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By Jorge Casuso

October 20 -- Saying they are the most qualified candidates to tackle Santa Monica’s pressing problems, the Sierra Club last week endorsed City Council challengers Ted Winterer and Susan Hartley, along with incumbent Ken Genser.

Group leaders did not make a fourth endorsement in the race for four open seats on the seven–member council, passing up Mayor Herb Katz and Council members Richard Bloom and Bobby Shriver. Shriver declined to be interviewed because of an “extremely busy” schedule, group leaders said.

Ted Winterer and Susan Hartley -- who are vocal supporters of Prop T, a measure that would cap most commercial development in Santa Monica -- and Ken Genser, who opposes the measure, “could have an enormous impact” on important issues likely to come before the council, the group said.

“The three candidates (the club) backs would be the most effective in tackling Santa Monica's most pressing problems,” the group wrote in a statement.

These include “traffic problems, reining in overdevelopment, working to solve the excessive air and noise pollution generated by the Santa Monica Airport and the impact that it has on the adjacent residential neighborhood, providing more open space and parks and working to determine the best way possible for Santa Monica to care for its urban forest,” the group said.

“Ted Winterer and Susan Hartley are both community activists who are running for the first time and we believe that they will do an excellent job on the important environmental issues that will come before the City Council,” the group wrote.

“Ken Genser is an incumbent who has shown by his record that he has a sensitivity for environmental concerns that make him worthy of re-election.”

The recommendation to endorse Winterer, Hartley and Genser was made by the five members of the club’s West L.A. endorsement team for Santa Monica and was given final approval by the group’s Local Candidate Review Committee last week.

“The committee looked at all the answers in the interviews and decided to go with the people that were the strongest,” said Kathy Knight, who heads the local endorsement team.

The Sierra Club endorsement should give a boost to Winterer -- who has received the backing of the County Democratic Party and Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution (C.R.A.A.P.) -- and Hartley, who has received the backing of the later group and Treesavers.

Genser, who is running for a sixth four-year term, has the backing of the powerful Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR), and the City’s police, fire fighters and municipal employees unions, as well as the local Democratic Club and the County Democratic Party, among others.

“The Sierra Club does not make endorsements in political elections lightly and we hope that you will consider the fact that we have endorsed Ted Winterer, Susan Hartley and Ken Genser when you make your decision on Election Day,” the group said.