Greens strategize on how to deal with fundraising
A Santa Monica City Councilman is realizing that he can no longer hide from accusations that he allegedly misappropriated more than $30,000 in campaign contributions to the Green Party.
Several local Green Party leaders’ patience has run out with former Mayor Mike Feinstein for ignoring their requests in explaining why he allegedly deposited more than $30,000 in Green Party contributions into a private bank account nearly 18 months ago. They asked him in 2001 to submit statements from the credit union where the deposits were made, but Feinstein hasn’t produced any records, according to leaders of the Los Angeles County Green Party.
The issue has been under wraps for more than a year, but top party officials are no longer remaining secretive about Feinstein’s alleged actions. A letter signed by top California Green Party officials and sent out nationwide last month, says Feinstein doesn’t speak on behalf of the political party and is not allowed to raise money for it.
The letter was sent on Jan. 10 to hundreds of Green Party activists, warning that an upcoming convention being organized by Feinstein is not recognized by the state party. The convention, which is scheduled for the weekend of Feb. 22, will bring elected Greens from across the country to Santa Monica for several meetings and conferences.
Party officials said they want delegates to know that any money they donate could go into an account controlled by Feinstein — not the state party. And despite what they may have been told, a storefront at 2809 Pico Blvd. is not an official Green Party office.
“He has used that office for Green activities and other activities that interest him, but it is not a Green Party office,” said John Strawn, a California Green Party spokesman. “The Green Party of California does not want the mistaken interpretation that any funds donated toward that event will go to the state Green Party. They would most likely be used to support the office or this conference.”
Feinstein did not return messages on Tuesday seeking comment.
At an L.A. County Green Party meeting on Aug. 26, 2001, Feinstein was asked to explain why he deposited donations into a private bank account and to provide a balance sheet tracking the party’s donations. He was asked to account for a $10,000 check made out to the L.A. County Green Party on Jan. 13, 2001, which was deposited into a private bank account. The money came from Green Party member Bill Pietz, who thought he was contributing toward building a stronger delegation in L.A. County, Pietz said.
There were other proceeds deposited in the private account that came from a fundraiser in 2000 with Ralph Nader at the Pico Boulevard office, sources said. Feinstein also was asked to explain why several Green Party checks were allegedly signed over to Barrios Unidos — a local Latino group that helped open the Pico Youth and Family Center.
Feinstein at the August 2001 meeting said the electronic spreadsheet of the account was damaged and he couldn’t provide one until later, sources said. He told his colleagues at the meeting that the money was used to pay for the Pico Boulevard office, phone lines and other Green Party expenses, according to minutes taken from the meeting.
Feinstein denied using Green Party funds for anything other than to build up the party in Los Angeles County or to pay for official Green Party functions, according to the minutes of the meeting.
But now, more than a year later, Feinstein still hasn’t accounted for the cash. At an L.A. County Green Party meeting on Oct. 7, 2001 — just a few months after the discrepancy was first noticed — Feinstein again failed to provide the group with a spreadsheet accounting for the party’s campaign contributions, sources said. Since then, Feinstein has allegedly ignored calls from the L.A. County Green Party treasurer requesting that he open his books, according to L.A. County Green Party members.
The situation came to a head recently when several L.A. County Green Party members said they received an e-mail in December from Feinstein saying that he is organizing the national conference in February and had placed himself in charge of fundraising for the event.
“He’s going on like things have never happened,” said Ginny Marie Case, a local Green Party delegate who signed the letter stating that Feinstein isn’t an official fundraiser. “We want to make sure people know there are still concerns over the money raised to pay for that office space.”
State and national Green Party officials strategized last month at a meeting in Palo Alto, Calif., on how to best respond to Feinstein’s refusal to disclose the financial documents, according to official minutes from the meeting.
Green Party members were fearful that if the issue became public, it would cast a shadow on the entire political party and make it more difficult to raise money in the future. But their concerns over liability and legal issues were enough to set those worries aside and to draft a letter telling their colleagues that Feinstein is no longer recognized as someone who speaks for the party or raises money for it.
Party officials fear they may be liable for upwards of $30,000 in fines from the state’s Fair Political Practices Committee because they believe none of the money collected by Feinstein has been properly disclosed under California election laws, according to minutes from the meeting.
State Green Party Treasurer Mike Wyman said while he believes the state party wouldn’t be found liable for Feinstein’s alleged actions, he said it would cast a shadow on the state party’s reputation and hamper its credibility with donors.
“In an actual legal showdown, the evidence is on our side,” Wyman said at the meeting, according to the official minutes. “(Feinstein) was acting on his own. And I think he knew that. But he thought that he was slick enough to get away with it.
“He always had gotten away with it and he’s not going to stop,” he added. “What’s better, having friends do it, or having the press come to him? Or if he gets sued by a major donor?”
The group has now changed the state party’s policy so that no one can use the Green Party name without permission. Green Party members also are consulting with lawyers about the party’s liability if Feinstein’s financial dealings are found to be inappropriate.
“We’re not holding (Feinstein) up to any special context but this is still really happening because of him and so in a way it is continuing a feud with a specific person,” said state Green Party delegate Paul Encimer at the meeting, according to official minutes.
However, Strawn, the state Green Party spokesman, maintains the party has no formal complaint against Feinstein and it hasn’t taken any other action beyond the letter sent out nationally.
“If there was a critical mass of belief that more should have been done than that, it would have occurred,” he said. “No matter what kind of tension may be perceived to be in the air at the time, the consensus was to develop and release this statement.”
Green Party members who dislike Feinstein are using the national convention to take shots at him, Strawn said.
“There are those who are using this conference as a means to regurgitate these claims about the appropriation of money because they don’t like his style and they are his detractors,” Strawn said. “If he’s guilty of something, he’s guilty of political insensitivity to his group. That’s very different than fraud.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 5, 2003. Read the original PDF.