The West Wing Cast Comes to Washington to Lobby Card Check

By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers

If Congress won't listen to the real president push for the pro-union Employee Free Choice Act, maybe the popular fake president from TV's West Wing can win passage of the bill. Cast members of The West Wing, including Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford, and Richard Schiff, will hit Capitol Hill Tuesday to debut a new grass-roots campaign to boost support for the controversial "card check" labor legislation. It was dealt a blow last week when Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, most likely the deciding Senate vote, said he wouldn't vote for the bill. "I think it couldn't be a more appropriate time for them to be coming to town to help draw focus to this issue and draw focus to the workers," says Josh Goldstein, a spokesperson for American Rights at Work, which is hosting the event.

Although The West Wing went off the air in 2006, many of the cast members remained tied to Washington by their political activism—mostly for progressive causes. Allison Janney, who played Press Secretary C. J. Cregg, now does work for EMILY's List, while Whitford is on the board of directors of American Rights at Work and was instrumental in bringing part of the cast back to Washington to fight for this bill. "He has been highly involved in activist work for fighting for the rights of America's workers," Goldstein says.

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