Sierra Club Endorses Four for Council

By Jorge Casuso

Oct. 7 -- Finding the field ripe with environmentally minded candidates, the local chapter of the Sierra Club last week endorsed four candidates for three seats on the City Council.

After a lengthy process, incumbents Kevin McKeown and Pam O'Connor and challengers Josefina Aranda and Abby Arnold received unanimous support from the four different committees that must sign off on the decision.

"It's not necessarily unusual for the Sierra Club" to endorse more candidates than there are seats, said Kevin Finney, who chairs the Angeles Chapter Air Quality and Global Warming Committee. "We look at the qualities of the candidates. We look at their track record on environmental issues.

"Two of the incumbents have been outstanding leaders in environmental issues," Finney said. "We felt strongly that both deserved the endorsement."

Candidates were asked about their positions on Santa Monica's Sustainable City Plan and how the City should implement and improve the plan. It also asked the candidates about regional issues, such as urban sprawl, density, housing, public health and air and water quality.

"We kind of figure out where people stand on things," Finney said.

The selection process begins with interviews by a panel of three Sierra Club members. The recommendation is then taken up by the Angeles Chapter's Political Committee, then goes back to the executive committee of the West Los Angeles group before receiving the blessing of the State and Local Candidate Review Committee.

"The Sierra Club is famous for its levels of bureaucracy," Finney said. "There was consensus at all levels."

The Santa Monica Chapter will get the word out through its 2,300 members, but plans to do no mass mailings. "We communicate primarily through our members and through the press," Finney said.

The chosen candidates welcomed the endorsement, which they will tout in their campaign literature and which should carry weight with the City's environmentally minded electorate.

"It's great. I'm really proud to have their endorsement," Arnold said. "Everyone knows that the Sierra Club is the group that has strongly supported access and protection of our natural resources, and that's exactly what I believe in."

"I think it's great," said Aranda, who is a member of the Green Party. "I think the Sierra Club is a very credible and known organization among Santa Monica residents, so I'm glad to have their endorsement and support."

"I'm especially happy to have my work endorsed by the Sierra Club," said McKeown, who is also a member of the Green Party. "I am interested in taking a far broader view of what sustainability means for our city and our planet.

"Remedial environmentalism is so Twentieth Century! We must begin looking upstream and making changes at the source of the problem, not just mitigating impacts we more responsibly could have prevented."

"I'm happy to receive the support of the Sierra Club," said O'Connor. "When we make decisions on the council we must recognize the long-term consequences of our actions, as well as the short-term impacts."