By Jorge Casuso
February 27 – Gleam Davis’ appointment to the City Council Tuesday night left several questions unanswered: Why did the masked women interrupt the council in the middle of deliberations? Why did Council member Bob Holbrook switch his vote from the winning candidate? And why didn’t Council member Kevin McKeown vote for Gleam Davis earlier?
The Lookout made some calls to clear up these mysteries.
1. The Mystery of the Masked Woman
After deadlocking for six rounds, the City Council was interrupted when a masked woman in a green costume strolled into the chambers. Some conjectured she was dressed for Mardi Gras, others that she was just a Southern California freak.
Accompanied by a jingling whir of percussion, the woman walked up to City Clerk Maria Stewart. Some in the chamber assumed she was submitting a late chit, but that wasn’t the case.
“She had two little cards the size of business cards with some writing I didn’t get to read that she wanted me to sign,” said Stewart. “She had two little jars she wanted me to give the council.
“They were empty, like some kind of vinegar jars with some notes in it. They were jars and they were empty. They had no liquid. They had caps on them.”
Council member Bob Holbrook thought there were more than two glass jars, and that they were not for vinegar.
“She started pulling jars out of a bag, about a dozen, that looked like peanut butter jars,” said Holbrook. “I didn’t know if she was going to throw a Molotov cocktail at us or what.
“She had a lot of jars. The police officers had to take two trashcans. They were filling them with jars.”
Council member Richard Bloom quickly called for a recess, and the police officers were summoned from their posts outside the chamber door.
“One of the officers was in the bathroom,” said Sgt. David Hunscke, a police Department spokesman. “The officer in the hallway came in. We asked her to step out.”
The woman complied and left the chamber. But before police could follow, the masked woman had slipped trough the crowd, down the stairs and out the door, making a clean getaway.
The incident reminded Holbrook of something “really bizarre” that took place at another meeting about a year ago.
“A woman brought a box full of jars and started breaking them at the podium,” Holbrook said. “There was glass all over.”
In that case, the woman was providing public testimony for the council’s vote on a recycling issue. On Tuesday, no such issue was on the agenda.
2. Why did Holbrook switch his vote from Gleam Davis to Ted Winterer?
Holbrook voted three times for Ted Winterer before switching his vote in the fourth round to Davis, a co-chair of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR), the powerful tenants group he has spent 18 years battling.
After seconding a failed motion to hold a special election, he voted twice for Davis, then made a motion to appoint former Mayor Nat Trives, casting the only vote. Then, in the final round, Holbrook cast one of the four winning votes for Davis.
But when McKeown switched his vote from Hoffman to Davis, Holbrook switched back to Winterer.
“I don’t get it,” Council member Bobby Shriver, who had stuck with Winterer on all eight ballots, said from the dais.
“I don’t get it either,” echoed Mayor Ken Genser, who had switched from Hoffman to Davis, giving her the tie-breaking vote.
“First of all, I supported Ted Winterer,” Holbrook explained. “I thought he was a nice guy. I could work with him.”
Although Holbrook voted for a special election when the council found itself deadlocked, he wasn’t too keen on the idea.
“I personally wasn’t sold on the idea of having a special election without the consequences of cost,” Holbrook said. “I pretty much assumed we wouldn’t get a council member until July.”
Holbrook also assumed McKeown would go with the party line and switch to Davis, which didn’t happen until after the final vote.
“I realized that if I didn’t do something, I would be living with their choice,” Holbrook. said, referring to SMRR. “Their choice would be Davis or Hoffman, and I thought Davis was a better choice.
“I voted for Gleam because I thought she was a moderate that was closer to me and Herb (Katz). There are people mad at me.”
As soon as McKeown switched his vote to Davis, Holbrook felt free to break with SMRR and support his original choice, Winterer.
3. So why didn’t McKeown vote earlier for Davis?
Some speculated after the vote that McKeown, who stuck with Winterer for the first four rounds before switching to Hoffman, didn’t support Davis because she was the applicant backed by Coiuncil member Pam O’Coonor, who has been his longtime foe on the council.
But McKowen explained his vote this way:
"I felt Ted's voter support in the most recent election merited top consideration for the appointment, but any one of the three possible appointees who at some point Tuesday night had three Council members in favor (Ted, Patricia, Gleam) would be an excellent Council member.
“I have a longer working relationship with Patricia on a wider range of issues, but as liaison to the Planning Commission I've seen that Gleam is a hard worker, a fast study, and an inventive thinker.
“All three are candidates I've enthusiastically endorsed in elections within the past four years, so this was a great outcome in my eyes no matter who got to four votes first."
