HOLLYWOOD TO RAISE FUNDS FOR GOP.

Byline: Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - As the stars prepare to gather in Hollywood this weekend to hand out golden Oscar awards, Hollywood Republicans - including News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Walt Disney President Bob Iger - will be in the nation's capital hunting for a different kind of gold.

The National Republican Congressional Committee will hold a $500-a-plate breakfast fund-raiser Friday in Washington with the goal of bankrolling GOP congressional candidates in the 2006 midterm elections. But superstar sightings are expected to be slim.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois is headlining the event and, as of early this week, the former wrestling coach was the closest thing to a celebrity planning to attend. But several industry powers, including Murdoch and Iger, have already sent in their RSVPs.

Preston Padden, executive vice president of government relations for Disney, said a loose-knit group that calls itself ``Entertaining Republicans'' raised about $100,000 for the party last year. Its goal this year is $150,000.

``There is a group of us in the entertainment industry who just happen to be Republican,'' Padden said. ``We just think it's important to periodically remind people that there are Republicans, as well as Democrats, in this industry.''

Actress Cheryl Rhoads, a Republican political activist from Toluca Lake, said fund-raisers like the NRCC's are important, impressing upon Hollywood - with a reputation as staunchly Democratic - that Republicans do live among them.

``Here in Hollywood, people feel ... that everyone is on the same page politically,'' she said. ``There are a lot more Republicans here than people let on.''

NRCC spokesman Carl Forti said the Oscar-weekend timing of the fund- raiser is purely coincidental. Attendees will pay $500 for breakfast, or $1,000 for a VIP reception where Hollywood execs can ``mix and mingle'' with Hastert, he said.

``We've had success raising money out there in L.A., and we're going to go anywhere the money is,'' Forti said.

Padden said he didn't expect much discussion of entertainment industry issues like piracy or runaway production at the fund-raiser. But, he said, he hoped that the fund-raiser and others like it will ultimately make Republicans more sympathetic to those issues.

``You have people in the industry that are Republicans as well as Democrats. That's the only message that we're trying to send, that it's as bipartisan as any other industry.''

Meanwhile, Democrats say they aren't threatened by Republican inroads in Hollywood.

``I think of all the things Democrats need to worry about, Hollywood isn't one of them,'' said Chad Griffin, a Hollywood political consultant.

Lisa Friedman, [phone]

lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com