Bill Winokur withdraws from City Council race
By Tracy Domingo/ Special to The Malibu Times
City Council candidate Bill Winokur announced he was withdrawing from the race Wednesday night during a candidates forum at Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School. Winokur said he was bowing out because of the time constraints serving on the council would impose.
“I realized that it [serving on City Council] would involve a time commitment that I cannot deliver,” he said to the more than 80 people in attendance.
Winokur said there had been attacks thrown against him since the campaign began, calling them “falsehoods,” but he said that had nothing to do with his decision. The anti-City Council group, Malibu Community Action Network, had endorsed the five-year Malibu resident. Like the organization, Winokur was an opponent of Measure M, the Malibu Bay Co. Development Agreement that was defeated by voters in November. At Wednesday’s forum he said it was a “bad deal” for the city of Malibu and the facts backing this description are “irrefutable.”
Winokur bid farewell to candidates Pamela Conley Ulich, Walt Keller and Jay Liebig, wishing them luck in their campaigns. To the incumbents, Jeff Jennings and Ken Kearsley, Winokur implored them to always act on behalf of Malibu in their decisions, and seek out the views and beliefs of everyone.
“To the incumbents, I beg you as a citizen and neighbor to do best for the community and not a select few,” he said.