Billy Ray Urges WGA Members To “Rid The Senate” Of Kelly Loeffler & David Perdue
Oscar-nominated screenwriter and The Comey Rule writer-director Billy Ray is urging WGA West members to mobilize through the guild’s political action committee to “rid the Senate” of GOP incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in next month’s dual runoff races in Georgia.
Loeffler and Perdue “are fairly loathsome,” he said today in a mass email to the guild’s members. “Both are millionaires who have abused their office to enrich themselves illegally, using intel from a Senate COVID briefing last January to improve their stock portfolios while simultaneously telling their constituents that the pandemic was nothing to worry about. They have to go. And we have to do our part.”
The guild’s PAC endorsed their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, in the general election, and is supporting them again in the runoff. Ray called them both “great Americans.”
“We can win these races. Joe Biden just proved that,” Ray wrote. “And if we do, Biden gets a Senate that will actually strive to represent America, and not just the rich.” A win by both Democrats on January 5 would give control of the Senate. “Please dig deep one more time,” he said. “My hair truly is on fire about this one.”
Ray was Oscar-nominated for Captain Phillips, for which he won the WGA Award for best adapted screenplay. His other credits include The Hunger Games, Richard Jewell, Shattered Glass, The Last Tycoon and most recently The Comey Rule, the Showtime miniseries he wrote and directed depicting the leadup and aftermath of President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey.
The WGAW PAC’s website notes that it “relies on voluntary contributions” from the guild’s members, and “helps to elect federal candidates who support the guild’s public policy priorities,” which include “protecting free speech, fair competition, net neutrality, our health and pension benefits and our right to organize.”
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