Feinstein Unfazed by Councilwoman’s Lewd Gesture

Sen. Dianne Feinstein barely sniffed Thursday at an obscene gesture tossed her way by controversial pro-gun Councilwoman Sandi Webb.

Unruffled by Webb’s middle-fingered salute, Feinstein (D-Calif.) replied through an aide: “I’ve been flipped off by bigger birds than that.”

Webb, whose gesture has embarrassed some Simi Valley politicians, said she became angry at Feinstein at a meeting of California city officials in Washington Tuesday when the senator asked for their help fighting a repeal of the ban on assault weapons.

Then, colloquially put, Webb flipped Feinstein the bird and stormed out.

Feinstein said she saw Webb leaving in a huff, but missed the gesture. She learned about it later from her aides, according to Susan Kennedy, the senator’s press secretary.

But Webb’s flamboyant defiance has embarrassed her fellow council members and displeased some local members of the National Rifle Assn.

And it adds to a litany of controversial acts by the two-term Libertarian councilwoman who once called a graffiti tagger’s killer “a crime-fighting hero” and proudly brags that she illegally packs a pistol.

Webb was unapologetic Thursday.

“She started off with the assault rifle ban and the evils of the NRA, and ‘Nobody needs automatic weapons to go duck hunting and bear hunting,’ and on and on and on, and I blew it,” Webb said.

“I was so pissed at her, I got up and left,” throwing the gesture over her shoulder on her way out the room at the Senate office building, Webb said.

But Mayor Greg Stratton hinted that unless Webb apologizes, the city may have to act in some way to mend fences.

“Whether you like Dianne or not, there are certain rules and decorum and civility that have to be followed in dealing with other officials,” he said. “And I think [Sandi] broke one.”

“It was an embarrassment to the city and all the council,” Councilman Bill Davis said. “Especially when there was a councilwoman from another city there who said, ‘Well, what can you expect from a councilwoman from Simi Valley?’

“It does reflect on your city,” Davis said. “We worked for years to get the stigma of the Rodney King trial away from Simi Valley, and then something like this comes along. To me, it’s something major. . . . I believe that she probably should apologize to the constituents of this city and to Sen. Feinstein.”

Davis said he will never accompany Webb on a city business trip out of town again.

As for Feinstein’s reaction, said Davis--a Republican--”I think she did see it. She showed a little shock, but she kept right on going. It was real class.”

Councilman Paul Miller said he has already received a call from a Simi Valley resident interested in mounting a recall effort against Webb.

“The whole purpose of that Washington trip is to allow the council members to meet the officials in Washington in order to enhance the relationship between the city and the federal government,” Miller said.

“The city spent about $1,100 apiece for the council members to go,” he said. “The intent was to cement relations, the intent was not to insult the people we were going there to meet with. I fear we may have spent the money in vain because of what she did.”

Webb has even angered the NRA that she so staunchly supports.

“If it’s as reported, I find it deplorable,” said Mike Mason, president of the east Ventura County members’ chapter of the NRA, which has criticized Webb’s advocacy of illegally carrying a pistol. “I totally disagree with her way of going about things, but like the other council members said, she’s entitled to her opinions.”

Of her critics, Webb said, “They’re probably right, but you can only take so much. People say, ‘Oh well, [Feinstein’s] of this position so we must respect her.’ Well, she must earn that respect.”

In an interview Thursday, Webb said Feinstein is a hypocrite who opposes people’s rights to carry concealed weapons even though she carried one herself while she was mayor of San Francisco.

In fact, said Feinstein press secretary Kennedy, Feinstein carried a permitted pistol in 1976 and 1977 when she was a San Francisco County supervisor to protect herself against terrorists. Members of a radical group called the New World Liberation Front had set off a bomb that partly damaged Feinstein’s house in 1976, and someone shot out the windows at her beach house, Kennedy said.

After becoming mayor, Feinstein gave up the gun to police in a 1981 weapons-retrieval program. The program melted the confiscated firearms into a crucifix that Feinstein then gave to the pope, Kennedy said.