Televised testimonial is disputed
LINCOLN BLVD. — A man featured in one of three television commercials attacking City Councilman Kevin McKeown’s voting record said Thursday that he is a strong supporter of the candidate and never suspected that a videotaped interview he gave on the issue of homelessness would be used to turn voters against the incumbent.
Michael McAlevey, a 20-year resident of Santa Monica, said he was paid $200 by a friend in the movie business who asked him to appear in a video on homelessness. McAlevey said he spent about a half-hour talking about the issue during a taping at Palisades Park.
Following a rant about former President Ronald Reagan’s cuts to mental health services in the 1980s, McAlevey said the director cut him off and started asking questions about the number of homeless people in Santa Monica and McKeown’s tenure on the council.
McAlevey didn’t understand why he was asked about McKeown specifically, that is until he saw himself on TV this week while watching “Monday Night Football” on ESPN.
“I went, ‘Wow! What the heck is that?’” McAlevey recalled. “It sounded like I didn’t like the guy, when in fact, I was pretty sure I had voted for (McKeown)... I thought the (taping) was about how we were going to solve the homeless problem. I guess I should have been more aware.”
McAlevey checked his records, and sure enough, he had voted for McKeown — twice. He currently even has one of the candidate’s campaign signs on his front lawn.
The ads were paid for by the Beverly Hills-based Edward Thomas Management Co., the owners and operators of Shutters on the Beach and Casa Del Mar hotels in Santa Monica.
The hotel operator is working with political consultants The Dolphin Group and Jacobson Communications, Inc. in attempts to oust McKeown, spending an estimated $400,000 on the commercials and a series of mailers calling into question McKeown’s votes on the installation of security cameras on Big Blue Buses and the Santa Monica Pier, as well as his vote for a downtown parking plan that included 1,000 fewer spaces than recommended by a task force created by the council to study the issue.
The Dolphin Group was behind the campaign ads featuring convicted rapist and murderer Willie Horton, which many political pundits said derailed then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis’ 1988 campaign for president. The group also worked with Edward Thomas on the campaign to defeat Santa Monica’s living wage law in 2002, requiring businesses in the coastal zone with more $5 million a year in annual revenue to pay $10.50 an hour, much higher than the state’s minimum wage.
In addition to the ads, which show an image of McKeown and the words “BAD for Santa Monica,” Tim Dubois, president of Edward Thomas, sent out a personal letter to thousands of residents urging them to not vote for the incumbent because his “actions make Santa Monica less attractive to residents and visitors.”
DuBois believes a new council majority would help improve tourism, which “plays a vital role in our local economy, and of course, tourism is the lifeblood of our business.”
SOCIAL DISTORTION McKeown was a major supporter of the living wage law, and believes the campaign ads were made in retaliation. He said the ads are baseless and distort his stance on the issues of public safety and homelessness. McKeown is using the ads to bolster his own position that he is a grass-roots candidate representing the residents of Santa Monica, not big business. “(McAlevey) contacted me after seeing himself on ESPN, to tell me he has voted for me twice before and intends to vote for me again this time,” McKeown said. “Some clever and misleading editing turned his “man in the park” discussion on homelessness into an attack on me personally, which was never his intent. The entities behind this television attack campaign apparently have both a surfeit of cash and a shortage of scruples.”
Seth Jacobson, a spokesperson for DuBois and Santa Monicans for Sensible Priorities, a political action committee that has spent more than $400,000 this election season opposing McKeown while supporting candidates Bob Holbrook and Terry O’Day, said McAlevey’s comments were real and that he may now be refuting the commercial because of pressure by McKeown.
“We believe that this is a clear case of a local politician using intimidation and heavy handed techniques to influence a citizen that, in fact, has grave concerns about his handling of local issues,” Jacobson said. “I believe the transcript along with his release bear out the fact that Mr. McAlevey was well aware of what he was doing, when he was doing it. It is extremely unfortunate that Mr. McKeown has chosen to tangle him up in this conflict and is unwilling to listen to another point of view. His voting record speaks for itself and we merely document that.”
According to a transcript of McAlevey’s interview released by Jacobson, McAlevey said,“Okay, okay. Okay, all politicians have a time limit to taking care of problems. Kevin McKeown has been with the council in Santa Monica for 10 years, visibly I can tell you that the homeless population has at least tripled in the last 10 years, so whatever solutions he’s come up with, up ‘til now, are obviously not working.”
Jacobson said McAlevey may have been paid $200, but that was for his expenses only.
“They weren’t paid like actors would be,” Jacobson said.
McAlevey admits he did sign a release allowing his statements to be used. He does-n’t feel he was a pawn, but regrets that he wasn’t more cautious and curious about the use of his statements.
“I have to take some responsibility for this,”he said.“I wish I would have been more skeptical. This has nothing to do with homelessness. This is really about trying to get rid of a guy who doesn’t want another hotel on the beach. We need another hotel there like I need another prostate exam.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 27, 2006. Read the original PDF.