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# Green’s Feinstein needs to leave the room, for good
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/greens-feinstein-needs-to-leave-the-room-for-good/
- Published: 2004-03-19T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:43:22.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Coby Skye, Gabrielle Weeks and Will Yeager*

At the March 14, 2004 meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Los Angeles County, newly re-elected member Michael Feinstein, also currently a city councilman in Santa Monica and long-time member of the Green Party, participated in and voted on a motion to drop the lawsuit the council filed against him in December. The bitter and contentious discussion was punctuated by what appears to be a $4,000 bribe.

The controversy surrounding Michael Feinstein and a $10,000 donation has hindered the Green Party in Los Angeles for the last 2 years, crippling the County council’s ability to function and raise funds. It also led to an investigation by the District Attorney’s office. Bill Pietz and several county council members allege the donation, made by Bill Pietz, was appropriated by Michael Feinstein improperly and never correctly reported. Bill Pietz has repeatedly stated the funds were intended to support and be spent by the County Council, not Feinstein. Records show the donation was deposited by Feinstein into a local credit union he created and controlled. Although the DA’s office did not press for an indictment, an investigation by the California Fair Political Practices Commission is pending.

Will Yeager, a long-time Green Party member who was active when Feinstein first got involved with the Greens, claims the $10,000 donation is simply the latest in a long string of financial shenanigans perpetrated by Feinstein, stretching back over a decade — well before the pony-tailed politician ran for city council. At the meeting, Yeager alleged that Feinstein appropriated funds raised at Green Party events, that Feinstein’s financial records were always kept secret and that the conflict of interest perpetrated by Feinstein in voting to give city of Santa Monica funds to Barrios Unidos was still unresolved. Yeager stated he had ample documentation and could give anyone who cares to check the names and contact info of the “bodies Mike has stepped on to get to where he is.”

Feinstein has not been on good terms with the County Council for many years.

For years, the council has asked and pressured Feinstein for information on funds raised in its name, expenses incurred, and financial reportings made (or not made) to the proper agencies. Council members estimate roughly $40,000 of funds donated to the council have been run through Feinstein’s account instead. The council formally censured Feinstein in over his treatment of a fellow council member years ago. More recently, when Feinstein continued to ignore requests by the County Council to come clean regarding the $10,000 donation and return the money to its intended recipient, the council’s treasurer and former candidate for Lt. Governor, Donna Warren, suggested a small claims suit might help to settle the issue and allow the council put the matter to rest. At its Dec. 14, 2003 meeting, the County Council decided unanimously to file the lawsuit, all the while leaving the door open for a mediated settlement.

With a new County Council taking office after the March 2 election, including the re-election of Michael Feinstein to the council, supporters of Feinstein seemed eager to reverse course. Sara Amir, a frequent candidate for the Green Party and spokesperson for the Green Party of California, immediately requested an agenda item to drop the lawsuit, which was placed at the March 14 meeting and set the stage for a conflict that threatens to tear the Green Party apart.

The item dominated the agenda — after an hour of discussion the three-hour meeting had gone well over the proposed time limit. Several council members suggested Feinstein should leave the room, including fellow Santa Monica City Councilman Kevin McKeown. However, Feinstein stated boldly that he had no intention of leaving the room, even if asked to. When Joe Crompton, co-coor-dinator of the local Green Party County Council, asked if Feinstein intended to vote on the item, Feinstein affirmed that he did. When it was clear the discussion was not moving forward, a straw poll was taken as to whether Feinstein should be asked to leave. Seven council members raised their hands signifying they did not want to ask Feinstein to leave.

After refusing to recuse himself from the vote, Feinstein and his supporters began to lobby the council intensively. Nancy Pearlman, an elected member of the Community College Board of Trustees, claimed she was afraid of losing her house or otherwise being financially harmed if the lawsuit continued, even though she had been a part of the unanimous decision to file the lawsuit in December. Newly elected council member Sara Amir then dropped a bombshell, claiming that San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez offered to fundraise on behalf of the County Council and raise $4,000, but only if the lawsuit was dropped. When Feinstein spoke, he reiterated the alleged bribe offered by Gonzalez, and further stated that he would not only appeal the lawsuit if not victorious, but that he also planned to sue an number of people in the room if the lawsuit continued. The impact of the threat was amplified when Feinstein assured the group that Gonzal-ez had already agreed to represent him pro bono. Gonzalez did not answer requests for comment.

Although several council members argued against the motion to drop the lawsuit, the discussion was cut short because the meeting location was closing for the night. A vote was called, with only four council members voting against the motion. Seven council members, including Feinstein, voted to drop the lawsuit. Rather than settle the matter, the vote only stirred up anger, frustration and confusion even more. Green Party rules say that if a vote changes Green Party policy, it requires a two-thirds majority to pass. Others argue the entire vote is invalid since Feinstein’s participation tainted the process. The blatant conflict of interest characterized by Feinstein participation in this vote has also sent shock waves through the Green community, with a number of outraged Green Party members expressing their displeasure to the Council.

Immediately after the vote, Councilman Coby Skye resigned his position as member of the Council. In a statement sent to the council by e-mail later that night, Skye stated “Mike Feinstein voted not to sue himself tonight. No one seemed to consider this blatant conflict of interest a problem, so long as it helped their side to win. We were offered a bribe by one of the highest elected Greens in the country. The credibility of the Green Party as an ‘alternative’ to the two corrupt corporate parties is destroyed beyond repair. Tonight, I am ashamed to be a part of it.” Co-coordinator Joe Crompton also resigned his post in disgust, saying he could not be a co-coordinator to the party, however Crompton remains a member of the council.

Gabrielle Weeks, the fourth council member to vote against the motion to drop, felt disillusioned by the vote. Weeks felt the seven members voting to drop the lawsuit “seemed to be missing even the fundamentals of transparency, accountability, democracy, and fairness. This contradicts all the values that the Green Party stands for. Actions speak louder than words — when members of the Green Party allow unethical behavior like this to happen unchecked, it speaks volumes. All the poetic words and inclusive rhetoric in the world won’t make up for it.”

A number of Greens are starting to organize a grassroots campaign to put pressure on Feinstein to resign as City Councilman and Green Party member, and to return all the funds in question. They are calling on the County Council in particular to maintain the lawsuit and to press for an investigation by the FPPC into Feinstein’s donations. They also urge Santa Monica’s (prosecutors) to investigate whether Feinstein’s conflict of interest requires him to step down as City Councilman. (Skye and Weeks are members of the County Council of the Green Party of Los Angeles County. They and, respectively. Yeager is a founding member of the County Council. He)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 19, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031904.pdf?ref=smdp.com)