Incumbents keep their edge
CITYWIDE — In the hotly-contested race to fill three seats on the City Council, incumbents Bob Holbrook, Pam O’Connor and Kevin McKeown were leading the pack of 10 candidates nearly three hours after polls closed, county election officials said.
With all absentee ballots counted, but just five precincts reporting, Holbrook was in the lead with 3,510 votes, followed by O’Connor with 3,021 votes and McKeown with 3,013 votes. Planning Commissioner Terry O’Day was a close fourth, with 2,759 votes; followed by attorney Gleam Davis, an education advocate, who pulled in 2,117 votes; event planner Jenna Linnekens, with 654 votes; real estate agent Mark McLellan, with 579 votes; entertainment consultant Terence Later, with 563 votes; homeless advocate Linda Armstrong with 380 votes; and flight attendant Jonathan Mann with 378.
The top three candidates will be sworn in Dec. 12.
In the race to fill four seats on the Santa Monica-Malibu school board, incumbent Emily Bloomfield was leading the pack, followed by newcomer Kelly Pye, current member Oscar de la Torre and challenger Barry Snell (see related story).
For the Santa Monica College board of trustees, where there are four seats open, Nancy Greenstein was on top, followed by Louise Jaffe, David Finkel and Andrew Walzer.
In the race to fill three seats on the rent control board, incumbent Jennifer Kennedy was leading by just seven votes, followed by running mates Marilyn Korade-Wilson and Zelia Mollica.
Surrounded by family and friends, Holbrook, a veteran with 16 years of experience on the council, seemed at ease as he drank beer and mingled with his guests, who included fellow council members Herb Katz and Bobby Shriver, as well as Bayside District Corp. board member John Warfel.
The conference room at the Best Western on Santa Monica Boulevard — the exact location where Holbrook announced he was running for reelection earlier this year — was decorated with American flag banners and red, white and blue balloons. A television was placed in the corner, broadcasting up-to-the-minute election results.
“I’ve really worked hard on a positive campaign,” Holbrook said.“I really campaigned in two stages. I went out early to reach absentee voters, who turned in their votes early October. Then I made a final push in the last few weeks, and from the looks of things, it seems to have paid off.”
The atmosphere was similar at the party for candidates supported by Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, the city’s ruling political party, which has held a majority on the City Council for much of the last 30 years.
More than 20 supporters gathered in a brick office building on the corner of Sixth Street and Colorado Avenue that was decorated with hand-made campaign signs. A small television sat on a desk in one corner as others leaned over two laptops waiting for the latest results. Many mingled, chatting with friends. The mood was very positive.
“I’m feeling good,” Greenstein, a founding member of SMRR said. “The race is exciting when everyone comes out after the polls... It’s a grass-roots effort... I’m glad everyone worked so hard.”
Davis, who was endorsed by SMRR along with McKeown and O’Connor, said she was “happy” with the campaign she ran, “regardless of the outcome.”
“I think I ran a good race,” Davis said while visiting the after-party for Measure BB, a $268-million school bond, which was on the verge of passing with 59.7 percent of the vote, with only absentee votes counted.
“I got a very good response from talking about the issues,” Davis added.
With several strong challengers and three incumbents amongst the crowded field of candidates, it was thought victory may come down to a handful of votes, forcing many of the council hopefuls to hit the streets and the telephones on Tuesday in a last-minute, get-out-the-vote campaign.
“I’m trying to look at this optimistically,”
“I’m happy that I’m ahead, but it’s still early.” — Holbrook said of his slim lead
Others decided to spend the day relaxing with family, including new father O’Day, 33, whose latest addition to the clan — Taryn Juliet — was born over the weekend.
“I’m making some phone calls, going door to door, but I’m trying to stick around family and spend some time together, get my daughter to get to know her new baby sister a little bit and make sure mom is taken care of,” O’Day said.
After working during the morning as a computer technician for the school district, McKeown, 58, said he rode his bike to the beach to beat the heat and enjoy some fresh pineapple. It was the candidate’s “first break in weeks.”
Real estate agent McLellan said he spent the day talking with neighbors north of Wilshire Boulevard near Euclid Street to encourage them to vote.
McLellan, 46, who voted around 7:30 a.m. at the Unitarian Community Church in Mid-City, made his first run for City Council and admitted that being a newcomer was tough, especially since he had a “late start” and failed to raise significant sums of money to support his campaign.
“I’m a realist,” McLellan said.“I know it takes money, but I’ve made a lot of good contacts through this campaign that are going to prove beneficial down the road. This isn’t the last time I’ll be involved in civic activities.”
Linnekens, an event planner making her first run for City Council, felt the same way, pledging to remain active in local government after building considerable momentum by channeling residents’ dissatisfaction with the way in which City Hall has handled the issue of homelessness.
Through a strong grass roots campaign, which included a “Jenna” mobile and an army of volunteers dressed in bright yellow T-shirts, Linnekens was able to build name recognition that could prove valuable come next election.
“This is not the end for me. This is just the beginning,” Linnekens said.“If I am elected, I have a lot of work to do to really uphold the platform that I stood on. If not, then I will remain active in the community and within City Hall, be it through a commission or through committees.”
Linnekens was out early in the morning Tuesday visiting coffee shops while her volunteers walked the streets doing some damage control — removing several campaign signs that had been vandalized overnight.
“I don’t know what that was about,”Linnekens said of her signs, which were painted over and featured slogans that belittled her campaign. “Good thing I have a tough skin.”
The last-night attack on Linnekens’ signs seemed a fitting finale to what was described by many observers as one of the most negative council campaigns in recent memory, as the hospitality industry, in particular, the owners of Shutters on the Beach and Casa del Mar hotels, waged war against McKeown and Santa Monicans for Renters Rights — the city’s ruling political party and a McKeown backer.
Beverly Hills-based Edward Thomas Management Co. spent nearly $400,000 on mailers and a trio of cable television ads blasting the incumbent’s voting record on homelessness and public safety.
“What I know is the most money was spent on the most negative attack campaign I’ve seen in the last 30 years,” said Denny Zane, a political consultant and co-chair of SMRR. “If the candidates we supported win, it will be a testament to the strength of grass roots in Santa Monica. If big money should win, it will raise very serious questions about the future of our city.”
Santa Monicans for Sensible Priorities, the political action committee funded by the hospitality industry, spent more than $80,000 on Holbrook and O’Day, who both expressed concern that they might be punished at the polls for the negative campaigning.
“The campaign the hotels ran was the most brain-dead campaign ever seen in my life,” said Jean Sedillos, who helped draft Holbrook’s campaign literature. “They seriously underestimated the intelligence of Santa Monica voters. It was frustrating because Bob ran a very honorable campaign and then he gets caught in the cross fire.”
Alex Pugh, campaign manager for O’Day, said virtually the same thing about his candidate, who painted himself as an independent willing to work on both sides of the dais.
“We are concerned about voter backlash,” Pugh said. “It could come back to hurt us, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 8, 2006. Read the original PDF.