This article is the third in a four-part series on Malibu City Council elections from 1990 to 2000. This week’s focus is on the 1994 and 1996 elections. One was a tight battle in which the “father of cityhood” was dethroned. The other was the second-most noncompetitive election in Malibu history.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
As is always the case in Malibu City Council campaigns, development was the major issue in 1994. That year, the campaign centered on the General Plan, a document that would set the vision and rules of development in the new city. The draft document was up for review, waiting for a city council review. While the council majority mostly supported the draft General Plan, there were many voters who did not and looked for a change in direction for what they considered a city government too focused on single-family home restrictions.
Council members Walt Keller and John Harlow, one-time political allies who had become rivals, were up for reelection. The challengers were Jeff Jennings, who sided with Harlow, and Tom Hasse, who tagged onto Keller. Also in the competition were Realtor Louis Ragsdale (who ran in 1964 for a city council that never formed because cityhood lost) and retired teacher Robert Stratman.
Jennings, who had finished fourth in the 1992 race for three seats, echoed Harlow’s campaign for a less restrictive government when it came to building issues. He remembers the race as a tough challenge because of Keller, a man who had been involved in local politics for three decades, and considered by many to be the father of cityhood.
“I thought it was difficult because I felt that Walt had a significant base from the incorporation group and the old Malibu Township Council,” Jennings said.
Jennings managed to overcome that challenge and defeated Keller by 51 votes with his 1,692 to the incumbent’s 1,641. Harlow was the top vote-getter with 1,936. Hasse placed fourth with 1,291 votes. And far behind were Ragsdale (242) and Stratman (61).
Harlow, who died in 2004, told The Malibu Times on election night after it was clear he had enough votes for victory, “I represent perhaps a Malibu lifestyle of independence.”
Keller recalled the loss as a surprise. “Because I had done so well the first time,” he said. “I felt I was working hard at the job. I didn’t expect this kind of stuff.” By “this stuff,” Keller was referring to what he considered to be “dirty tricks” such as rumors and sign stealing. Both of these have been complaints about Malibu elections from all sides in all years.
Keller said rumors work well in Malibu because “we are small enough that it would work, but not so small enough that people could see through it.”
Hasse, although only 33 at the time, had been working in politics for a decade, including heading the Malibu Grassroots Movement, or MGM, slate of Carolyn Van Horn, Jeff Kramer and Joan House that easily won the 1992 election. But Hasse said, due to several factors, he could tell victory was not in the cards for his team more than a month before the April election.
“I could pick up that vibe from watching the debates and talking to people,” said Hasse, who said he now believes he might have been better off waiting at least another two years to run for council. Hasse won in 1998.
One of the major factors, Hasse said, was the large fire that had just taken place in November, destroying more than 300 homes.
“You had a Malibu contingent that was shifting between real depression at what had happened to them and being angry that the city, state and federal governments were not moving fast enough to address the rebuilding, insurance and the follow-up to a natural disaster like that,” Hasse said.
There was also a concern about development in general, and that the young government had made simple things, like small additions to homes, into great feats. “Rightly or wrongly, the voters perceived the city had gone too far in the single-family home zoning and building criteria,” Hasse said.
Landslide victory and the return of Keller
But even with Jennings’ victory, there were not enough votes to adjust the direction of the city. The slate elected in 1992 still made a majority on the council and was on the winning side of frequent 3-2 votes. Supporters of Harlow and Jennings would need to get at least one more person elected to make any changes.
In the 1996 election, Kramer decided not to run, meaning an open seat was up for grabs. The opposition put forward activist Barbara Cameron and four-term Board of Education member Mary Kay Kamath to challenge the council majority. Van Horn and House ran for reelection and they were joined by Keller, who was seeking redemption. Attorney Harold Greene and Paula Login, who had unsuccessfully run in 1990, were also involved.
The race had some interesting moments. Greene sued Van Horn and Keller as well as their supporter Matt Cohn. He alleged an unauthorized tape had been made of his steering committee meeting. Greene also claimed he was offered $500 not to run or to run as pro-development. The accused, Paradise Cove resident Joe Hecht, said it had actually been a bet that Greene could not win.
Despite some liveliness, the results were rather unexciting. This was the greatest margin of victory in Malibu history up to that point between the person who claimed the final seat and the top vote-getter among the losers. Four years later, the record would be broken. Van Horn placed third with 2,301 votes, 673 more than Cameron. House was the top vote-getter with 2,863. Keller came in second with 2,408. Finishing in fifth was Kamath with 1,604 votes. She was followed by Greene (895) and Login (422).
Perhaps an initial sign in the changing appeal of House as not strictly on one Malibu political side or the other, she received an endorsement from Times publisher Arnold G. York. Four years earlier, he had rejected House as being part of a slate that would “mean the continuation of the insane war.”
House joked that she thinks York’s endorsement had more to do with the side he favored having only two candidates. “I don’t think Arnold had a choice,” House said. “I guess I was the best of the worst.”
When asked on election night about the landslide victory and his return to the council, Keller said “It’s a mandate from the people, not the one Harlow had in mind.”
Van Horn said in an interview this month, “The public saw what we were doing, and agreed with that. It was that simple.”
Following the landslide victory, two years later Malibu would have the closest race since the first competition in 1990. And then in 2000, a radical change took place, shifting the balance on the council as the old guard saw their appeal to the changing Malibu demographic was not strong. More on that next week.