By Daniel Larios
Staff Writer

October 6, 2014 – The Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and oldest grassroots environmental organization, announced on Friday that it will back two challengers and an incumbent for the Santa Monica City Council race, all three slow-growth advocates.
 
Incumbent Kevin McKeown and Planning Commissioners Sue Himmelrich and Richard McKinnon will benefit from mailers sent to Sierra Club members, phone banking and volunteers to work their campaigns.

“Once our work was complete, the decisions at every level of review were relatively simple (the three candidates) rose to the top of this impressive group of candidates,” said Marcia Hanscom, Executive Committee member for the Sierra Club Los Angeles Chapter.

“We are confident that Kevin, Sue and Richard will truly turn the City of Santa Monica from its reputation as being green, to being ‘deep green.’”

McKeown, who was an active member of the Green Party before becoming a Democrat, said he was thrilled with an endorsement he has received since he first ran in 1998.

"The Sierra Club endorsement is the gold standard in the environmental field, and I’m proud to have won it for the fifth straight time,” McKeown told the Lookout.

“True sustainability has been one of my guiding principles in sixteen years on our City Council, and has never been more important than in this time of global climate change, regional drought, and local overdevelopment," McKeown said.

McKinnon, who chairs Arboretum Santa Monica and is the former chair of Bike It! Day, also won the group’s endorsement in his 2012 Council bid.

“A commitment to turn Santa Monica a Deep Green quickly and decisively is a central reason I run,” McKinnon told the Lookout. 

“As a Planning Commissioner I have relentlessly pushed for the toughest environmental standard for every building; and on every zoning, transport or planning issue have argued that we need new standards to achieve real sustainability.”

“Climate change is real; the drought is the example,” he added.  “Now is the moment for us to act. Himmelrich won the Club's endorsement in what is her first Council bid.

"When I decide whether to vote for a candidate, the Sierra club endorsement is something I look for as a primary consideration," Himmelrich said. "So you can imagine how delighted I am to receive their endorsement. This is a serious environmental group with a deep comprehension of complex issues. I am flattered that I rise to their standards."

The candidates were chosen by a seven-member endorsement committee that researched, reviewed extensive questionnaires and interviewed the top eight candidates, Sierra officials said.

“It was a challenging effort to research and interview so many good candidates, including several we have endorsed in the past,” said Hanscom, who led the committee and has served on the Sierra Club’s national Board of Directors.

In addition to the three endorsed candidates, the Sierra Club interviewed and considered incumbent mayor Pam O’Connor, former mayor Mike Feinstein, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Phil Brock, Planning Commissioner Jennifer Kennedy and former Lookout Columnist Frank Gruber

After the endorsement team made its recommendation, several additional levels of review at the Sierra Club were required, including looking at issues and initiatives supported by the candidates. 

Among the green initiatives that impressed the organization was the  stance of all three candidates to close and convert Santa Monica Airport into a large park, a position shared by the other five. 

The organization also took into account the candidates’ slow growth positions, saying that overdevelopment “contributes to traffic congestion, severely alters the quality of life in Santa Monica and threatens to bring high-rise structures to the city’s shoreline.”

“If these candidates are elected, the City of Santa Monica will burnish its reputation as a truly ‘green city’ more than it ever has before,” said David Haake, a physician who chairs the West LA Group for the Sierra Club’s Angeles Chapter.

The Club also has taken a position in favor of ballot measure LC and against ballot measure D – underscoring its position in favor of closing Santa Monica Airport when the City’s agreement with the FAA ends and converting the land into a park.