Chamber wants more influence on City Council
Frustrated with what they call anti-business government, the local chamber of commerce plans to get political — officially.
That means it will organize, recruit and raise money in an effort to oust the city’s ruling party — Santa Monicans for Renters Rights.
By endorsing candidates and raising money to run campaigns, the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce voted this week to become actively involved getting business-minded people on the City Council.
A Political Action Committee, or PAC, will be formed to raise money to help support candidates supportive of local business concerns. And during elections, the full membership will be allowed to vote on which candidates should get the chamber’s endorsement.
“We’re not really trying to get political as a chamber,” said Linda “Tish” Tisherman, the chamber’s president. “We are the business advocates in the community and Santa Monica is not known as a business-friendly place. And we want to change that and make it better and easier to do business here.”
Already the chamber operates a similar PAC for local issues, which was used this year to help coordinate opposition to the proposed living wage law. Voters narrowly defeated the measure at the ballot box on Nov. 5.
The living wage would have raised minimum wages at coastal businesses making $5 million a year to between $10.50 and $12.25 an hour, depending on if benefits were provided. The chamber vehemently opposed the living wage, and coordinated business interests to oppose it.
However, fresh from their living wage victory, some chamber officials feel like little had been accomplished since the three incumbents won their seats on the city council in November.
“If we are going to make Santa Monica business-friendly, we need to do something about City Council,” Tisherman said.
Chamber members were recently asked to complete a survey that asked what would most improve Santa Monica, and the political environment was cited as the third major hindrance to local business, behind homelessness and parking and traffic issues, respectively, officials.
Some of the responses blamed the City Council because it “doesn’t find balanced solutions,” chamber officials said. And they reported receiving responses that said the bureaucracy at City Hall resulted in “numerous business opportunities left on the table, especially for small business, because it is too difficult to get anything accomplished.”
The chamber and many business owners complain incessantly about how they are treated by City Hall, both in the slow and arbitrary approval process for developments, as well as creating parking shortages for businesses, specifically car dealerships.
Meanwhile, the City Council has created many preferential parking districts restricting street parking for residents at the expense of nearby businesses, they said.
Mayor Richard Bloom, a member of the city’s ruling party, said he was proud of the fact that unlike in other cities, the chamber didn’t call the shots politically in Santa Monica.
“I think one of the things that has been the hallmark of Santa Monica political life for past 30 years — and it differentiates us from other communities — is that the chamber doesn’t control City Hall,” he said. “I don’t think that hurts business. You only need to look around our downtown to see that.”
It’s becoming increasingly more common for local chambers of commerce to get actively involved in the local political process, said Robert Stern, president of West L.A.-based Center for Governmental Studies.
While the reasons for that aren’t clear, Stern said their effectiveness varies widely.
198,“The true test of how successful they are is when voters go to the polls,” he said. “Only then will it be clear if what they want is the same thing voters want.”
The chamber’s candidates PAC will likely run counter to that of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, a liberal group that has dominated local politics for decades. While many groups have formed to counter the influence of SMRR, all have disbanded.
“We are not trying to cause any rifts between anybody,” Tisherman said. “We are not saying anything nasty or going to war with anybody.”
“We are not trying to cause any rifts between anybody. We are not saying anything nasty or going to war with anybody.” — — LINDA TISHERMAN Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, president
Tisherman said that she just recently called Bloom to congratulate him on being appointed mayor by his peers on the city council, and to tell him that even though the chamber and the council may not agree on everything, there is no reason both sides can’t still work together.
When asked if Bloom is one of the members the chamber would like to unseat on the council, Tisherman paused and replied, “No comment.”
Bloom said he told Tisherman during their conversation that it was time for both sides to try to bridge what has become a rift between the business community and City Hall. He agrees that both sides should work together, but he said this latest move isn’t the way to accomplish it.
“I don’t see how a PAC is going to facilitate that,” Bloom said. “I think the community in Santa Monica is smart.
“Voters are smart and they will see what’s going on and the chamber will likely find this isn’t a positive direction.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 19, 2002. Read the original PDF.