SAG re-elects Ken Howard as president

HowardKen Howard has won a second two-year term as president of the Screen Actors Guild after spending the past two years pushing for a merger beteween SAG and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists.Howard defeated a trio of relative unknowns for the presidency -- David Hillberg, Asmar Muhammad and Sharon Rubin. Official results were expected to be announced by Thursday evening.Howard's running mate, secretrary-treasurer Amy Aquino, won re-election without opposition as the heads of the Unite for Strength faction.Howard won the 2009 election with 47% of the vote over Anne-Marie Johnson with 33% and Seymour Cassel with 18% while Aquino narrowly beat incumbent Connie Stevens. Unite for Strength candidates, who have stressed merger and pragmatism, have dominated in recent elections over the self-styled progressives of Membership First.UFS won 10 of the 11 national board seats except for the seat held Scott Bakula. The faction all won all but two of the 22 Hollywood/National Alternate seats, which were won by Valerie Harper and Esai Morales.Unite for Strength spokesman Ned Vaughn said, "If you're in tune with what members need and want, they will support your leadership - that's what happened today. The leaders who have been working hard to bring SAG and AFTRA together were overwhelmingly re-elected here in Hollywood and across the country. We're going to continue that vital work and by January, I believe we'll have a solid plan for the boards to review.The first two formal meetings between reps of the AFTRA and SAG have begun working out details of the merger plan as part of the official process of delivering a merger plan by next January.A member vote could take place by mid-year by the 120,000 members of SAG and the 70,000 members of AFTRA -- with 45,000 members belonging to both. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

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