Feinstein Defies State Party’s Call to Step Down

By Oliver Lukacs
Staff Writer

May 12 -- Ignoring the State Green Party’s public “request” that he temporarily quit the party he helped build, Councilman Michael Feinstein, who is accused of misappropriating $10,000 in party funds, said he will “continue” his work at the state, national and international levels.

Feinstein’s reaction to the request issued as a press release and circulated late last week to national party members and to local media outlets (The Lookout did not receive a copy) was short and defiant.

“Even since the press release, I have continued to participate on the various committees and working groups in which I am involved and will continue to do so,” Feinstein told The Lookout Monday.

The state party’s press release “strongly requested” that Feinstein “temporarily withdraw” from “Green Party activities” while the matter, which City police and state authorities have been asked to investigate, is resolved.

“Although the GPCA is not a party to any legal or financial disputes with Feinstein, the GPCA is hopeful that this leave of absence will allow him time to quickly resolve those disputes,” according to the statement.

It is unclear how the state party will respond to Feinstein’s rejection of the request, which the State Party’s Coordinating Council reportedly approved in closed session.

State party officials did not return calls and emails for comment by deadline.

Feinstein, who has maintained that the money was used to fund a state party office on Pico Boulevard but has refused to open his bankbooks, said he will continue his work on the three state party committees, four national party committees, and one international party committee he is currently on.

In the press release, state party officials reiterated their claim that the party “has never maintained, staffed, leased, or authorized” the Pico office opened by Feinstein and that they were never aware of the credit union account used to bankroll the storefront.

But official minutes of the January 29, 2000 GPCA meeting held at the Pico office contradict the claim. According to the minutes, state party officials referred to the storefront as a “state office” and acknowledged that they were aware of a “Green Party” account opened under Feinstein’s name.

“Mike Feinstein has a checking account under Green Party with his personal social security number here at a credit union in Santa Monica,” according to the minutes of the meeting.

Officials said that while the state party had “no legal or financial obligation for the office… the GPCA has a political responsibility,” according to the minutes.

After the press release calling for Feinstein to step down was issued, several party officials rallied to the former mayor’s defense.

In a letter to party officials to correct “factual errors” in the press release, Lucy Colvin, a state party co-chair at the time, wrote that in addition to internal emails and official meeting minutes, “my own memory…confirms that the Santa Monica office was absolutely agreed to be considered an office of the Green Party of California.”

Ricardo Newbery, a state party co-coordinator, also came to Feinstein’s defense. “I don't understand what has come over the GPCA CC (Coordinating Council),” Newbery wrote in a letter to Colvin. “They seem much too willing to play fast and lose with the facts in order to punish Feinstein.

“By insisting on the interpretation that Feinstein had gone completely rogue and that the office had absolutely no legitimacy, despite the evidence, a small number of influential CC members appear to be attempting to rewrite history,” Newbery wrote.

“Proposed and decided completely within executive session, we may never know if there were any dissenting voices, contrary arguments, or any indefensible or unsupportable allegations,” Newbery wrote. “Such is the nature of executive sessions when abused in order to control the process, the debate, and the record.