New Chief of MPAA Has Big Role to Fill

WASHINGTON —  Dan Glickman, the former congressman and Agriculture secretary who was named Hollywood’s chief lobbyist Thursday, will probably be compared with Jack Valenti for years. But he will never be mistaken for him.

Valenti, in his 38 years as president and chief executive of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, became synonymous with the movie industry. In 1965, when Valenti went Hollywood, he was already one of the most inside of Washington insiders as one of President Johnson’s closest aides.

Glickman, 59, also was once in the executive branch. But as President Clinton’s second Agriculture secretary, he was never in the administration’s inner circle. Before that, he had spent 18 years in Congress representing a Kansas district that was part Wichita and part farmland.

The former congressman, whose son is a movie producer, said Thursday that he faced a “steep learning curve” in mastering the ins and outs of the issues paramount to the movie industry, such as piracy and increasing congressional concern about sex and violence in the movies. He said Valenti would be a “hard act to follow.”

The two appeared together at a news conference, Valenti in his usual sartorial splendor, Glickman with his tie slightly crooked.

“I’ll be interested to see if he dresses better,” said Burdett A. Loomis, a University of Kansas political scientist. “He’s one of these guys who, even in a $1,000 suit, pretty soon the tie is a little askew.”

Glickman, who will earn more than $1 million a year, won the job after a nationwide search. Valenti said studio chiefs were impressed by Glickman’s House tenure, including his service on the Judiciary Committee -- which deals with many issues of importance to Hollywood -- and the former Agriculture secretary’s experience in resolving international disputes.

A Democrat, Glickman will be lobbying an administration and Congress controlled by Republicans. He played down party affiliation as a potential problem, saying he had never been regarded as overly partisan.

“I’m not so much a pit bull as I am a consensus builder,” he said, noting that as Agriculture secretary, he often dealt with conservative farm-state lawmakers.

Among those offering praise for Glickman’s selection were Kansas’ Republican senators, Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts. Brownback has been among Capitol Hill’s most forceful critics of Hollywood, in terms of what children see on TV and in movies.

Glickman also enjoyed the support of his onetime boss Clinton, who during the search for Valenti’s successor spent 45 minutes on the phone singing Glickman’s praises to a recruiter. Tim Ransdell, executive director of the California Institute for Federal Policy Research, a Washington-based group that examines federal issues crucial to the state’s economy, said Glickman was likely to “hit the ground running, thanks to his extensive congressional background and international trade expertise. Agriculture and entertainment have become global industries, so it is vital that a protector of California’s entertainment industry have the tools and stature to take on international as well as domestic issues.”

Citing the selection of someone from the middle of the country to represent Hollywood, political scientist Loomis said Glickman “is not so much a creature of Kansas. It’s a place he’s from. But he’s made his mark in Washington.”

Glickman is a Wichita native whose grandfather emigrated from Russia to run a scrap metal business. A lawyer, he served on the Wichita school board before his election to Congress in 1976.

After losing his bid for reelection in the 1994 Republican revolution, Glickman was tapped by Clinton in 1995 to serve as the Agriculture secretary. After nearly six years as a Cabinet member, he went to work at a Washington law firm and, most recently, as director of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.

He’s a movie buff who used to frequently attend the screenings Valenti held at the MPAA headquarters.

Glickman’s son, Jonathan, is a producer with Spyglass Entertainment, and his credits include “While You Were Sleeping” and the “Rush Hour” films. He said his father took him and his sister to the movies nearly every week.

Asked his favorite movie, Dan Glickman said, “Any movie my son produced.”

But he added that he had probably seen “The Godfather” 100 times.

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Times staff writer James Bates in Los Angeles contributed to this report.