife Diana Meehan; Disney Channel President John Cooke; Paramount Motion Picture Group Chairman Sherry Lansing; QVC Network Chairman Barry Diller, and entertainment industry lawyer Kenneth Ziffren. Record company mogul Geffen, Walt Disney Studios Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg and the Creative Artists Agency’s Bill Haber have also been “real helpful,” Brown’s finance director, Ann Hollister, said.

Considered a formidable fund-raiser, Brown took in $2 million last year--$800,000 of it at a $1,000-a-plate dinner in December at the Beverly Hilton Hotel at which industry heavyweights were well represented. Hollister said the treasurer expects to have raised another $1 million by the end of the month.

In addition to Krantz, entertainment figures who made sizable contributions last year include Universal Pictures chief Thomas P. Pollock ($10,000), former Carolco Pictures President Peter Hoffman ($10,000), television producer Norman Lear ($5,000), super-agent Michael Ovitz ($5,000), Ziffren ($5,000), Castle Rock managing partner Alan Horn ($5,000) and Swedlin’s husband, “The Cutting Edge” producer Robert Cort ($5,000). Among the political action committees that have helped stuff Brown’s coffers are Warner Bros. ($7,000), Disney ($10,150) and 20th Century Fox ($10,000). Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman Peter Guber is among the sponsors of tonight’s event, as are Columbia Pictures Chairman Mark Canton and TriStar Pictures Chairman Mike Medavoy.

Hollywood’s mid-level ranks have not been overlooked. On May 11, 100 studio vice presidents joined younger actors, producers and agents in paying $150 a person to rub shoulders with the treasurer at Georgia, a trendy Melrose Avenue restaurant. Organizers of the event included CAA agent Jay Moloney, Warner Bros. vice president for production Tom Lassally and producer Denise DiNovi (“Batman Returns”).

“I’ve lived here all my life, and I’ve become so depressed by all the negative changes,” said DiNovi, who was impressed with Brown’s “passion” about issues such as school system reform and health care.

Hollywood’s role in the governor’s race potentially could be enormous. In contrast to contests for mayor, U.S. senator and President, there are no contribution limits for candidates for state office.

But one politically active insider, who did not wish to be identified, said he has counseled people in Hollywood not to overdo it. “My advice is to stay within proportion,” he said. “You don’t want to get too far out front.”

Although Brown’s 1992 financial statement is studded with Hollywood names, they make up only a small part of her contributor base--a point emphasized by exploratory committee officials.

“(Hollywood) is just one of the many communities that Kathleen has appealed to,” Hollister said. “She has traveled the state--from Riverside, to San Diego, to Eureka. It’s not like this is the only community she’s tried to reach out to.”

Garamendi aide Sragow said his boss is not writing off any particular category of potential supporters, and he called the flap over Clinton’s Hollywood connection “a tempest in a teapot.” Yet by drawing a distinction between the industry and “real voters,” he suggested that Brown’s show business support conceivably could become a campaign issue.

“It’s true they (the entertainment industry) regard Garamendi as an interloper from somewhere up in the San Joaquin Valley,” Sragow said. “The real voters are very familiar with John’s work as insurance commissioner.” Several of Garamendi’s initiatives--such as his health-care reform plan--have received widespread public attention.

While noting that the insurance commissioner “tends not to hang out at restaurants owned by Wolfgang Puck,” Sragow said the entertainment industry is not a monolith. “Hollywood doesn’t throw all its support to one cause.”