WGA elects John Wells

The executive producer of "ER" and "The West Wing" takes over as president of the Writers Guild, defeating former "MASH" and "Frasier" writer Elias Davis, the union's secretary treasurer who had been endorsed by outgoing president Patric Verrone. With 2,348 votes cast (about 30 percent of the membership), Wells drew 52.8 percent of the vote to Davis' 47.2%, winning by 125 votes. From Variety:

The victory by Wells could dramatically alter the WGA West's negotiating posture for the next round of contract talks, which are expected to begin by the end of next year for a successor to the hard-fought existing contract set to expire in May 2011. Wells had been highly critical of Verrone's leadership for its confrontational tactics, its inability to work with the DGA and its allocation of WGA West resources toward organizing the reality TV sector. But Verrone, who was termed out of the presidency after serving two consecutive two-year terms, and his allies will still control the WGA West board board as Davis' running mate Tom Schulman won the VP slot over Wells' slatemate Howard Michael Gould.