Members of the Hollywood community have railed against the influx of money in politics in films like The Campaign and the power corporations wield via the Citizens United ruling.
Meanwhile, some of the industry’s heaviest hitters are lining up to use their clout– and cash–to make Hillary Clinton the country’s next president.
On Wednesday, [Clinton] is scheduled to headline a $15,000-per-person fundraising luncheon for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe at the home of media mogul Haim Saban and his wife Cheryl. That evening, she is scheduled to speak at the environmental org Oceana’s Partners Award Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, with a long list of politically active entertainment figures among those who are chairing the event.
On Nov. 8, she is scheduled to speak at a gala for the International Medical Corps, also at the Beverly Wilshire, at an event where Jeffrey Katzenbergand Steven Spielberg are among the cohosts. The next morning, she is due to be honored by the Mexican American Leadership Initiative at USC. Also on her schedule is a Nov. 8 event on early childhood education, with Rob Reiner, a longtime Clinton supporter and advocate on the issue, as the moderator and the Clinton Foundation as sponsor.
The template is already in place–witness the entertainment industry’s near universal support for President Barack Obama. Now, with Obama’s agenda and reputation crumbling, celebrities and entertainment power brokers alike are ready to open their wallets anew. Apparently, regrets aren’t on the agenda, nor thoughts about Clinton’s handling of the Benghazi debacle.
In Hollywood’s donor community, “many conversations end with people saying, ‘I can’t wait for Hillary.’ People are ready,” says political consultant Donna Bojarsky, who runs the Foreign Policy Roundtable, an org of industry exec briefings on foreign policy.