Election: 30’s a crowd
By JOHN F. MULLER Special to the Daily Press
CITY HALL — In a City Council race that is rapidly becoming one of the most hotly contested in recent memory, the field of potential candidates has grown to 30.
Since 18 candidates arrived at City Hall to take out nomination papers on the July 12 start date, another 13 have since thrown their hats in the ring, many expressing frustration with the councils of recent years and the Santa Monican’s for Renters’ Rights.
Robert Stern, the president of the Center for Governmental Studies, said the influx of council hopefuls was a strong indicator of significant discontent in a community that feels something is at stake in elections.
“It generally means that a lot of people are wanting to serve because they are very unhappy with the government,” he said. “But the problem is that you don’t have a runoff... the SMRRs might have only a couple of candidates out of the 30, but the most well-known people are still going to win.”
A number of political groups have emerged to challenge SMRR, however. The chamber of commerce will be endorsing candidates this year along with groups of city employees and teachers.
Council hopeful David Cole, the seventh-highest vote-getter in the 2002 council race, said he and a group of Santa Monica residents would announce the formation of another group next week — one designed to fight for resident’s rights. Cole said the group would allow voters to avoid the absolutisms of the renter interests and the business interests represented by SMRR and the chamber.
“I’m part of a rising tide of residents that want to restore rights to the residents of Santa Monica and focus only on what’s important to the voters in this city — the residents,” he said. “We’ve gotten away from that in Santa Monica, especially in the last 10 years.”
Other hopefuls like Kathryn J. Morea, Bill Bauer and Lorene “Leah” Mendelsohn withdrew papers out of frustrations similar to Cole’s.
Morea has lived in Santa Monica for eight years and works as a database analyst. She said recent councils have mixed up their priorities and failed to focus on what’s important — resident services like the school system, police and fire protection, and dealing with homeless and traffic problems.
“There are a lot of like-minded people out there, but we have not been able to organize past the SMRR machine,” she said. “SMRR stands for what they are and that’s fine, but there needs to be something else. In America, we have a two-party system, and (the two parties) balance out. In Santa Monica, we don’t have that, and I think we need to have that. The people deserve that for democracy.”
A Santa Monica renter of 33 years, Bauer works in advertising. Bauer has since suspended his column for the Daily Press. He characterized the city policies of recent years as inept, especially with regard to the issues of homelessness, traffic and parking.
“I think the powers that be are running a noble social experiment that has been a complete failure and has cost the citizens of this city dearly,” he said.
Mendelsohn is part of a group of residents that have mobilized to get the city to change its 1948 ordinance limiting the height of hedges. A non-practicing attorney, Mendelsohn said the hedge issue is a symptom of the larger failure on the part of a local government that has ignored the basic freedoms and property rights of its citizens.
Among those also pulling papers were computer consultant Brian Andrus, businessman Stephen Silberkraus, engineer Mike Smith and architect Jeffrey Weinstein. Each said they decided to run because of their discontent with an unresponsive council.
As expected, incumbents Michael Feinstein and Ken Genser also drew papers along with Maria Loya, the treasurer of the Pico Neighborhood Association and an active member of the Mothers for Justice. The three will seek the SMRR endorsement, along with incumbent Richard Bloom and Patricia Hoffman, a former school board member. Loya and Hoffman will only run with SMRR endorsement.
“My priority is to address the issue of the lack of affordable housing in Santa Monica, to protect tenant rights, and to support accountable development in Santa Monica, as well as support small businesses,” Loya said. “I also feel that it’s important that we continue to create mechanisms to engage the community as a whole in the difficult decisions that are going to impact the future of Santa Monica. I want to work to create those mechanisms and to create the bridge between the community and the decision makers in the city.”
Lawyer Michael McKernan also took out papers last week, but expressed strong doubts that he would actually run. Daniel Cody rounds out the 13 hopefuls that withdrew papers after last Monday. He could not be reached for comment.
Of the 18 hopefuls who initially withdrew papers July 12, Pro Se told the City Clerk’s office he will withdraw from the race.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 21, 2004. Read the original PDF.