Top Leaders Vie for Open SMC Seat

By Jorge Casuso

Nov. 1 -- Some of the area's top civic figures -- including a former City Councilman, a past president of the School Board and a prominent business leader -- will be vying Monday for an open seat on the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees.

Chosen by the board earlier this month from among 22 candidates, the five finalists are competing to fill a vacancy on the seven-member panel created by the resignation of Trustee Patrick Nichelson, which became effective September 30. The new trustee will serve until the next regularly scheduled board election in November 2004.

The five finalists are former School board President Pam Brady; David Finkel, a former Santa Monica City Councilman and retired judge; former Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce President Graham Pope, Bayside District Board member Rob Rader and William Winslow, who made an unsuccessful bid for he board in 2002.

"The board will interview each of the candidates, make an appointment and swear the winner in," said SMC spokesman Bruce Smith. He added that a videotaped interview with Finkel, who is in Israel, will be shown at the meeting.

The five candidates each received at least the four votes needed to make the cut when the board narrowed the field of applicants at a special meeting held October 13, Smith said.

Pam Brady served for 12 years on the School Board, leading the district as president through two successful searches for a superintendent. Elected to the California State PTA, Brady also served for eight years on the California School Board Association, where she represented 31 school districts in Los Angeles County. A longtime Santa Monica resident, Brady currently lives in Malibu.

Finkel, who retired last year after serving as a Municipal and Superior Court judge since 1991, has been active in local politics since he was elected to a seat on the Rent control Board in 1981. A top member of Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights, Finkel was elected to the City Council in 1986, serving for two years as Mayor Pro Tem.

An accountant with more than 30 of experience, Graham Pope has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce board various times, serving one term as president. He also has been a member of the School District's advisory committee, the SMC Foundation Board and the Rotary Club. During the past ten years, Pope has been responsible for auditing major non-profit organizations.

Rob Rader is an attorney and senior executive business consultant for MGM Studios. In 2002 Rader was appointed by the City Council to Bayside District Corporation board, which is in charge of setting policy for the Downtown, including the Third Street Promenade. He currently chairs the board of the Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition.

A tax attorney, William Winslow recently ran for a seat on the board of trustees. He serves on the boards of several non-profit groups, including the Business Government Council to End Homelessness and the University Religious Conference at UCLA, on both of which he serves as president. He also serves on the board of the Chinatown Service Center and Public Counsel, a public interest law firm.