Larry Thompson for United States Congress in California’s 37th District


You know him as Larry Thompson, veteran television producer and talent representative. The world may soon know him as Congressman Larry Thompson. Larry Thompson (Independent) is running against incumbent Karen Bass (Democrat) for Representative in the district that houses both Sony and Fox/Disney studios.

The Golden Globes were held a stone’s throw from the district Larry Thompson will represent if he is successful in his bid for Congress. This past awards season kicked off with a scathing monologue by Ricky Gervais that lambasted the Industry. So much of what happens globally flows through Tinseltown and the true capital of Lala land is Century City. Thompson sits uniquely qualified to serve as an ambassador in Washington D.C. as America and China move their economies closer together once intellectual property rights get renegotiated. America will need a sage like Thompson to lead that charge protecting one of our most important exports.

The 37th district encompasses Century City and Culver City that are homes to motion picture studios. There are many other aspects of entertainment inside this district including most of the talent agents. Many of those that hear about Thompson’s bid as an independent candidate are complimentary but many see him as a potential disruptor at a time when Democrats struggle to forge a cohesive message. "The polarized political positions in our nation have become dangerous in many ways. As an Independent, I want everyone to use Common Sense with Common Civility to find Common Ground to solve our Common Issues,” says Thompson. "I have been a "Representative” of Hollywood Talent for almost 50 years. As either their lawyer or personal manager I have spent a career listening, caring, nurturing, planning, marketing, negotiating, and enhancing their personas and lives. I now want to be a ‘Representative’ of the people who live in our 37th District to do those things for them even more profoundly, give them a voice, and empower their lives.”

Thompson has so much of his platform figured out. Using is common sense approach, he could emerge as an important national voice to break the gridlock in Congress. He has this broken down into 14 points. 1. Stop the Democrats in Washington from taking us for granted. 2. Stop the Republicans in Washington from writing us off. 3. Stop our citizens and businesses from leaving our district by making California more affordable. 4. Embrace and help each other, especially the homeless. 5. Be Proud Californians and Patriotic Americans, who respect the laws and Law Enforcement. 6. Address every issue, and be giving, reasonable, and lead by example. 7. Be more constructive and less obstructive. 8. Improve wages, health care, schools, bridges, public transportation, and the potholes in our streets. 9. The solution to Climate Change starts with improving the Political Climate here in the 37th District. 10. Encourage Hollywood to "Protect its Legacy: and incentivize our Music and Film Production in California.11. Lower our taxes.12. Address head-on Comprehensive Immigration Reform.13. Represent equally and passionately each woman, man, and child of every race, creed, color, and sexual preference.14. and Pray to find Common Ground with each other to secure our Future.

Thompson knows his platform well. He rattles off three hot buttons. 1. "The Democrats are treating the African American and Latino voters like field hands on the Old Southern Plantations.” 2. "Encourage the private sector and religious organizations to uphold even more their "Good Samaritan” share of the responsibility to solve the Homeless Crisis.” (Proposed Plan - "A one-time ‘All Houses of Worship’ (Church) and State Partnership” for a 5-in-1 Solution. (Solve Homelessness in two steps: Crisis (get them shelter) and rehabilitation (help get them back into society and the work force). Homelessness is the front door to 5 humane issues to address comprehensively: a) substance abuse disorders, b) untreated mental illness, c) histories of incarceration, d) the poor (partially due to high housing and other costs), e) the needy Veterans. These are human crises that we all must solve, not just the government. 3. Hollywood is taxing its own industry by a) allowing actors to walk the red carpet and, instead of promoting their movie, they promote the dress they’re wearing and its designer. Valuable movie-promoting airtime given to the fashion industry! (I should know because I managed Joan Rivers for many years) and by b) industry members feeling the need to constantly voice their political beliefs in a condescending way to its movie-going public resulting in lower award show ratings and a general disconnect and discontent with their world audience. If you think Box Office Receipts are great now, can you imagine how much better it might be if we treated making movies as an entertainment business again and not as a soap box for expressing political positions...? "Encourage Hollywood to protect everyone’s First Amendment rights, but be sensitive and careful not to drive away the paying, movie-going public that finances the lives of so many working people in the industry.”

Thompson then turns very sober, "Let’s Start a New Conversation...to Finally Get Something Done.”


