WESTSIDE COVER STORY : Thinking About Running for Local Office? Take a Look at the Paltry Salaries and... : DON’T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB

Let’s say you have a problem with trash pickup in your neighborhood and want to complain to the Big Cheese--the mayor. The mayor says sure, he’ll meet with you. But first he has to ask his boss for the time off.

That kind of scenario is replayed frequently in local politics, where many low-paid but high-profile public servants lead surprisingly workaday lives.

Salaried bosses may rule the big cities, but Westside mayors and city council members more closely resemble Dagwood Bumstead when it comes to making a living.

Some are what might be delicately described as underemployed; a few haven’t held a regular job for years. But the majority furiously juggle day jobs with nighttime council meetings.

Virtually all say that political chores sooner or later interrupt their careers--and vice versa.

Santa Monica Councilwoman Judy Abdo, who makes ends meet with two part-time administrative jobs, has often had to leave work early to preside over ribbon-cuttings and meet visitors to the city. Her colleague Robert T. Holbrook juggles council duties with a busy day running the student pharmacy at USC. Others have seen their careers languish. During one busy year, West Hollywood City Councilman Paul Koretz gave up working entirely and just dug into savings. Kelly Olsen, who recently ended a term on the Santa Monica City Council, said his political duties were so consuming that he had to be supported by his wife, an office manager at a small law firm.

Experts see the situation as a Catch-22 for both politicians and voters.

“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior associate at the Center for Politics and Government at the Claremont Graduate School. “If you give (politicians) a living wage, you hear criticism that they’re out of touch with normal people. But if you don’t, they complain that they can’t devote time to constituents and the increasingly complex problems they face.”

Local officeholders have never been lured by a fat paycheck.

In West Hollywood, council members get $400 a month, health insurance and a credit card for city-related expenses. Each hires one deputy. And that’s among the more generous arrangements. The seven Santa Monica council members each get $50 monthly--a rate unchanged since 1946--and have to do most of their own legwork.

The council salary in Santa Monica (population: 86,000) falls far below state averages. According to the League of California Cities, the average annual council salary in 15 cities with populations between 85,000 and 115,000 is $7,525.

By contrast, each of the 13 Los Angeles City Council members earns about $90,000 a year plus benefits, including a city car, home alarm system, and medical and dental insurance. They also have a large staff of full-time aides who help write correspondence, research issues and follow up on public inquiries.

At the moment, there are no campaigns to increase council pay in Westside cities. But the issue does occasionally arise here and elsewhere in the Los Angeles area.

In Santa Monica, a 1992 drive to raise council members’ salaries to $600 a month failed. And Compton (population: 90,000) has put two measures on the April ballot that, if approved, would increase the pay of council members by nearly 200%, to $60,000 a year. Compton would thus become one of the smallest cities in California with a full-time mayor and city council on the payroll.

Small-city politicians make less partly because the job demands less. Each Los Angeles City Council member represents about 230,000 constituents. West Hollywood has five council members for a city of 35,000.

Some prefer that arrangement, saying it attracts a cadre of devoted citizen volunteers. The caveat, of course, is that these volunteers cannot devote 100% of their time to civic duties.

“If it’s a tossup between a business meeting and something in the community, then the business meeting takes priority, I’ve got to tell you,” said Les Bronte, who started his own linen and textile distribution firm 15 years ago and now serves on the Beverly Hills City Council.

But as voters rail against “career politicians” at the state and national level, the diverse backgrounds and broad perspectives of city council members who hold down other jobs may seem refreshing.

“The idea of a citizen volunteer is one I support 100%,” said Allan Alexander, a Century City attorney who has handled real estate transactions for many entertainment figures and serves on the Beverly Hills City Council. “We want good people in politics--more people there simply to do a good job for the community and not just trying to gain fame for themselves.”

Mike Balkman, who runs an electrical contracting firm and is a councilman in Culver City, says serving on the council “is not a full-time job. As much time as I would like to devote to (the council), it wouldn’t be enough for a full-time job.”

