Feinstein places 9th in bid for council seat
Despite losing one seat to a well-heeled challenger, Santa Monica’s ruling party on Tuesday ensured it will control City Hall for at least two more years.
With 97 percent of precincts reporting, it appeared calls for change in City Hall didn’t resonate with residents, who were on track to elect three incumbents and one challenger. Two of the incumbents were backed by the powerful Santa Monicans for Renters Rights group, which has controlled City Hall for most of the last quarter century.
“I’m very encouraged,” said Mayor Richard Bloom, 51. “There’s already a sense of accomplishment, because the returns look good. It really looks good for all of the SMRR candidates.”
Also re-elected early Wednesday were incumbents Herb Katz, who was supported by the local chamber of commerce, and Ken Genser, backed by SMRR.
Kennedy family descendant and California parks commissioner Bobby Shriver, 50, was on track to claim the fourth seat. With all but one of Santa Monica’s 66 precincts reporting, Shriver had nearly twice as many votes as the fifth-ranked candidate, or the first not to win a seat.
“God is great,” said Shriver, who hosted 200 supporters in a balloon-filled ballroom at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel. “I’m excited to win and I feel like it’s an act of trust for people to vote for you, so it’s a good thing. Now I have to deliver to people, so I’m going to concentrate on delivering.”
While Shriver mingled with guests in front of the ballroom’s big screen TV, City Councilman Herb Katz held a small election night party at Casa Del Mar. Meanwhile, SMRR members drank from a keg and noshed on tamales outside a union building on Colorado Avenue, and challengers Bill Bauer and David Cole hosted a handful of friends for free snacks and sodas at The Shack on Wilshire Boulevard.
At each of the events, moods were somewhat sour as guests closely tracked national election returns. Only two of the 14 people running for City Council seats were Republicans.
The new council members will be sworn in for four-year terms on Dec. 7. They will join incumbents Bob Holbrook, Kevin McKeown and Pam O’Connor, whose terms end in 2006. McKeown and O’Connor were both backed by SMRR, though O’Connor is viewed as an independent thinker and her votes don’t always reflect those of other SMRR council members.
All seven City Council members on Dec. 7 will choose a new Santa Monica mayor, who will serve a two-year term.
SMRR’S LEGACY SMRR-backed politicians have helped develop the Third Street Promenade into an economic powerhouse, promoted a progressive environmental agenda and brought higher wages to low-income workers. They also have been called overly bureaucratic and soft on homelessness, earning the city monikers like “The People’s Republic of Santa Monica” and “Santa Monica: Home of the Homeless.”
Business interests coalesced to fight SMRR this November like never before. The local chamber of commerce formed a political action committee, endorsed a slate of candidates and helped them raise money, while special interests groups poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race. The owners of two luxury beachfront hotels, Casa Del Mar and Shutters on the Beach, spent nearly $280,000 alone, sending out election mailers and canvassers on behalf of the chamber candidates.
SMRR fought hard to retain power over the council. Though it had raised only $125,000 as of Oct. 16, SMRR depended on a team of volunteers to knock on doors and man phone banks. Several SMRR candidates also picked up endorsements from other groups, like the local police and city employee unions. Those groups spent tens of thousands of dollars on behalf of their chosen candidates. In the end, only one of 10 challengers won a seat — Shriver.
THE KENNEDY FACTOR Shriver entered the local political fray last summer, after he and more than 100 other residents were threatened by city officials with fines of up to $25,000 a day for having high front, side and back yard hedges. Frustrated by his experience with City Hall, Shriver began his campaign calling for change within City Hall. He quickly took up homelessness as his top priority on the campaign trail.
Most observers expected Shriver to win long before votes were cast. With name recognition and family ties, Shriver generated unprecedented interest in his campaign. He became the subject of news articles across the country. He raised more than twice as much money as any of the other candidates. He invited help, too. Campaign events featured Shriver’s uncle, U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy; cousin, Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr.; mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver; sister, first lady of California Maria Shriver; television celebrity Oprah Winfrey; and U2’s Bono, who has helped Shriver raise money for African AIDS victims.
The entrance of Shriver changed the dynamic of the local election. Many groups attempted to latch onto his success, pairing themselves with Shriver on mailers and in advertisements.
Attending Shriver’s Tuesday’s event, among others, were City Councilmen Bob Holbrook and Herb Katz; Santa Monica College President Dr. Piedad F. Robertson; schools Superintendent John Deasy; chamber leaders Tom Larmore and Kathy Dodson; Harry Keiley, head of the local teacher union; and reporters, photographers and news cameras from most of the county’s major media outlets.
FIELD OF CONTENDERS Incumbents Bloom, Genser and Katz have a combined experience of several decades on the dais. Bloom has been involved in a countywide effort to cure homelessness in the next 10 years, while Genser has committed himself to mapping out Santa Monica’s development future. Herb Katz, an architect and small business owner, has long lamented ineffectiveness sitting on a council minority.
City Councilman Mike Feinstein, who was dropped by SMRR this year after eight years of support and was criticized by education leaders and members of his own Green Party, lost his bid for re-election as an independent. With nearly 80 percent of precincts reporting, Feinstein was in ninth place, capturing less than 6 percent of the votes cast.
The 10 challengers that joined the council race had diverse backgrounds and qualifications. Among the contenders were Shriver, nurse Leticia Anderson, data entry operator Linda Armstrong, former newspaper columnist Bill Bauer, healthcare worker David Cole, flight attendant Jon Mann, chamber-backed physician Matt Dinolfo and database analyst Kathryn Morea, and former school member Patricia Hoffman and Pico neighborhood activist Maria Loya, both backed by SMRR.
Two other candidates that backed out of the race but still appeared on the ballot pulled in more than 4 percent of the vote. They were Red Cross worker Tom Viscount and hedge activist Leah Mendelsohn.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 3, 2004. Read the original PDF.