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Santa Monica Daily Press
July 24-25, 2004
A newspaper with issues
State Greens delve into Feinstein fiasco
DAILY LOTTERY FANTASY 5 3 8 22 24 34
BY JOHN WOOD
DAILY 3 Daytime: Evening:
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Volume 3, Issue 218
NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY CHUCK SHEPARD
■ In 1999, a federal judge in Syracuse, N.Y., rejected another in a series of lawsuits by Donald Drusky of East McKeesport, Pa., in his 30-year battle against USX Corp. for ruining his life by firing him in 1968. Furthermore, Drusky sued "God ... the sovereign ruler of the universe" for taking "no corrective action" against any of Drusky's enemies and demanded that God compensate him with professional guitar-playing skills and the resurrection of his mother.
Nearly a year after he was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing for allegedly misappropriating a $10,000 political donation, Santa Monica City Councilman Mike Feinstein is still suffering political fallout from the muddled controversy, which now is in the hands of the state Green Party.
money was spent, a subsequent criminal investigation was conducted by the Santa Monica Police Department. But the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office didn’t file any charges, citing a lack of evidence. After still more failed attempts by Green Party officials to get Feinstein to disclose where the money went, party members filed a small claims lawsuit against
At issue is a $10,000 check intended for the Los Angeles Green Party donated by former member Bill Pietz three and a half years ago. Feinstein admittedly took the check and deposited into a private bank account that only he controls. After more than a year of requests from Green Party officials for Feinstein to hand over his bank records and explain how the
Membership has its privileges
TODAY IN HISTORY ON JULY 24, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts, two of whom had been the first men to set foot on the moon, splashed down safely in the Pacific. ■ In 1783, Latin American revolutionary Simon Bolivar was born in Caracas, Venezuela. ■ In 1862, the eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, died in Kinderhook, N.Y. ■ In 1866, Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War.
INDEX Horoscopes
Alejandro Cesar Cantarero II/Daily Press
Cap, be where the party is
2
Local And they’re off!
3
Up all night: Meeting curfew curbed in court
4
Judge discredits suit; councilmen poised to appeal
Opinion Orange, you worried?
Q-Line Responses Watch out, sucker
BY JOHN WOOD 4
State Labor pains
7
National Slick move
8
Crossword 4 Down? Anyone?
12
Classifieds Ad space odyssey
13-15
People in the News One sweet concert
See GREEN, page 5
3
Surf Water temperature: 68°
As part of a weekly contest, the first reader to accurately describe where this mystery photo was captured will win a free prize from the Daily Press. E-mail your answers to sack@smdp.com.
him. But it was dropped, a decision Feinstein was able to be involved in. Feinstein, an elected member of the local Green Party County Council, was both a plaintiff and the defendant in the lawsuit — a fact some Greens contend is a conflict of interest. Local Greens have recently accused Feinstein of breaking a party bylaw by participating in the vote within the local chapter to drop the small claims lawsuit against him. In a series of private meetings over the last two weeks, state party officials agreed to review the alleged bylaws violation — which some members hope will force Feinstein out of the party. They’ve also met behind closed doors with Feinstein’s lawyers regarding the missing money. Yet, Feinstein still refuses to explain how exactly the donation money was spent. “The smartest thing Mike could do at this point would be to open those records,” said local Green Party leader Joe Crompton, a vocal critic of Feinstein. “A lot of people want to just brush this thing under the rug.” State officials expect resolution on the missing bank records by the end of the year. They have alleged recently that Feinstein deposited still more contributions intended
16
Daily Press Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN LA — After being rebuffed by a judge last week, two elected leaders suing City Hall in an effort to put a curfew on City Council meetings are poised to launch a new effort in court. Because meetings regularly run past midnight, when most people are home asleep, City Councilmen Bob Holbrook and Herb Katz claim members of the public are
kept out of the public process. What’s more, they say making staffers stay up late has a bad impact on service at City Hall. In a written ruling handed down last week, Los Angeles Superior Court David Yaffe said Holbrook and Katz had no grounds to sue the City Council on which they serve. What’s more, Judge Yaffe said the councilmen failed “to show that they bring their action solely in the public
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interest, without regard to their personal preferences regarding working hours.” Katz and Holbrook are poised to appeal, as soon as Assistant City Attorney Joe Lawrence files the final paperwork with the court, something he said he’d do in the next few days. Meanwhile, the councilmen also are working with lawyer Rosario Perry to find residents willing to sign onto a classaction lawsuit. They reason that while Judge Yaffe barred them from suing the City Hall, there’s nothing to keep a normal citizen
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from doing so. “I disagree with the judge,” said Katz, who has offered to meet more regularly in order to end meetings earlier. “It isn’t about the council. It’s about helping our people be able to give more input ... It is not right. “We should end our meetings long before we do.” City Hall has the ability under Judge Yaffe’s ruling to seek reimbursement for legal fees, an amount Lawrence estimates to be about $10,000. With an appeal and See BROWN, page 6
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