CCN: You have represented over 200 Stars. Which ones are endorsing you?
Answer: "I have always advised my Star clients to not get involved in politics publicly. I don’t expect to change that advice or my expectations of them now that I am running for office.”
CCN: How did your clients feel when you told them you are running for office?
Answer: "Mixed reactions but all complimentary.”
CCN: Have you ever run for political office before.
Answer: "No”
CCN: At what point did you start considering this is something you wanted to do?
Answer: "My first interest was as a teenager in Mississippi witnessing the Felix story, and most recently I got tired of throwing pillows at the TV when the local and national news was on. I will be a new, INDEPENDENT, reasonable voice and candidate that encourages everyone to use Common Sense with Common Civility to find Common Ground to solve our Common Issues. Plus both of my arms got tired.”
CCN: Most political observers might not give you a strong chance of winning. Why do you think?
Answer: "Most challengers have a tough time defeating an incumbent. I believe in fighting for what’s right no matter what the odds.”
CCN: How will you reach voters with your message?
Answer: "I intend to use every media outlet, especially social media to get my message of change out.”
CCN: If you win, your clients will now be your constituency?
Answer: "Yes, my constituency will in fact be my clients.”
CCN: What is your message?
Answer: "I will be a new, INDEPENDENT, reasonable voice and candidate that encourages everyone to use Common Sense with Common Civility to find Common Ground to solve our Common Issues.”
CCN: You are running against an incumbent who handily won the last election. What are your reasonable plans to address this?
Answers:
1. Be a much more competitive opponent than she has ever had. I’m running as a "disruptor” with new ideas that are outside the party system, and I have no partisan baggage. I’m not a professional politician. I’ve made a career in business actually getting things done.
I am not afraid to speak the truth to power, whether they be Republican or Democrat. I am not bound by rigid ideology and party and will look at each problem, talk to the people who know the most, and make reasonable decisions to solve those problems.
2. Be more interesting and embody more vision of the future than she. (No one knows who Karen Bass is. She has had a free ride. She wins just because she is a democrat in a democrat stronghold. She wins not because of herself, but in spite of herself.) A great deal has happened since Karen’s last win, but she still toes the party line, and has not changed. I am the new change. I will bridge the huge divide that separates the Democrats from the Republicans.
3. Offer solutions to issues in the 37th District that she isn’t even addressing because she is too busy working on the National Democratic Agenda. She has abandoned the people who elected her. I don’t see or feel improvements on the streets. More homeless, more potholes, and more poverty. Less hope, less optimism for a positive future. Yet, Karen continues to do more Washington politicking and party bashing.
4. Expose the Democratic Party in general and Karen Bass specifically as treating for an entire generation the African American and Hispanic voters as "field hands” on the Old Southern Plantations. (Felix Story) Taking them for granted, promising everything, and delivering very little. Times are changing (just ask Kanye West and others). I am running against Karen Bass, the Republican Party, and the Democratic Party.
5. Expose her Jewish indifference by her refusing to condemn multiple anti-Semitic remarks made by her fellow democratic counterparts, Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib. She cannot remain silent while Israel is under attack and Antisemitism is growing.
6. Wake up the district, motivate them to change, be the answer to the question they were not even aware of.
7. Change!!!!!
8. Things aren’t just black, brown, and white or red and blue anymore, they are purple. Independent.

CCN: Even your most optimistic ally would say your chances of winning are realistically not great. So what does Larry Thompson really want from this election?.
Answer: To WIN. Believing that one person, defying all the odds, can make a difference. I read a quote recently at the Museum of Tolerance in our district that touched me deeply. It said, "Change the way you see the world and your role in it.”

CCN: Have any surveys ever been taken to gauge how many voters in the 37th district outside the entertainment industry know who you are?
Answer: No. How well known is Karen Bass outside of Washington? There is disenchantment, disappointment, and frustration with many Democrat and Republican voters. Candidates, like me, running as Independents against the incumbents are on the rise in the U.S.. As one of the new, self-proclaimed leaders of this movement, I have christened our mission of help and change with the famous, Latin war cry "Dobio Swati,” which when translated means "Day Of Bullshit Is Over. So, Welcome All The Independents.”

CCN: How much funding do you expect to raise from donors?
Answer: I have raised over $50 million dollars for my productions in Hollywood, but I have never attempted to raise money for myself as a political candidate. So, I really don’t know. But I do plan to use my same successful fundraising technique, which is to take the shoulder pads out of my Tom Ford suits and put them around my knees so I can crawl into the Fundraisers on my knees and beg.

CCN: And how much of your own coin are you contributing?
Answer: The gap between what I will need to WIN and what I actually RAISE.

