Donor won’t sue or file complaint against Feinstein
The donor of a missing $10,000 check, which intended for the Los Angeles Green Party, wants to know where his money went.
But the one person who knows — Santa Monica City Councilman Mike Feinstein — isn’t talking.
Greens throughout the state learned in the past two months that Feinstein, a founding member of the L.A. County chapter and a nationally-known figure in the Green Party, had deposited Bill Pietz’s check on Jan. 17, 2001, in a privately-held account. But the money never made it to the L.A. Green Party official bank account.
Speculation over what happened to the money grew with each passing month that Feinstein ignored calls from local party leaders asking him to disclose bank records showing how the money was used, according to officials.
With no end to the impasse in sight, state Green Party leaders called a summit meeting last month in Palo Alto, Calif., to discuss how to handle the situation. Days before the meeting convened, Pietz sent an e-mail to party leaders attempting to dispel rumors that had developed over the past several months.
“There were so many misunderstandings from people who weren’t knowledgeable of what had gone on that I felt I had to clear things up,” said Pietz, a Sliver Lake resident who had Councilman tight-lipped on $10,000 question wanted the donation to be anonymous. “I felt I needed to tell party decision-makers about what’s been happening.”
Feinstein declined to comment on Saturday.
On the evening of Jan. 13, 2001, Pietz said he handed the check to Woody Hastings, an L.A. County Green Party organizer, who then passed it over to Feinstein. Pietz said Feinstein called him that night to confirm the check was real.
The money was intended to help strengthen the L.A. County Green Party, which at the time had a little more than $50 in its official bank account, Pietz said.
“The situation back then was very disorganized,” he said. “Things were not very functional.”
Pietz hoped the money would help the county chapter get stronger so it could organize candidates to compete with Democrats and Republicans for locally elected offices.
Instead, Pietz later found out that the check was deposited into an unofficial Green account under Feinstein’s name at the Hughes Aircraft Employees Federal Credit Union, Pietz said.
A copy of the endorsed check provided to the Daily Press shows the check was made out to the “Los Angeles County Green Party” on Jan. 13, 2001, for $10,000. On the back of the check, along the endorsement line, is written “Los Angeles Green Party,” and below that is a signature similar to those Feinstein has used on campaign statements and other public documents.
Party officials said they believe the check landed in Feinstein’s hands because there was no organized system for collecting donations for the L.A. County Green Party.
At the time, the county party didn’t have a treasurer, but it had two bank accounts. The official account was in the party’s name and controlled by the vacant treasurer’s position. The “unofficial account” was privately held in Feinstein’s name and had been used since he helped found the local chapter, according to party officials.
When Pietz made his donation, Feinstein was simultaneously trying to rent out space on Pico Boulevard to be used for Green Party events and environmental causes, according to official minutes from meetings.
Feinstein had said at Green Party meetings in 2001 that he thought the money was intended to help support the office and the organizing efforts that were taking place there, according to the minutes.
However, Pietz said when Feinstein called to confirm the check, nothing was said about the money being used for the Pico Boulevard office. He thought the county party would determine how the money should be spent, Pietz said.
“The money was given to the county and it should have been deposited with them,” Pietz said. “It was to help them.”
Pietz said he doesn’t plan to sue Feinstein or file a complaint with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission, which regulates political matters in California. As far as Pietz is concerned, Feinstein’s actions weren’t illegal and the matter is an internal Green Party dispute.
“My interests are very specific,” he said. “My interest is in allowing the county party organization to organize itself, which includes fundraising. But as long as there are these financial issues … it’s hard to move forward.”
Feinstein has previously said more than $30,000 in Green Party donations, including Pietz’s check, have been deposited into the privately held account. Most of that money has paid for rent and supplies for the office located at 2809 Pico Blvd., according to the minutes.
The office has been used by Feinstein as a Green Party headquarters, though it’s not recognized by the Green Party, officials said.
Feinstein is organizing a summit of elected Green office holders from across the country at the Pico Boulevard office later this month. Party leaders decided to go public with their concerns because neither the convention nor the fundraising Feinstein is undertaking for the event have been sanctioned by the party, officials said.
Fearing that a situation like Pietz’s may be created, state and national Green Party officials wrote in an open letter distributed to Greens across the country that Feinstein does not speak for the party and he isn’t supposed to be raising money for it.
“When it became clear that this might not be limited to me but (it could happen) to others as well,” Pietz said, “the state party felt it necessary to alert everyone.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 10, 2003. Read the original PDF.