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# Contributions to SMRR slump compared to 2002
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/contributions-to-smrr-slump-compared-to-2002/
- Published: 2004-10-08T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:16:11.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Government & Politics, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*SMRR still powerful despite funding dip, opponents say*

(Editor’s note: This is the third article in a series this week covering campaign fundraising for the Nov. 2 election.) CITY HALL — Despite increased canvassing and extra money spent in recent months, contributions to Santa Monica’s ruling party are down $20,000 compared to this point during the 2002 election, campaign fundraising documents filed this week show.

The powerful Santa Monicans for Renters Rights group, which has endorsed a majority of City Council candidates for 19 of the past 26 years, reported $118,000 in contributions so far this year, as opposed to $138,000 at the same time two years ago.

Political contributions to individuals and groups in Santa Monica are limited by law to $250\. For the past two decades, SMRR has successfully gotten its candidates into office by employing a large group of paid workers and volunteers to canvass local neighborhoods for contributions and support.

The last three months have been especially difficult for SMRR. According to its report filed at City Hall, the group spent an extra $10,000 this year compared to the same three months in 2002 on canvassing and other election expenses, but has netted $5,000 less in campaign contributions.

SMRR leaders blamed the drop in cash contributions on heightened competition for grassroots dollars in a presidential election year. But they remain confident their message will reach local voters.

“Santa Monica has been canvassed by the Democratic National Committee, the Sierra Club and a host of other” groups, said SMRR co-chair Denny Zane, who helped found the group and push through Santa Monica’s rent-control law 26 years ago. “People in Santa Monica probably have been door knocked and direct mailed for a slew of mostly liberal and environmental objectives this year, mostly because of the presidential race.”

The slump in contributions, Zane added, likely will mean targeting election mailers to a more narrow audience. He downplayed the overall effect, though.

“In practical terms, it will have to do with how much mail and how refined the targeting is for the mail we do,” Zane said. “But the other thing to keep in mind is one of the indirect consequences of all of the canvassing and direct mail and competition is everybody is revved up to vote... In terms of this election year, we would have a more targeted ‘get out the vote’ (campaign), because so many people are already going to vote.

“I think in the end it’s really going to be a wash, in terms of SMRR,” Zane added. “We’ll have roughly the same level of message penetration” as in previous years.

Tom Larmore, a local property rights lawyer and vocal critic of SMRR, said the drop in contributions to the group’s war chest reflects a change in the community.

“I think people are tired of SMRR,” said Larmore, who backs a competing group of candidates endorsed by the chamber of commerce. “I think they’re fed up. I think they equate SMRR with a lot of the problems the city has, and they’re tired of it.”

Still, Larmore and others hoping to wrest power from SMRR recognized the group as a powerful force in local politics. This year’s SMRR slate for City Council includes Mayor Richard Bloom, City Councilman Ken Genser, and newcomers Maria Loya, a Pico neighborhood activist, and former school board president Patricia Hoffman. Besides the chamber’s four, a group calling itself the “Team for Change” and several independents are challenging SMRR.

All political groups and candidates are required to file forms with City Hall detailing how much money they’ve raised and from where, and how much they’ve spent and on what. This week marked the first pre-election deadline. Candidates will have to file disclosure forms again on Oct. 21 and every 24 hours after that.

The $35,000 raised by SMRR over the last three months came from a wide array of residents and local activists, including 2002 City Council candidate Abby Arnold; local union supporters Vivian Rothstein, Kurt Petersen and Lantz Simpson; City Hall attorneys Doris Ganga and Cara Silver; and the campaign to re-elect Sen. Sheila Kuehl.

Almost all of the $42,000 spent over the last three months has gone toward paid canvassers, election literature, professional services and a campaign consultant.

SMRR doled out a total of $9,342 in more than 30 checks to canvassers Cathy Conway, Lady Idos and Don Pequignot, according to the campaign disclosure documents. Campaign consultant Michael Tarbet received an additional $5,250, and SMRR paid Progressive Data Services, a professional services firm, $3,773 over the last three months. By far the largest expenditure the group reported was $22,393 for campaign literature and mailings.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 8, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100804.pdf?ref=smdp.com)