By Jorge Casuso

February 28 -- Steve Alpert -- a longtime political analyst who advised scores of School and College board candidates over the years -- died Friday in his home in Santa Monica. He was 61.

Known for his kindness and curmudgeon-like sense of humor, Alpert, a staunch Democrat who never lost his native New York accent, had been ill in recent months and was receiving hospice care.

For 30 years Alpert not only helped lay the groundwork for political strategies that kept Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) in control of City Hall, he served as the powerful tenant’s group’s conscience, SMRR leaders said.

Photo courtesy of Kathy McTaggart and Andy Liberman

“He was feisty, brilliant, curmudgeonly, passionate, generous, lovely and impossible,” said former mayor Dennis Zane, a friend and political colleague of Alpert’s for nearly 30 years. “He had a very fine sense of justice. He was motivated both by love and indignation.

“He was one of those people for whom the expression ‘one of a kind’ was coined,” Zane said.

“He was a curmudgeon, he was insightful and very funny,” said Michael Tarbet, a longtime SMRR organizer. “We’d be having these serious discussions, then you’d have this insightful wit, and think, ‘Oh, yeah, there’s the answer.’ He would listen a long time before he said anything.”

“He was the most thoughtful, kind man that I have encountered in politics in Santa Monica,” said former College Board member Annette Shamey. “He was in many ways an educator of the political maneuvering in the city.”

Known as much for his keen wit as for his insightful analysis of election results, Alpert kept track of the precinct counts on color-coded maps that served as blueprints for SMRR campaign strategies two years later.

“He became very skilled with the numbers,” said Zane, who is a political consultant and head of SMRR. “No question he could talk about the precinct outcomes in detail.”

“He understood the demographics, the voting patterns, the issues,” Shamey said. “He had a wealth of knowledge. He was a person people would call to pick his brain.”

Alpert quickly joined the political scene after moving to California from Bronx, New York, in the early 1970s. He lived on the Venice Canals and was quickly heralded on posters for his efforts to thwart the rampant development in the beachfront community.

After moving to Santa Monica, Alpert became a leader in the Tom Hayden-Jane Fonda Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), whose motto was “Make the Future Ours.” His work on SMRR resulted in the successful rent control effort of 1979. He also served on SMRR’s steering committee on and off for a quarter of a century.

Alpert – who worked for the political consulting firm Thom Poffenberger and Associates -- was a team player who often spoke softly and liked to stay behind the scenes, Zane said.

“Steve was not confident being a front guy,” Zane said. “But Steve was a dramatic guy, he had dramatic insight and expressed it in a dramatic way.”

A champion of tenants’ rights, Alpert considered himself a “yellow dog Democrat” who would vote for a yellow dog if it was the only Democrat on the ballot, Tarbet said.

A longtime member of the Santa Monica Democratic Club, Alpert was recognized as the 41st Assembly District’s Democrat of the year.

“He got all dressed up for that one,” Tarbet said. “That was the only time I know of him having worn a coat and tie.”

Alpert always kept abreast of the local issues, friends said. Shortly before he died, after computer broke down, Shamey would print out copies of the stories from The Lookout and take them to his home.

“He absolutely lived for those articles,” Shamey said. “I would make copies of them and drive them over every day. He was a political animal. “He lived for having information about what happened in his city.

Many of those who knew him, remember Alpert -- an avid bird watcher, animal lover and history buff -- not only for his political acumen, but for his kindness.

“I think he was the nicest, kindest human being I’ve met in the city, the kindest soul there was,” said Mat Dinolfo, who hired Alpert as a consultant for his City Council run. “I think his loss is immeasurable, he was the soul of the city.”

Asked when he had met Apert, Tarbet thought for a moment and answered, “Good Lord, he was always there.”

Alpert is survived by his brother Ira M. Alpert; sister-in-law Mary Lou; nephew Stuart; niece Kim Alpert-Popolizio (all of New York); nephew Keith (Boulder, Colorado); four great-nephews and nieces; and five cousins.

A memorial service will be held on March 24 at 2:00 p.m. at St. Anne’s Church (2000 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica). Contributions may be made in Alpert’s name to St. Anne’s for its efforts to protect low-income tenants in the cities of Los Angeles and Santa Monica or to SMRR (2633 Lincoln Blvd., #513, Santa Montica, CA, 90405).