Iraqi Delegation Visits City Hall Last Week

Kathleen Herd Masser
Mirror contributing writer
  
   On Thursday, Santa Monica hosted a delegation of civic leaders from Iraq who are touring the country, hoping to glean some insight into how communities here deal with divergent populations and opposing perspectives. The tour, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, includes stops in Washington, DC, Memphis, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
   No one doubts that integrating Iraq’s diverse religious and racial groups into a cohesive government will be a challenge. But a pair of encounters in Tennessee left local bureaucrats red-faced and showed that the U.S. may have some unity issues of its own.
   The five men and two women were to meet with officials at Memphis City Hall. But city council chairman Joe Brown denied them entry, claiming their presence was a security risk. The following day, a delegate and her translator were robbed at gunpoint just blocks from city hall.
   Officials in Santa Monica made sure the reception here was different. City Councilman Michael Feinstein – who orchestrated the visit – greeted the delegation with roses for the women and commemorative pins for the men.
   “One of their concerns,” Feinstein says, “is that their meetings aren’t on TV or on radio, and most of the people they serve don’t know what issues are before them. They want to be responsive, but the basic mechanisms aren’t there.
   “The thing that struck me is that, regardless of cultural and political differences, municipal elected officials around the world all share the common premise of how can we be responsive to the people we are trying to serve?”
   Feinstein told the group, which included three mayors and an assistant provincial governor, “If I was running for city council in Baghdad, in a very diverse district, I would remind people that a lot of issues are universal, like more parks and open space, and safe neighborhoods. When they campaign, just as they honor diversity, they should also think about those things that everyone has in common.”
   Feinstein explained how Santa Monica’s city manager/city council form of government “separates legislative policy from its implementation,” removing a potential for corruption that exists in a strong mayor form of government. “That,” he says, “seemed to resonate with them.”
   Many of the delegates’ questions focused on “how to bring different factions together to ensure broad-based representation in government,” says Judy Rambeau, Assistant to the City Manager for Community Relations, including “Christian women in male- and Muslim-dominated neighborhoods.” They also wanted to know how to get people – “especially young people” – interested in voting.
   Feinstein encouraged the Iraqis to consider European models of proportional representation, rather than the United States’ two-party system. “In a country that’s trying to unify diverse populations, it’s critical to have a voting system that allows everyone to have a seat at the table.”
   The visitors impressed Rambeau, who calls them “brave, idealistic, hopeful, smart, and serious. They are all dedicated, and very concerned that their first free election will go well.”