By Kevin Herrera
Daily Press Staff Writer

CITYWIDE — While the race to fill three seats on the City Council will not be decided until November, there are many who feel the outcome will be determined this Sunday, when Santa Monica’s ruling political party makes its highly coveted endorsements.

With a dedicated base of roughly 5,000 supporters and the ability to raise and spend an unlimited amount of money during the campaign season, Santa Monicans for Renters Rights (SMRR) has the power to make or break a candidate. Granted, there are those who have been opposed by SMRR and won, but not without having to shell out a considerable amount of time and money, according to interviews with elected officials and community members steeped in local politics.

“SMRR? Who’s SMRR?” joked City Councilman Herb Katz, who has long been at odds with the group over development issues. “Obviously, they’re a political powerhouse. Make no mistake about it, they’re a (political action committee), around solely to raise money to retain their political power. They do it all year long, and if you look at candidates like myself who are not supported by SMRR, the money we can raise is peanuts compared to what SMRR can raise.”

Under campaign contribution laws, candidates can only accept $250 per person, whereas a political action committee like SMRR has no limits. In a city where campaigns for City Council can cost as much as $100,000, having SMRR in a candidate’s corner is a significant advantage.

“When you limit campaign contributions, particularly as drastic as we do here, then independent expenditure committees, which I believe SMRR really is, play a significant role in deciding the outcome,” said real estate attorney Tom Larmore, who has fought SMRR on a host of issues over the years, including an attempt by the group to pass a living wage ordinance in Santa Monica. “However, with that money comes an expectation and some candidates can lose control of their own election and become beholden to SMRR.

“If they don’t do their bidding, they’re booted out at the next convention.”

The SMRR convention will he held Sunday at 1 p.m. at Olympic High School, at which members will cast secret ballots for the candidates of their choice. There will be endorsements made for City Council, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School Board, Santa Monica College Board of Trustees and the city’s Rent Control Board. Candidates must receive 55 percent of the vote to secure an endorsement, said Denny Zane, a co-founder of SMRR and former City Councilman and mayor, serving from 1981 to 1992.

The seats occupied by City Councilman Kevin McKeown, City Councilwoman Pam O’Connor and Mayor Bob Holbrook will become vacant this fall. Each of the incumbents have announced they will run for re-election — McKeown and O’Connor are both seeking the SMRR endorsement, as is education advocate Gleam Davis, a newcomer to mainstream politics.

PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE

In what may be a symbol of the power and importance of a SMRR endorsement, Santa Monicans for a Livable City (SMCLC) — a governmental watchdog group — issued a press release calling on SMRR members to think twice before endorsing O’Connor.

SMCLC pointed out that O’Connor accepted 13 donations from Macerich Co. executives in March of 2005, totaling nearly $3,000. The donations were accepted during a time when Macerich, which owns and operates Santa Monica Place, was going before the City Council to discuss overhauling the aging shopping center, with plans that included three 21-story high-rise buildings in downtown Santa Monica.

“SMCLC believes that in accepting over 86 percent of the funds to retire a long-standing campaign debt from a single developer, and by accepting those contributions during the period when she would be voting on a proposal from the developer, Ms. O’Connor has shown a lack of judgment and raised serious questions about her independence,” a statement from SMCLC read. “She has also cast doubt on her ability to make prudent, autonomous decisions on similar projects in the future.

“SMCLC urges SMRR members to ‘follow the money,’ and this Sunday ask hard questions of Ms. O’Connor about her funding from a developer which had proposed the largest real estate project in Santa Monica’s history, a traffic-clogging behemoth at the heart of our already congested downtown.”

In her defense, O’Connor said she voted “no” on the project, which helped contribute to the proposal being denied. She said her vote proves she is not beholden to those who contribute to her campaign, including SMRR. The timing of the contributions was the result of O’Connor fundraising for prior campaign debt after her mother’s death a few months earlier, she said. It had nothing to do with Macerich’s proposal coming before the council.

“(SMCLC) says ‘why didn’t I yell at Macerich,’” O’Connor said. “Why didn’t I ask the hard questions? Well, there were no hard questions to ask. The project was D.O.A. as far as I was concerned. There was no reason to beat up on Macerich because they are still a productive member of the business community. Bottom line, I don’t demonize businesses.”

While a member of SMRR, O’Connor is not assuming she will receive the group’s endorsement. She said she realizes anything can happen at the convention. If she misses out on SMRR’s support, O’Connor said she will continue to campaign, regardless. O’Connor, who has held a City Council seat since 1994, enjoyed the SMRR endorsement last election.

“I run a pretty lean campaign because I want to make sure I’m spending people’s money wisely,” O’Connor said. “I don’t need all the bells and whistles.”

Part of SMRR’s powerful political influence is in its campaigning for ballot initiatives and candidates. The organization spends tens of thousands of dollars on glossy campaign literature that is peppered in registered voters’ mailboxes for months leading up to the election. SMRR also sends its members out in full force, knocking on doors and stumping for their causes and their slate of candidates.

BUILDING A FORCE

SMRR’s influence can be traced back to 1978, when five community groups joined forces to support the first rent control law. Those five organizations included Campaign for Economic Democracy, led by former state Senator Tom Hayden; Santa Monica Democratic Club; a large tenant organization in the Pico neighborhood known as the Santa Monica Tenants Alliance; the Ocean Park Electoral Network; and the group which founded the rent control initiative, Santa Monica Fair Rent Alliance, comprised mostly of senior citizens.

“We became a membership organization rather than remain a coalition because, frankly, there were too many meetings,” Zane said. “We were having five meetings for every decision, which was cumbersome.”

