> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Area chambers clash over membership list
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/area-chambers-clash-over-membership-list/
- Published: 2004-04-21T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:14:10.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Restauranteur threatens lawsuit if SM ousts him*

There’s a war brewing between two area chambers of commerce whose leaders disagree sharply about what’s ethical when it comes to attracting new members.

A dispute over merchant address lists has pitted chamber leaders in Santa Monica and Culver City against their counterpart in West Los Angeles.

At issue is each chamber’s most precious resource — its membership list.

The disagreement has become so contentious that Jay Handal, president of the West LA chamber, on Tuesday threatened to sue the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce.

Handal sent hundreds of letters to Santa Monica businesses, urging them to join the West LA chamber at a reduced rate. The problem, however, is that Handal used a coveted mailing list from the Santa Monica chamber that is supposed to be used solely for member-only purposes, local officials said. Handal sent similar letters to members of the chamber of commerce in Culver City.

Handal owns an Italian restaurant in Brentwood and also is a member of the Santa Monica chamber. As a member, he paid the Santa Monica chamber $75 for mailing labels printed with the names and addresses of other members. The Santa Monica chamber has more than 1,050 members.

Local chamber officials said Handal misused his access to the Santa Monica list to promote his West LA chamber.

The move was unethical and compromised the privacy of chamber members, argued Kathy Dodson and Steven Rose, who head up the chambers in Santa Monica and Culver City, respectively. Dodson last week e-mailed members, apologizing for Handal’s mailing. She also sent a letter to Handal that stated she had revoked his membership.

“When a chamber (member) does something destructive, you have to call them on it,” Dodson said Tuesday, adding that he used the list in the capacity of a non-member. “A lot of (our members) don’t want solicitations. And we are so careful, we aren’t like other members that sell a member list on a CD. We only sell (mailing) labels, so people can’t do this over and over again...

“It’s not illegal. It is unethical.” Handal said using the list was a smart and proactive way to market the West LA chamber. To make amends for the perceived slight, he instructed his staff to mail Dodson and Rose a mailing list for his 1,100-member chamber.

“I did nothing wrong,” Handal said. “I bought my labels. I didn’t steal them. I did-n’t plagiarize them... I don’t see anything written anywhere that says you have to use it to promote... your restaurant. They’re not given to you, they’re sold to you.”

Rose and Dodson said they’d never before seen a chamber use Handal’s tactic to acquire new members. They called it unprofessional.

“The chamber has a policy that we sell the membership list only for (member) businesses,” Rose said. “That policy was broken. I believe that businesses can and should belong to multiple chambers — I have absolutely no problem with that.

“Among professional chambers, we do not go out and intentionally solicit other chamber members. It’s just a matter of courtesy.”

Handal countered it was only the chamber leaders that took issue with his mailing, adding Santa Monica merchants have had a favorable response.

That sentiment was echoed by David Pisarra, a local attorney who dropped his chamber membership more than a year ago after officials told him he couldn’t send mail-ings to Santa Monica chamber members.

“I wasn’t doing anything improper,” Pisarra said. “I was using information that the chamber readily distributes. I was told that if I was sending out e-mails in bulk that’s a spamming use and they don’t want me spamming other members.”

But Dodson said she had received about a dozen e-mails from members thanking her for alerting them to Handal’s mass mailing.

“One member wrote back and said, ‘Thanks for the warning’ and ‘It’s always sad when people take advantage of something that is meant only for one’s convenience,’” she said. “Another person said, ‘The action cited in your message is an example of why we have not considered joining this group.’”

Handal on Tuesday said he hadn’t received any letter from Dodson revoking his membership. If he does, he threatened to sue the local chamber for unlawful termination. Dodson declined to discuss the possible lawsuit, but said she felt confident Handal had violated chamber rules.

“Any normal person looking at that can see the ethical dilemma,” she said, adding that Handal’s restaurant “San Gennaro is a member. The West LA chamber is not.” Hy-hopes: SM envisions fuel cell station by year’s end

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 21, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/042104.pdf?ref=smdp.com)