State Senator Ben Allen looks to the future as he nears the end of his third and final term representing Beach Cities
by Garth Meyer
Four years at Harvard, two years in Cambridge, two years at Berkeley, and a four hour-dinner with Bill Brand at Captain Kidd’s.
All part of the education of State Senator Ben Allen.
The latter took place during his first campaign to represent the 26th District – stretching from the South Bay up through Allen’s hometown of Santa Monica.
“He was a loquacious guy,” he said of Brand, the late mayor of Redondo Beach.
The young Democrat was seeking Brand’s endorsement. Allen came down and the two of them met for dinner, then walked around the Redondo waterfront.
“It was really helpful,” Allen said. “Of the 19 cities I represent, I know my community well, but every city has its own story and dynamics and politics.”
His opponent in the state senate race had more congressional endorsements but Allen had more from local officials.
Allen won, then was twice re-elected, and is now two years away from being termed out.
Known as an environmental advocate, he wrote the bill that became last November’s successful Proposition 4, to fund $10 billion in water, climate, wildfire and other natural resource projects statewide.
What Ben Allen will do next is unclear, but he has had a longstanding interest in politics, dating back to childhood.
“I remember a Time magazine cover of a chariot race between all of the 1984 presidential candidates,” he said, of the year he turned six years old. “I was fascinated by it.”
After public school in Santa Monica, then Harvard and Cal, Allen came home and worked at a law firm, starting right as he was sworn in on the Santa Monica Unified School Board.
“My career was a strange love/hate relationship with the prospect of running for office,” he said.
A history major at Harvard, Allen decided on law school in the wake of the 2004 Presidential election, when John Kerry lost to George W. Bush.
“I wanted to go to law school as a continuation of my work in public policy,” he said.
Later, while on the school board, an opportunity came up. Henry Waxman, a 40-year member of Congress from the Westside, decided not to run for another term in 2014.
“(Then-state senator) Ted Lieu jumped into the Congressional race to replace him, and I had very little time to decide whether to run for Lieu’s seat. If I had more time, maybe I wouldn’t have,” Allen said. “Because the race opened up so late, I thought, it’ll be a few months of my life, and if I don’t win, I’ll just go back to doing what I was doing.”
Before the school board, Allen’s previous campaign was at Santa Monica High School – where he was elected ASB president for his senior year, in 1995-96.
“It’s kind of a scary thing to run. I like a lot of it, both as a kid and now,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed the wonderful mix of substance, people and service. Also, your ability to convince people, there’s a real personal aspect to it, also.”
Aside from student government in his youth, he did theater, became an Eagle Scout, and played (intramural) soccer and synagogue-league basketball.