Greenbacks at Core of Green Party Dispute

The Green Party is finding its way toward its fighting weight as a major contender, but the Los Angeles County chapter is agonizing in an internal dispute over money.

Party lines are buzzing with reports that former Santa Monica mayor and Green Party leader Michael Feinstein may have commingled state and county party funds, reportedly depositing as much as $30,000 in contributions to the county’s Green Party into a private bank account more than a year ago.

Feinstein, an environmentalist with a degree in philosophy, told The Times in a brief voice-mail message that the allegations are “groundless and absurd,” and told the online Santa Monica “Lookout” that he is caught in a misunderstanding and a power struggle.

A 2001 draft of an inquiry into the “financial administration of the Los Angeles County Green Party” looked into the “accountability” of administering funds in two accounts, one under Feinstein’s control.

The draft, signed by state Green Party Treasurer Michael S. Wyman, raised questions about Feinstein’s authority to rent office space for a headquarters “without authorization” from the county party or the knowledge of the state party. The draft concludes with an admonition to Greens to “live according to the very high values and standards we expect of all Greens.”

Talk About Your

Strange Bedfellows

In one day last week, a dozen days before the March 4 election, six political mailers from two candidates in Los Angeles’ 14th Council District race arrived at homes in the district.

One bore images of President Bush, and another featured an angel.

Alongside Bush’s face was the phrase, “Join us in thanking President Bush for Continuing the Republican Revolution” -- this, even though the school board, community college board and City Council elections listed are all nonpartisan.

On the other side, at least seven of the 10 candidates whose faces appeared under “our team for leadership in Los Angeles” are Democrats, including 14th District candidate Antonio Villaraigosa and 10th Council District candidate Rod Wright. Greig Smith in the 12th District is a Republican.

Confused by the party jumble? The asterisk beside each name on this citywide “slate mailer” from “Policy Issues Institute Newsletter” in Irvine explains: It means each candidate paid to be there, $500 to $2,500 each, according to an official at the “Continuing the Republican Revolution” group.

The other mailer of note showed one of those generic cherubs that’s been plastered on greeting cards, wallpaper and coffee mugs since the angel craze began a few years ago.

The caption: “There’s an angel at the corner of Burwood and Figueroa.” Flip it over and there’s Councilman Nick Pacheco posing with Manny Hernandez, who thanks Pacheco for getting a traffic signal at the intersection where his daughter was killed in January.

“With this light, I feel there is a guardian angel there all the time,” Hernandez is quoted as saying.

Beneath that is the “Re-elect Nick Pacheco” message.

Who Needs Those

Pesky Rules, Anyway?

News from the Dome on the Hill: Huntington Beach Republican Dana Rohrabacher was a happy man at the annual congressional correspondents’ dinner. Just that day, he’d gotten a “waiver” from his GOP higher-ups letting him bust term limits -- the six years that Republican rules normally allow -- to stay on as chairman of the House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. That may not sound like much from here, but it means that Rohrabacher will be front and center in the sure-to-be-well-publicized investigation into what happened to the space shuttle Columbia.

On the other side of the aisle, the Democrats’ sophomore class in Congress has elected Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank to serve as its president. He is a second-term Democrat in a newly drawn district that no longer includes the rather conservative town of San Marino, whose newspaper, according to Schiff, usually didn’t refer to him by name, just as “our local congressman.”

A Hollywood Flight

of Fancy on ‘Wing’

Attention “West Wing” fans in Orange County’s 47th Congressional District -- both of you. In spite of the story line on the Emmy-winning program, there is no Tuesday election (or Wednesday night victory party) between the character of former White House Democratic speechwriter Sam Seaborn and an unnamed GOP opponent.

In real life, and in Congress, the 47th is represented by Democrat Loretta Sanchez, who says of the fictive candidate: “Seaborn doesn’t have a chance -- after all, he’s a Red Sox fan!

“I’m glad to have paved the way for Sam in Orange County, but I would caution him, however, that his looks will only get him so far. And he’d darn well better learn how to sleep on airplanes!”

Group Makes Outcry

Over Noise Makers

Noise-Free America has awarded February’s “Noisy Dozen” honor -- one prize for each month of the year -- to Gov. Gray Davis for signing a bill “making it much more difficult for police officers to protect the people of the Golden State from noise pollution created by hot rod ‘enthusiasts.’ ” The bill enacts a statewide exhaust noise testing program that the organization says could alter noise standards.

The group’s spokesman, Mark Huber, even linked the law to ominous chinks in the nation’s security armor, quoting Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and declaring: “The proliferation of aftermarket exhausts -- and Gov. Davis’ willingness to give them legal protection -- lessens our ability to be ‘alert and aware’ of threats to our safety and security.”

A previous winner of the “Noisy Dozen” award is former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura. In a past life he was a member of the Mongol motorcycle club, some of whose members have been arrested for a variety of crimes, involving drugs, guns and thefts -- maybe even noise pollution.

Points Taken

* Who’s for whom: Endorsing Los Angeles City Councilman Nick Pacheco for reelection in the 14th District is former mayor and gubernatorial candidate Richard Riordan, and endorsing his rival, former Assembly speaker and mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa are Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and L.A. City Controller Laura Chick.

* Ad in Sacramento’s Capitol Morning Report: “Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (71st AD) seeks South Shore Tahoe condo, two bedroom, for week of Aug. 1-8. Contact.... “

* California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer want Congress to authorize the U.S. mint to issue commemorative coins -- 100,000 $5 gold coins and a half-million silver dollars -- honoring San Francisco’s old mint, to raise money to restore the place.

* A Ronald Reagan film festival is set for May 2004 at Reagan’s alma mater, Illinois’ Eureka College; the Torrance-based Gipper Productions is coordinating the event.

You Can Quote Me

“See what Mr. Bush did to me?”

Gabriel Buelna, executive director of Proyecto Pastoral, a nonprofit social services agency based in Boyle Heights. His group’s fund-raiser, a debate among candidates for the 14th Council District, charged $10 admission to the Occidental College event to anyone who could afford it. But the event was the same day as the big peace march, which Buelna says siphoned off a lot of folks who would otherwise have been in his audience. As it was, they broke even at best. Buelna defended the $10 charge, saying that scores of people who couldn’t pay were admitted free.

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Patt Morrison’s columns appear Mondays and Tuesdays. Her e-mail address is patt .morrison@latimes.com. This week’s contributors include Hugo Martin and Jean O. Pasco.