Others, however, wonder whether the struggle to balance politics and careers may run counter to good government. The combination of low pay and long hours tends to attract a disproportionate number of retirees and trust-fund beneficiaries. Other council members say their need to support themselves and their families sometimes prevents them from being as responsive as constituents want them to be.

In Santa Monica, council members who work full-time jobs have for years argued that their unemployed colleagues blithely drag out meetings into the wee hours.

Moonlighting also takes its toll on decision-makers’ personal lives. “Some nights I just get a few hours’ sleep, and it takes me days to recover,” said Santa Monica Mayor Paul Rosenstein, who wakes at 4:30 every morning to commute to his job as an electrician on Terminal Island.

Koretz, who is married and has a 3-year-old daughter, said: “Normally (because of politics) whatever else I’m doing somehow gets the shaft, whether it’s my family or my other job.” Once a full-time deputy to another politician, he recently switched careers and began selling insurance.

Others disagree. Kelly Olsen said he spent an average of 35 hours a week working as a Santa Monica councilman, including attending meetings, talking with constituents and doing his own research. When police officers and other council members were slow to act on reports of drug dealing in Palisades Park, Olsen said, he went to the site with a video camera and recorded drug sales in progress.

Santa Monica City Councilman Ken Genser has held part-time consulting jobs and managed his family’s trust fund. He said a council seat does not mix well with a 9-to-5 job.

“When I got up at 10 this morning, there were about 10 minutes of phone messages” from constituents, Genser said. “They were all city-related, and I try and return all of those phone calls. It’s been much harder when I’ve had consulting jobs that have been full time.”

Even so, Genser said he needs to find a new job and is wondering whether his political experience and contacts may make good credentials.

But, he added, “I think the information one gets regarding the city of Santa Monica has limited marketability.” Besides, because of conflict-of-interest rules, “you have to be distant from the people you’re working with.”

Employment experts agree.

“The credentials one develops working for the city council are translatable (as job skills) in the sense that one has contacts that can help a company,” said David Radden, managing partner in the Los Angeles office of Paul Ray-Berndtson, an executive search firm.

“A (former) city councilperson in Culver City or Beverly Hills could be helpful if a company needs those individuals’ contacts to get business,” Radden said. “But if you look at the classic company, such as a bank or retailer or manufacturer, there are probably very few jobs a person coming off a council would be qualified for. They would have a hard time in any marketing or operations role, unless their background was in finance.”

For Abdo, the problem is simply a necessary evil. Politics, she said, “really limits our ability to work in a more or less normal work setting. That’s just part of the package that an elected official has to accept.”

Given the low pay, long hours and limited future, one might wonder why council members punish themselves.

Most local politicians speak of helping their communities. A few say they got involved because they disagreed with the direction of local government and wanted to help straighten things out.

But a good number may be seduced by the power and prestige of gaveling meetings to order and making big decisions on zoning and parking and other butter-and-bread issues. Power and prestige that, some say, may be illusory anyway.

Paul Koretz knew that serving as mayor of West Hollywood would mean he wouldn’t make much of a living. “You don’t get to be mayor of a city every day,” he said. “Everybody wants to talk to the mayor--even if everyone thinks the position is a lot more powerful than it is.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Comparing Compensation

A look at the vast difference in pay and benefits of council members citywide and on the Westside:

*

LOS ANGELES Salary: $7,500 per month.

Benefits: Medical and dental insurance, city car, home fax machine, home alarm system and up to $500,000 per year to hire staff and fund council offices.

*

CULVER CITY Stipend: $485 per month.

Benefits: Medical and dental insurance, optional participation in Public Employees Retirement System pension plan.

*

WEST HOLLYWOOD Stipend: $400 per month.

Benefits: Monthly $330 allowance for health, dental and vision insurance premiums, plus up to $4,000 per month to hire staff assistant.

*

BEVERLY HILLS Stipend: $341 per month.

Benefits: Medical and dental insurance and city contribution to Public Employees Retirement System.

*

MALIBU Stipend: $300 per month.

Benefit: City pays membership in Public Employees Retirement System.

*

SANTA MONICA Stipend: $50 per month (mayor gets $150 per month).

Benefits: No significant benefits although council members can earn an extra $25 for attending certain commission meetings.