Actor Jim Belushi Headliner at Fundraiser

for Bill Hogan Free Speech Fight

Prominent Chicagoans from business, labor, entertainment, sports and academia are being joined by other prominent figures from coast to coast in support of former Chicago Teamster Bill Hogan’s efforts to defend himself against what can only be called un-American restrictions on free speech and association by the controversial federal watchdog known as the Independent Review Board (IRB).

The first event of the Committee will be a fundraiser at O’Briens restaurant in Chicago on March 24^th which will feature Hogan’s longtime friends Actor James Belushi and former Chicago Bear great Richard Dent. Co-hosts include former State Senator William Marovitz and Jam Productions CEO Arny Granat who urge all individual concerned about first amendment protections to support to send checks to his legal defense fund: Friends of Bill Hogan, 173 Tecumseh Drive, Bollingbrook, IL, 60440.

Their invitation to the fundraiser notes that “as incredible as it may seem, Bill Hogan could actually face a six month jail sentence simply for speaking to lifelong friends in the Teamster’s union… Because of the action of a rogue agency known as the Independent Review Board (IRB), which has trampled on the rights of free speech, freedom of association and due process, a New York court has cited Bill for contempt of court for violating an order not to ever speak to his lifelong friends.” Hogan has already spent $180,000 to mount a legal defense.

Other prominent members of the Free Speech for Bill Hogan include longtime Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff, who has written extensively about free speech and First Amendment cases, Jerry Roper, CEO Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Father John Smyth, former Director Maryville Academy and Principal of Notre Dame High School, Theodore R. Tetzlaff, Chairman of the Board of Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, Playboy Enterprises Chairman Christie Hefner, David Guillod, head of United Talent Agency of Beverly Hills, LA film producer Steven J. Brown, former Illinois Film Office Director Lucy Salenger, Mary Ann Rose, President of Tamar Productions Inc., Hedy Ratner co-president Women Business Development Center author Marvin Zonis, former Illinois State Senator Howard Caroll, former White Sox announcer and baseball great Jimmie Piersall, Coca Cola executive John Rosales, restaurateurs Steve Lombardo and John Colletti, (Gibsons) Phil Stefani, Grant DePorter, manager of Harry Caray’s Restaurant, Arny Granat of Jam Productions, Bud Cataldo, Chairman

Hostmark Hospitality Group, Brian Hynes, attorney with Shefsky & Froelich, Pat O’Brien, retired General Manager of Swissair, Jack Kellman, retired, Robert Hobart of the American Medical Association, Robert Seid, Electric-S LLP, Anthony DeGrado III, United Steelworkers Local 17, Cliff Chentnik, Teamster Labor Activist, Paul Oddo, retired Business Manager Alliance of Theatrical Stagehands (IATSE) Local 476 and Thomas Fitzgibbon Sr., retired Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Airline and Railway Clerks.