Steve Bing, the mob-linked Hollywood producer who gave $900K to John Edwards’ PAC early in the campaign, is just as shy as ever with the press if you go by a story in the Washington Post this morning. Yo, Post, New York Times, AP, Reuters, UPI, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox? Won’t anyone ask Edwards himself, shown at left, for Bing-related details? Edwards sits on the copyright-related Judiciary Committee.
Copyright probably wouldn’t have been Bing’s only reason for giving to Edwards, I can think of many legitimate and even laudable ones, but isn’t it odd that the Senator is so populist on noncopyright issues but has made nary a sound on the multibillion-dollar Sonny Bono copyright giveaway–a transfer of wealth from libraries and America at large to the copyright elite?
Meanwhile, here’s what the Post says today:
Bing declined numerous requests for interviews, saying through a spokesman that he is too “shy”…
“He is probably the most committed Democrat I know,” said director Rob Reiner, a friend of Bing. “Why has he given so much this year? Why do you think? We just have to get this president out of the White House”…
Bing has been known more as a staple of tabloids than political player, whether it is getting into spectacular legal fights involving other Hollywood figures, or fathering actress Elizabeth Hurley’s son. He has also attracted attention in California for his friendship with Dominick “Donnie Shacks” Montemarano, a captain in the Colombo crime family convicted of racketeering charges in 1987 and recently sentenced to prison for assault.
Reminder: No right-wing conspiracies here. I’m a lifelong liberal Democrat voting for Kerry-Edwards.
