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Nicole Avant, who played a key role as a fundraiser here for Barack Obama in 2008, has resigned as his ambassador to the Bahamas and will return to Los Angeles "to help fix the president's troubled relationship with the entertainment industry," Tina Daunt writes at The Hollywood Reporter.
Avant, the daughter of longtime music executive and Democratic activist Clarence Avant, was one of Obama's earliest and most dedicated Hollywood supporters -- raising millions for the president's 2008 campaign...Avant, with her deep ties to both the Democratic party and the entertainment industry, is being called upon to patch things over and rekindle at least some of Hollywood enthusiasm for Obama.
To that end, Avant and her husband, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, will host a major fundraiser attended by first lady Michelle Obama at their Beverly Hills home on January 31. Co-chairs of that event include Kelly Meyer, Irena Medavoy and Colleen Bell. Invitations will go out in the coming days, THR has learned.
The first lady will also be in Hancock Park for a luncheon on February 1. The event is being hosted by attorney Michael Lawson and his interior-designer wife Mattie McFadden Lawson. The president and vice president are also expected to be in Los Angeles in the coming weeks for additional meet-and-greets.
"I can't think of a better ambassador for the president to the Hollywood community than Nicole," said veteran Democratic consultant Kerman Maddox.
Small quibble: Unless they have moved, the Lawsons live not in Hancock Park but across Wilshire Boulevard in Muhammad Ali's former home in gated Fremont Place.
More notes:
All is not well in the relationship between Current TV and its most celebrated politics host, Keith Olbermann, as seen in last night's disagreement over coverage of the Iowa caucuses. In fact, both sides seem pretty tired of each other already. Wait: Olbermann burns out another gig? That can't be right. THR, The Wrap
- City Attorney Carmen Trutanich's batting average on Occupy LA prosecutions is looking more minor league than anything. Most cases to come up so far: dismissed. LA Weekly
- The Cook Political Report is calling the Berman-Sherman showdown in the Valley's 30th congressional district as so far Rep. Brad Sherman's to lose, despite all the money flowing to Rep. Howard Berman. "Initial advantage: Lean Sherman."
- City Councilman Eric Garcetti joined in the flow of incumbents into the Joe Buscaino camp in the upcoming 15th council district runoff.
- Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief Charlie Beck will announce the yearly crime and arrest statistics Thursday at 9 a.m. at LAPD headquarters. LAFD Chief Brian Cummings will join in the fun, along with an official from the LAX police and the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service.