Local Greens hold caucus for March 2 election
EAST SM — City Councilman Mike Feinstein is running for a leadership position within the Green Party, which is suing him for allegedly depositing a $10,000 donation into a private account.
Feinstein is one of seven Green Party members vying for six open seats on the County Council of the Green Party of Los Angeles County, third district. Though Feinstein was instrumental in bringing the Green Party to the westside, his relationship with party leaders recently has been unstable.
The upcoming Mar. 2 election comes less than a week after Feinstein is scheduled to appear in Santa Monica Small Claims Court. The County Council of the LA Greens is suing Feinstein in an attempt to recoup a portion of a $10,000 donation that was given to the Green Party in January of 2001. But the check was taken by Feinstein and put into a personal bank account, officials say.
Feinstein has maintained he used the money to pay rent on an unsanctioned office for the Westside Greens on Pico Boulevard. Party officials agreed some money is due Feinstein for rent, but said they are owed a balance of at least $6,800. They are seeking $5,000, the limit in small claims court.
Feinstein declined to discuss the lawsuit. “I’ve made my decisions to keep quiet and I’m sticking to it,” Feinstein said last week. “I made a choice a long time ago that this is the way I’m going to deal with it.”
“I’ve made my decisions to keep quiet and I’m sticking to it.” — – MIKE FEINSTEIN Santa Monica City Councilman
That decision has caused a lot of discomfort within the party. LA Greens have expressed dismay that Feinstein hasn’t opened up his books or said where the money went. State Green Party officials stepped in earlier this year, urging Feinstein to bow out of party business until the dispute was resolved. He didn’t.
A former treasurer of the LA Greens sparked a police investigation of Feinstein last year. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office dropped the case.
During an LA County Green Party caucus on Thursday at the Pico Boulevard office, Feinstein replied “no comment” when asked what happened to the $10,000. He also declined to answer how he would work effectively with a governing body that’s suing him.
Feinstein most recently served on the LA Greens County Council for a term that ended in March of 2002 — but fellow Greens said he stopped showing up at most meetings shortly after the dispute over the $10,000 check came up in 2001.
Though Feinstein didn’t answer questions about the check on Thursday, other candidates expressed frustration at the dispute and said they’re hoping for a resolution.
“I would very much like to see the result of the small claims case be the end of this matter,” said Joe Crompton, LA County Green Party co-coordinator.
City Councilman Kevin McKeown, also a Green Party member, said the party decided to file the lawsuit only after repeatedly asking Feinstein to return the money.
“We are a party that strives for transparency,” he said.
Candidate Genevieve Marcus said the issue was handled as well as it could have been at the time.
“I don’t think it’s so much the money, as the press,” she said.
Another candidate, Denise Robb, wondered why media outlets covered the alleged scandal but not other aspects of the Green Party. The sixth candidate, Danielle Mead, didn’t have knowledge of the dispute.
While LA Green Party prepares for the upcoming local and national elections, Bill Pietz, the man who wrote the $10,000 check as a gesture of goodwill to the party, said last week he hopes Feinstein will give the money back.
In the meantime, the grassroots party — which is committed to 10 key principles geared towards protecting the environment and electing progressive, liberal thinkers — is working on fundraising and organizing its members, candidates said. In order to bring the Green Party in front of a wider audience, a long-term plan needs to be prepared and diligently worked on by party members, they added.
“Let’s face it, in 2004 we’re not going to take the White House and we’re probably not going to get 5 percent of the vote this time for future federal matching funds,” said McKeown, who added there are more than 200 Green Party members in office nationwide. “We need to use this cycle to promote the anti-war Green platform, organize our volunteers, and get more Greens elected to local office around the country.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 19, 2004. Read the original PDF.