The rebel who fought tradition and won will soon be joining the State Bar Board of Governors.
On Friday, the State Bar announced that a three-person committee had confirmed that Thousand Oaks attorney Michael Tenenbaum’s principal office is, indeed, located within the district he won the right to represent in July.
Questions had been raised — it isn’t clear by whom — about whether Tenenbaum & Associates was actually in District Six, which covers Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Tenenbaum, 39, ruffled feathers earlier this year by ignoring a traditional agreement in which his district’s county bar associations endorse the same candidate to ensure the seat rotates between the coastal counties and the Inland Empire.
The bar associations had backed Bryan Hartnell, a partner with Redlands’ Hartnell, Lister & Moore, to succeed Carmen Ramirez, a Ventura lawyer who now holds the post.
Tenenbaum beat Hartnell with 904 votes to 786, with Riverside lawyer Andrew Aames placing a distant third. He will now be sworn in on Sept. 27 in Monterey during the State Bar’s annual meeting.
Incoming State Bar President Holly Fujie welcomed Tenenbaum to the board in a press statement issued Friday.
“I am looking forward to a substantive and hardworking year with this board,” she said, “and Mr. Tenenbaum will make an important contribution to this on behalf of his District Six constituents.”
The State Bar’s decision came one day after Tenenbaum had filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court, asking that his election be certified. In his own press statement, Tenenbaum said he would now dismiss the suit.
He also noted that the seven weeks it took the State Bar to certify him was longer than it took the Palm Beach, Fla., canvassing board, the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court to certify George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 presidential election.
“That’s unfortunate not only for the lawyers in this state whose dues were wasted on an unnecessary bureaucratic process,” he said, “but also for the citizens of California who expect the Bar to use its resources more judiciously.”
— Mike McKee
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