CANOGA PARK, CA – Late Friday, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced that, “due to “budget constraints, FSC is scheduled to lay off Kat Sunlove, Director of Legislative Affairs, and Layne Winklebleck, Legislative Affairs Associate at the end of December.”“Lobbying is a priority for FSC but the overhead and expense of staffing a separate lobbying office is too great,” said new FSC executive director Diane Duke. “With the added expense that comes from FSC’s 18 USC 2257 as well as the FSC v. Utah litigation, we must scrutinize every dollar.”

In its press release, the FSC states that in order to “cut costs and consolidate operational expenses,” the Coalition plans to outsource its California lobbying efforts, while lobbying efforts in Washington will continue to be handled by the The Raben Group of Washington D.C.

“Two of the institutions established by Kat and Layne, the Free Speech X-Press and our annual Celebrate Free Speech Lobbying Days in Sacramento, have had as much impact on both the organization and the individual members as any activity undertaken by the Coalition,” said Jeffrey Douglas, FSC Board Chair. “We are eternally grateful for their contributions.”

In an email addressed to presumed members of the FSC, Sunlove asserted that the FSC is currently being steered by “stagnant leadership,” and encouraged all FSC members to vote to replace the current board – except Tim Valenti.

“Several incumbents have served on the board for numerous consecutive terms, leading to a stagnant leadership which is out of touch with the needs of the membership,” Sunlove asserts in the email. “This situation has resulted in a lack of proper oversight of the Executive Director, budget and planning processes. In earlier years, this failure by the board allowed Bill Lyon to mismanage funds for personal use, a possible violation of criminal law which has never been properly redressed.”

“More recently, the lack of board oversight of the Executive Director has resulted in the flagrant waste of the windfall of membership dues which followed the 2257 injunction in June of 2005,” Sunlove’s email continues. “Due to poor planning and profligate spending, an agency that had a staff of ten last year at this time is now down to one full-time and two part-time people (excluding the new ED). As part of this massive cost-cutting, FSC has even eliminated the entire Legislative Affairs Department, clearly one of the most important functions of the agency.”

“It seems to me that it is time for a change,” Sunlove opines. “I urge you to restrain from voting for incumbents and instead cast your vote for new voices on the board. (The exception is Tim Valenti who has only served one term.) I would also caution against voting more attorneys onto the board as there is an inherent conflict of interest for those who stand to gain professionally from their high-profile association with FSC.”

Interestingly, the FSC also announced Friday that all FSC members will receive their ballots for the FSC Board of Directors election in the mail this week.

Board incumbents include First Amendment Attorney Jeffrey Douglas; Mara Epstein, business development consultant from XBiz and Crush; Senior Editor of AVN, Mark Kernes; First Amendment Attorney, Reed Lee; and Naked Sword CEO, Tim Valenti.

All of the above are running for another two-year term on the Free Speech Coalition Board of Directors.

The challengers in this year’s election include:
Michael Fattorosi, Esq; Partner of Fattorosi & Chisvin;
Phyllis Heppenstall, Founder/Chairman of the Board for Peekay, Inc.;
Martin P. O’Malley, Jr,. Owner of. Plan B Investments, Inc.;
Bo (AKA: David Pezzullo), Director of Sales and Marketing for East Coast News;
Jesse Spencer (AKA: Mr. Marcus) Performer and Owner of MSEX, Inc.;
Lynn Swanson, General Manager of M & M Sales;
Richard Wagner, Ph.D., President/CEO of Daddy Oohhh! Productions
John Yates, Esq., Partner of Berman, Mausner & Resser.

All the above challengers are making their first run at the FSC Board of Directors.

Final ballots must be postmarked by December 18, 2006, and the 2007 FSC Board will be announced at the FSC annual membership meeting on Friday, January 12th, at 5pm, in the Marco Polo Room, # 701-702, at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.

“The FSC Board of Directors oversees the trade association’s activities and sets the organizational agenda and direction with strategic planning,” the FSC explained in its release Friday. “In addition to oversight and leadership, Board members also sit on working committees, including: Executive Committee, Government & Legal Committee, Membership Committee, Internet/Technology Committee, Fundraising Committee, and the Public Information Committee. The Board will meet ten times in 2007. All members volunteer their time without pay or remuneration.”

To find out more about the FSC Board nominees, go to: http://www.freespeechcoalition.com/FSCView.asp?action=preview&coid=970