After serving on the Santa Monica City Council for 24 years, Bob Holbrook has reportedly announced this week he will not be seeking an unprecedented seventh term on the dais.
Joining the City Council in 1990, Holbrook’s 24 years on the dais are longer than any other council member in Santa Monica’s history. He twice served as Santa Monica mayor (1997 and 2005) and was Mayor Pro Tem in 1996.
Coincidentally, the next two longest-serving council members – Pam O’Connor and Kevin McKeown – are up for re-election this year.
Holbrook’s decision means for the second election in a row that at least one new member would join the incoming council. In 2012, then Mayor Richard Bloom ended his City Council service to assume office as a member of the California Assembly. Council member Bobby Shriver also bowed out from the council in 2012 and is currently running for the County Board of Supervisors.
The departures of Bloom and Shriver opened the door for Ted Winterer and Tony Vazquez to join the current city council.
Vazquez was also elected to the City Council in 1990, but only served his first term before taking an 18-year hiatus.
A pharmacist and alumnus of USC, the 68-year-old Holbrook was born in Santa Monica and has lived North of Montana for more than 40 years.
The Mirror will be looking at the whole of Holbrook’s career in next week’s print issue.
