Chris Lehane has always been an asshole, since back in 2003 when he was fired by the Kerry campaign for being a major league asshole. Kerry's campaign started turning things around almost immediately. Meanwhile, Lehane was picked up by the Clark campaign, where he proceeded to help drag that campaign to the ground -- but not before he played point in the anti-Howard Dean smear effort.
In fact, Lehane has such a reputation as a smear meister, that he and his partner Mark Fabiani are known as the "masters of disaster".
Now, Lehane is working with the Hollywood studios to do what he does best -- smear the opposition. In this case, that's the writers.
But the fallout is already beginning, SEIU has already canned his ass, and the rest of his union client roster will likely soon follow while any such work in the future won't be there.
Not that Lehane will weep too much. There's probably more money on the union-busting side. Just ask Hillary's top advisor -- Mark Penn -- about that.
Less promising for the studios, however, is that Chris Lehane has become the story here, and without his ability to wield his dark arts in the shadows, his effectiveness is short-circuited. There's no PR value in hiring a master of sleaze when everyone sees you do it in broad daylight.
Email your favorite shows to demand they settle with the writers by clicking here.