Lobster’s Fans Protest His Dinner-Plate Fate

The latest celebrity on Sunset Boulevard: Spike--a live, 12 1/2-pound lobster awaiting his fate at Gladstone’s 4 Fish.

Employees and patrons of the restaurant, concerned the crustacean will soon become supper, are pleading for his life.

“We came in and saw him last Friday, fell in love with him and just kind of adopted him,” said waitress Julie Gleason.

Spike is believed to be about 65 years old, but his days may be numbered. His date with fate is Nov. 1, when he will be given away during a drawing.

“I hope whoever gets him doesn’t kill him,” Gleason said. “I mean, he’s survived (several) wars.”

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WRONG NUMBER: A volunteer for state Assembly candidate Sheila James Kuehl, a Democrat, wasted a bit of energy recently when she hit up former Santa Monica Mayor Christine Reed for a campaign contribution.

Reed is campaign manager for Kuehl’s Republican opponent in the 41st Assembly District race, Michael T. Meehan.

Meehan, a political newcomer, is the underdog in the race to represent the far-flung district, which sweeps from Santa Monica north to the Ventura County line.

But, Reed reports, Kuehl’s volunteer said her candidate “desperately needed” to raise $420,000 to ensure a victory. So far, Kuehl, a women’s rights attorney who could become the first openly gay member of the state Legislature, said she has raised about $120,000 for the general election campaign.

That’s three times the amount Meehan has raised for both the primary and general election.

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COP TALK: The coveted endorsements from Santa Monica’s men and women in blue are in: Hedging its bets, as usual, the Santa Monica Police Officers Assn. split its City Council endorsements between the town’s two political factions.

Incumbent Councilman Robert T. Holbrook and one of his running mates, Los Angeles prosecutor Ruth Ebner, got the nod from the police rank and file. They are running on a slate with Matt Kanny, backed by a group called the Coalition for a Safe Santa Monica.

The police association’s endorsement for the third council seat up for grabs on the November ballot went to Planning Commissioner Pam O’Connor, a member of the rival Santa Monicans for Renters Rights ticket. Her two running mates, Councilman Tony Vazquez and Bruria Finkel, were snubbed by the police group.

Police association President Steve Brackett said Vazquez “has consistently voted against police law-and-order issues that have come before the council.”

Vazquez responds that the officers’ group is taking a narrow view that enforcement crackdowns are the primary solution to lawlessness.

In a separate move, the Fire Department union got behind all three members of the Coalition for a Safe Santa Monica ticket.

Candidates value the police and fire union endorsements because the two groups issue campaign mailings touting their choices to voters.