Since then, SMRR has maintained a membership of about 5,000, comprised mostly of renters. Members pay an annual fee of $25 and are recruited by other members to pound the pavement and campaign. Zane said the average campaign contribution is $35.

“We represent the little guys,” Zane said. “And while our platform was originally rent control, renters rights and affordable housing, it has expanded considerably over the years, as we went from becoming a single-issue organization to a multi-issue organization with the same name.”

There have been attempts to change SMRR’s name to something that would better represent the direction the group has taken over the years, however, Zane said SMRR was kept to “make sure it was clear our strong commitment to renters rights.”

That said, SMRR is deeply committed to slowing commercial development, protecting the environment and increasing funding for public schools, according to SMRR’s platform, outlined on the group’s Web site, www.smrr.org.

“This is a group that really supports public education and strongly supports the values that I think our district shares in terms of equity and access to higher achievement for all students,” said Emily Bloomfield, a school board member seeking SMRR’s endorsement for her re-election campaign, her first as a board member. “The convention is really grassroots politics in action, where people work very hard to secure endorsements to gain credibility. (Members) are people who are engaged and I don’t think you see anything like this in many communities, that’s for sure.”

To vote for an endorsement, one has to be a member of SMRR for at least 90 days before the convention. The bylaw was created to prevent certain segments of SMRR from bombarding the convention with supporters who may not be dedicated to the organization’s goals, Zane said.

CRACKS IN THE ARMOR

Even so, there are members who believe SMRR is controlled by a select few, who lobby behind the scenes to pick candidates of their liking, preventing a true democratic process. There also have been complaints that the voting system used to make endorsements is flawed since a member is allowed to vote for more than one candidate, with each vote being given equal weight instead of being ranked by preference. That reportedly allows for two candidates to trade votes, pushing other candidates out of the running.

“In ’96, ’98, and 2000, SMRR had relatively uncontested conventions and the organization felt relatively whole,” said former Mayor Mike Feinstein, who failed to secure the SMRR endorsement in 2004 and subsequently lost his re-election bid. “In 2002 and 2004 — because the process places deal-making, vote buying and vote swapping above the issues — the individuals who failed to get the nomination, as well as their supporters, didn’t feel buy-in and didn’t necessarily feel the process was fair.”

Feinstein said that process, along with more renters paying fair-market rent, and therefore, eroding SMRR’s base, undermines the long-term health of SMRR, which could make it vulnerable in future elections as other groups, most notably the Chamber of Commerce and the hospitality industry gain strength.

“SMRR historically had been an electoral expression of grassroots energy in the community,” Feinstein said. “But without (ranked-choice voting,) it is simply a vehicle that is subject to ownership to the highest bidder.”

There is some talk that O’Connor will not be endorsed by SMRR because of her support for  Holbrook in his quest to be re-elected. Holbrook is oftentimes an opponent of SMRR because his philosophies reflect the interests of the business community. Feinstein believes that by not supporting O’Connor, SMRR will take one more step down a slippery slope.

“By chasing Pam away, SMRR is really losing its ability to keep people in office who support their platform,” Feinstein said.

Zane said roughly 150 to 300 people attend the SMRR convention and that each person has the right to vote for the candidates they believe in. There is no pressure to support one over the other.

“I think our turnouts are quite impressive for a grassroots organization,” said Zane, who admitted that anything can happen at a convention because it is based on the will of the people, not a select few.

That said, there are those who will be monitoring the convention closely to see if O’Connor is bumped from the ticket. They include Seth Jacobson and members of Santa Monicans for Sensible Priorities — SMRR’s nemesis in this year’s election. SMSP is funded primarily by the hospitality industry, which has long been at odds with SMRR.

SMSP has recently attempted to build credibility by launching its own grassroots campaign, signing on what they claim to be 5,000 members. The organization is focused heavily on quality-of-life issues, most notably the increasing homeless population and government bureaucracy. SMSP has in the past few months sent out numerous mailers that have criticized SMRR elected leaders, their social agenda and their policies.

For most of the past three decades, SMRR has been able to maintain a majority of seats on the City Council. There was a short period in the 1980s and in the mid-1990s that the business community was able to level the playing field. During that time, large developments like the Water Gardens commercial complex and luxury hotels were approved and built.

“The big issue for SMRR this time is how do you sell to the people of Santa Monica three candidates that are for change when they have been the agents of change for 25 years and things have changed very much?” Jacobson asked.

Jacobson said SMRR has had many successes over the years, improving the quality of life in Santa Monica to some degree, however, he said their record in the last decade is questionable and something SMSP is prepared to highlight in mailers. SMSP is believed to be SMRR’s strongest competition, with the ability to raise more money.

“There seems to be some division in their leadership and some question as to whether or not they have a solid platform,” Jacobson said. “They’ll rally their troops like they always do and attack the business community, using them as their dark angel, but I think residents and voters believe that Santa Monica cannot really thrive without a strong, healthy business environment. Their policies haven’t worked and I think residents will ask tough questions.”

In defense of SMRR, Zane pointed to a host of initiatives SMRR has endorsed that have made Santa Monica a premier tourist destination and a leader in protecting the environment, including creating the nation’s first citywide recycling program.

“Thanks to SMRR, we have the best rent control in America,” Zane said. “We have the most highly honored environmental programs in America. We have one of the most progressive and successful affordable housing programs and we have a AAA-bond rating and a downtown that has been revitalized by using existing buildings instead of stripping down everything and turning it into one big shopping center.

“Our record speaks for itself.”