About Larry Thompson
Roman Catholic, Moderate, Independent, Energetic, Entertainment Lawyer, Talent Manager, Film Producer, Author/Motivational Speaker, Husband, Father, A Standing, Strong, Tall, Proud, California Palm Tree

Larry A. Thompson, acclaimed Hollywood film producer, talent manager, lawyer, book packager, author, Broadway Producer, and motivational speaker, is founder and President of the Larry A. Thompson Organization, a next-generation, Los Angeles based Talent Management, Motion Picture, Television, and New Media Production Studio.

Thompson has managed the careers of over 200 Stars and produced 20 Movies for Television, 5 Motion Pictures, 2 Television Series, 12 Television Specials, and various Series Pilots. His movies made for television include: the high-profile Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton biopic, Liz & Dick, starring Lindsay Lohan and Grant Bowler; the highly acclaimed and successful Lifetime Movie, Amish Grace; the ABC World Premiere And The Beat Goes On: The Sonny and Cher Story; CBS’s Lucy and Desi: Before The Laughter; and CBS’s The Woman He Loved (The historical Royal romance of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor).

Thompson has received the Industry’s prestigious Vision Award and his productions have won 2 Accolade Awards, 2 Imagen Awards, The Epiphany Prize, The Wilbur Award, The Christopher Award, and have received Nominations for 10 Emmys, 6 Imagen Awards, 2 Prism Awards, the Humanitas Prize, and a Golden Globe. He serves on the Advisory Boards of The Delta Blues Museum, Paulist Productions, and Good News Communications. He is a Founding Member Enthusiast of the Museum of The Bible in Washington, D.C. and a Charter Member of the United States Capitol Historical Society. He is perennially listed in Who’s Who In America and Who’s Who In The World, and on August 1, 2018, Thompson was awarded the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who.

The National Conference of Personal Managers inducted Thompson into the Personal Managers Hall of Fame on May 12, 2016. Thompson was also honored on September 19, 2013, by the Talent Managers Association with the prestigious Seymour Heller Award for Lifetime Achievement in Talent Management. These two entertainment industry awards are the highest honors a personal manager can receive for representing talent.

Thompson was Knighted in Rome, Italy on May 20, 2017. Grand Prior, Prince Lorenzo de’ Medici, sponsored Thompson, an American of Italian Heritage, into the prestigious Ordine di San Martino del Monte delle Beatitudini (the Order of Saint Martin of Mount of the Beatitudes) as a Patron of the Arts and Protector of the Most Needy and presided at the Investiture Mass of Knighthood at the Chiesa di San Silvestro al Quirinale (Church of San Silvestro at Quirinal Hill). See the Investiture Video.

Thompson was born, raised, and educated in Mississippi. After finishing law school at the University of Mississippi in 1968, he drove three days to the corner of Hollywood and Vine to start his dream career in show business. Also from 1968 to 1974, Thompson served in the United States Army Reserve’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps mostly in Torrance, California.

Thompson lives in the 37th District with his wife, Kelly, and their daughter, Taylor (17), and son, Trevor (14).

Larry Thompson For Congress Website
www.LarryThompsonForCongress.com

Larry A. Thompson Organization Website
www.LarryThompsonOrg.com


About the 37th District
California’s 37th Congressional District is based in Los Angeles County. It includes many neighborhoods West and Southwest of Downtown Los Angeles.

The District includes: Culver City, Inglewood, the City of Los Angeles neighborhoods of Mid City, West Los Angeles, Westwood, Century City, Rancho Park, Palms, Mar Vista, Sawtelle, Beverlywood, View Park-Windsor Hills, Cheviot Hills, Pico-Robertson, Miracle Mile, Exposition Park, University Park, Vermont Knolls, West Adams, South Los Angeles, Leimert Park, Jefferson Park, Vermont Square, Ladera Heights, Hyde Park, Crenshaw, and Baldwin Hills.

The District is highly diverse ethnically. Approximately 40% of the district’s residents are Latino, while 25% are African American, 25% are Caucasian, and 8% Asian.

The District has over 738,000 residents, 2 film studios (the new Fox/Disney in Century City and Sony Pictures in Culver City), the University of Southern California, many places of worship, museums such as The Museum of Tolerance, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the California African American Museum, plus many points of cultural interest including some of my favorites, The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Space Shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center, The Apple Pan on W. Pico, and Hansen’s Bakery on Fairfax!

About the Election
The Primary Election will be on March 3, 2020. The two candidates that receive the most votes in the Primary Election will advance to the General Election, which will be on November 3, 2020. California Elections have the Top-Two Candidates Open Election System, which means all registered voters, regardless of political affiliation, may vote for any candidate, regardless of political affiliation.