February 22, 2022

Dear Editor,

So “Mayor” Sue Himmelrich tells us she “realized” the platform she ran on when first elected. Presumably “realized” means accomplished -- which alone qualifies, I guess, for standup comedy ("Mayor Denounces 'Cancel Culture' in Unusual State of the City Speech," February 17, 2022).

Affordable housing requires more than just posturing and it demands greater respect for current residents than just those in her upscale, secure and safe neighborhood. And in this city, backroom politics and Brown Act violations are still the rule rather than rare exception.

Registering lobbyists is little more than a cosmetic chest thumping, as anyone who follows Santa Monica politics knows full well that it’s the unpaid lobbyists who drive Santa Monica politics.

As well, anyone who truly believes that we have transparency and have broken up the insider game at City Hall must be spending a fair amount at the City’s retail cannabis shops.

Any and all protesters may have a particular issue, but what the populace has seen vividly on display by Himmelrich and her husband, former Housing Commissioner Michael Soloff, for too many years is the insufferable arrogance and preachy moral and intellectual superiority of Ivy League educated lawyers.

Simultaneously irritating and amusing, we have witnessed exhibit number one in support of William F. Buckley’s comment that “I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty” -- to which I would add “or their intellectual and moral progeny.”

Finally, cry as she might about the campaign expenditures of her opponents, any analysis of Himmelrich's campaign financing reveals a politician seemingly intent on buying office.

And, of course, we can smile at a politician crying over cancel culture but who has repeatedly shown a willingness to cancel anyone with the temerity to disagree with her view of the world.

Kip Dellinger
Santa Monica