House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) was the star draw at a breakfast funder last week in Los Angeles attended by some of the biggest moguls from the entertainment industry. It’s a bid to forge stronger Hollywood-to-Potomac ties.

Among those at the event, which drew about 100 who wrote checks to benefit the National Republican Congressional Committee: Michael Eisner, chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Co., and Disney President Robert Iger; multimedia magnate Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer, News Corp.; filmmaker Taylor Hackford (who was nominated, but did not win an Oscar on Sunday, for directing biopic “Ray”), chairman of the Directors Guild of America’s political action committee; Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Bros.; and Sumner Redstone, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, Viacom Inc.

In addition to Hastert, the House GOP leadership team wooing the media elites included National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R-N.Y.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), whose district includes a portion of Los Angeles County.

Hastert told me it’s time Hollywood seeks to balance not only Democratic political money but content. Hollywood “values,” Hastert said, “have not always been kind to what Republican values are,” especially compared to “solid Midwest values, family values, trying to get things done, and it’s not always reflected in Hollywood; it is very seldom reflected in Hollywood.”

Hollywood will have Hastert’s ear if for no other reason than the hiring of John Feehery, who just left as Hastert’s spokesman to become executive vice president and chief communications officer for the Motion Picture Association of America. Association President and CEO Dan Glickman, a Democrat, signed Feehery in part to address GOP concerns on the Hill that the entertainment industry has a Democratic tilt.

Hastert did not stick around for the Academy Awards.

Hastert hits Hawaii. Hastert was on the West Coast as part of a fundraising swing that included a stop in Hawaii during the last break week. He hosted some of his best donors at a resort in Kapalua on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

The retreat was a bonus to contributors to KOMPAC, or Keep Our Majority Political Action Committee, which is Hastert’s main political war chest. KOMPAC money goes mainly to help bankroll the campaigns of GOP House candidates.

With Hastert, Reynolds and Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), the GOP conference chairwoman, were the name GOP leaders at the retreat.

After the “Entertaining Republicans” affair with Hollywood execs, Hastert headed to Fresno for a lunch funder to for Rep. George Radanovich (R-Calif.) (who also attended the Hollywood event). Then Hastert was off to Danville, Calif., to raise some money for his own Hastert-for-Congress war chest, at a funder designed to draw from California’s high-tech business community.

Durbin prospecting in New York. Last week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, headed to New York City to elbow some high-end prospects at a series of meetings, all to benefit the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Sweet is the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Sun-Times. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it