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# Parents back eight for council; Bauer, Cole, Feinstein, Mann don’t make the cut
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/parents-back-eight-for-council-bauer-cole-feinstein-mann-dont-make-the-cut/
- Published: 2004-10-12T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:16:45.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Government & Politics, Mid-City, #archive-import

*CEPS throws its support behind Measures S, N*

MID-CITY — A powerful group of parents with broad community support weighed in on the local City Council race Monday, throwing their support behind eight candidates.

Leaders from the Community for Excellent Public Schools said all eight candidates have proven they’re fit to serve on a City Council responsible for doling out millions of dollars to local schools. A total of 14 hopefuls are vying for four open council seats in the November election.

The CEPS backing is viewed as important because of the group’s broad base, including ideological opposites like renter rights leader Denny Zane and property rights attorney Chris Harding. CEPS will spend between $15,000 and $20,000 this election cycle on direct mail and other campaign efforts, members of the CEPS executive committee said in a Earning the CEPS backing were a trio of incumbents — Mayor Richard Bloom, City Councilman Ken Genser and Herb Katz — along with challengers Matt Dinolfo, Patricia Hoffman, Maria Loya, Kathryn Morea and Bobby Shriver.

CEPS leaders said there wasn’t enough information to evaluate candidates Leticia Anderson and Linda Armstrong. This was not so for City Councilman Mike Feinstein, and challengers Bill Bauer, David Cole and Jon Mann, all of whom CEPS called “not reliable supporters of public education.”

Feinstein faced the fiercest criticisms from CEPS leaders, who accused the councilman of being divisive and hypocritical. Feinstein railed against a plan this spring to give schools an additional $3 million in city funds annually, but claimed on a recent election mailer that “Michael’s voting record speaks for itself... From 1996 thru today, a 250 percent increase in city funding for our schools.”

The measure passed, but returns to the council in two years for adjustment.

“Since it’s in good faith, you want to have good people there to represent you,” said CEPS leader and local businessman Dr. Mike Gruning. He was accompanied at the meeting by CEPS co-chairs Shari Davis and Louise Jaffe, along with CEPS leaders Lauri Crane, Rochelle Lewis- Fanali and Zane.

Feinstein, who abstained from the funding vote, saying he couldn’t bring himself to vote against school children, defended his record on Monday. He pointed out that he supported an alternative arrangement to swap use of school facilities for extra city dollars. That alternative was more fiscally responsible, added Feinstein, who had called the main plan the result of “slash-and-burn politics.”

“It’s so... corrupt, and I’m the one who stuck my neck out, was willing to say this,” Feinstein added on Monday. “If we’re talking about education, what kind of message will we be sending to the children in the community that someone like me, who simply advanced an alternative vision for achieving our common objective, is to be crushed electorally for doing it?”

Former newspaper columnist Bill Bauer didn’t receive the CEPS backing because of his previous opposition to parcel tax measures to fund schools, according to Davis. And Mann, who works as a flight attendant, failed to display a grasp of the intricacies involved in the issues, said Jaffe.

Jaffe declined to discuss Cole’s negative CEPS assessment. However, Cole has been criticized before for being more of an outspoken critic than a community consensus builder, and CEPS prides itself on consensus building. Still, CEPS leaders said the lengthiest part of discussions over whom the group should support centered around Cole, former head of the Mid-City neighborhood group.

The CEPS evaluation process took a full month and followed a three-step process, CEPS leaders said. First, the candidates were asked to answer a comprehensive list of questions relating to local schools. Next, they were invited to a Sept. 20 candidate forum. Finally, the 17-member CEPS steering committee analyzed each candidate’s background, qualifications and track records on education issues. The group spent hours discussing the candidates before taking near-unanimous votes on each of them.

Along with the candidate assessments, CEPS announced on Monday it will support Measure S, a $135 million bond for Santa Monica College, and Measure N, a 2 percent hike in the hotel bed tax. City Hall is counting on Measure N proceeds to help fulfill their promises to local schools.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 12, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/101204.pdf?ref=smdp.com)