Deal Puts Rosenstein in as Santa Monica Mayor : Politics: Stalemate is broken thanks to an unlikely accord that gives rival factions leadership positions on the City Council.

In a last-minute deal, the Santa Monica City Council has broken its weeklong deadlock, electing Councilman Paul Rosenstein as the city’s new mayor.

Rosenstein’s election was the result of a compromise hammered out prior to Tuesday’s council meeting. The deal assured the election of Councilwoman Asha Greenberg, who is in an opposing political organization, as mayor pro tem. The accord was unusual in that it gives rival political camps--Santa Monicans for Renters Rights (SMRR) and the Coalition for a Safe Santa Monica--leadership positions on the council.

Rosenstein, who is backed by SMRR, captured six council votes. Mayoral competitor Councilman Ken Genser abstained.

Tuesday’s mayoral election came a week after the council, with its three newly seated members, had repeatedly failed to elect a leader. The council made more than a dozen attempts to choose a mayor, even proposing to split the two-year mayoral post between candidates, but found itself at an impasse when no council member could garner the necessary four votes. Although the renters’ rights group controls four seats on the seven-member council, the SMRR votes were divided between mayoral hopefuls Rosenstein and Genser.

The city attorney’s office determined that the seated mayor, Judy Abdo, would stay on until a new mayor was elected.

On Monday, Rosenstein said he had made the “difficult” decision to support Greenberg for the second highest council position, saying he believed it was important to show the community that the council could work together and was not stymied by gridlock.

After winning the election, Rosenstein pointed out that the two camps had come together two years ago when Coalition members Greenberg and Councilman Robert Holbrook agreed to cross party lines and elect Abdo as mayor, despite her alliance with the renters’ rights group.

“Now it’s time to make a similar type of move and nominate Asha for mayor pro tempore,” Rosenstein said.

Greenberg won election as mayor pro tem on a 4-3 vote, but Abdo and Councilwoman Pam O’Connor, who initially opposed Greenberg’s election, later changed their votes in an attempt to show council unity. The unity movement fell short by one, however, when Genser declined to amend his vote.

Right up to Tuesday’s meeting, Genser continued to refuse to back Rosenstein for a full two-year term as mayor, but said he was willing to split the term with him.

After the election, Greenberg said she would have preferred to see Holbrook split a two-year mayoral term with Rosenstein, but when it did not appear that was politically feasible, she had agreed to take the mayor pro tem’s position to break the deadlock. Holbrook, she said, did not want to be mayor pro tem.

“I think it was detrimental to have the stalemate,” Greenberg said. “It gives the community a poor view of government, that we can’t resolve a simple issue. This was in the best interest of the city.”

After Rosenstein was elected, Genser said, he could not endorse the deal between the two camps. Genser said before the meeting that he was concerned that if Rosenstein and Greenberg were elected, quality-of-life issues such as neighborhood protection and protection of renters’ rights would not be adequately addressed. He also said that some SMRR members were unhappy with the deal.

Rosenstein said he knew the compromise with the coalition angered some SMRR leaders but vowed that he had neither changed his politics nor philosophy, pledging to continue his support of rent control.

“I had come to conclude there was a great deal of anxiety in the city,” said Rosenstein, adding that in an era in which government’s ability to function is called into question, it was important to show that the city has leaders who can work together.

The mayor’s role is primarily ceremonial. The mayor chairs council meetings and helps the city manager set the council’s agenda; the mayor pro tem takes over when the mayor cannot fulfill his or her duties. In the past, the mayor pro tem has also sat in on some agenda-setting meetings.