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# Party politics: Round two
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/party-politics-round-two/
- Published: 2001-12-22T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T22:33:30.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Politics displays philosophical differences on Santa Monica City Council*

A Santa Monica city councilman has defended his political party’s hold on power and says he’s outraged by claims the council is politically lopsided.

Councilman Kevin McKeown, one of five councilmembers who belong to Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, said SMRR is a true grass-roots group and its members weren’t elected because of undue spending.

McKeown is disputing two fellow councilmembers, Bob Holbrook and Herb Katz, who sounded off in the Daily Press last week. They insisted that the five SMRR councilmembers are governing without listening enough to residents. That’s why they and 25 of their backers have formed a new citizen’s group called Santa Monicans for Responsive Government. The two councilmen also said the council is out of balance because the five of seven coun-cilmembers belonging to SMRR are backed by deep pockets. They also claim the political party doesn’t fairly represent the community.

But McKeown, in contesting that assessment, said SMRR is a movement that was born from community activism.

“The accusation that we are out of touch with this community is maddening to me,” he said. “Santa Monicans for Renters Rights has almost 6,000 residents on its membership list, not 25, and was supported this past year by over 3,600 small individual donations.

> “The accusation that we are out of touch with this community is maddening to me.” — — KEVIN McKEOWN Santa Monica city councilman

“SMRR’s agenda is the agenda of the hundreds of residents who have helped write the SMRR platform over the past 22 years,” he continued. “Affordable housing, excellent education, environmental issues, neighborhoods and quality of life are important to all of us who live in Santa Monica.”

Mayor Michael Feinstein, a SMRR member, said his party is one of the most representative political groups in Santa Monica. It limits donations to $250 or less. The policy enables SMRR to raise significant amounts of money for its candidates and remain accountable to its constituents, Feinstein said.

“It would be different if this SMRR was five or 10 people putting in $25,000 each but this is much different,” Feinstein said. “Together they have turned around the developer’s monopoly on the council and fought to improve residents’ quality of life in Santa Monica. Residents prefer a council that strongly controls growth instead of letting development run rampant. Voting preferences of this community is what gives us the make up of the city council. That’s how democracy is supposed to work.”

Holbrook and Katz, the dissenters, have claimed their new neighborhood group isn’t political and won’t be endorsing candidates for next year’s election.

But critics discount the remarks, noting that these types of movements and comments always seem to get the engines revving for the upcoming campaigns.

“This is the beginning of campaign 2002,” said Councilwoman Pam O’Con-nor, a member of SMRR.

She added that there are plenty of issues that all seven councilmembers agree upon and that the seven on council aren’t as divided as some would have citizens believe. O’Connor said there have been many votes that have come down 4- 3, as well as unanimous. However, she noted that she and the other SMRR-backed councilmembers are more “sympathetic” to certain issues. She said it was unfair to categorize them, however.

“People always want to reduce it to the lowest common denominator,” she said.

McKeown agrees. “It’s easy to ask provocative questions on issues we all know are vexing. But the real public service is in working together to implement solutions,” he said. “That’s where my energy will go, and I feel very lucky to have true grassroots groups like SMRR and Santa Monica’s many local neighborhood groups joining efforts to make this a better city.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 22, 2001.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122201.pdf?ref=smdp.com)