Rush of rivals nothing new for dominant SMRR
By JOHN F. MULLER Special to the Daily Press
CITY HALL — The sudden proliferation of highly organized local political groups may be an early indicator of what is shaping up to be one of the most ferocious and unpredictable campaigns in recent memory, observers say.
The months preceding this fall’s election have seen the organization of myriad political committees — some new, some not so new. The groups have been busy bestowing endorsements upon their chosen candidates.
Aside from the Santa Monicans for Renter’s Rights group — the coalition that has dominated local politics for the majority of the past 26 years — political action committees vying to put their stamp on the electoral process now include the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, a new group of city employees, and a newly unified team of teachers. A coalition of living wage supporters passed out their endorsements earlier this month, while the police and fire-fighter unions are still waiting to give their nods.
“There’s more political interest in Santa Monica than in most similar communities,” said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies and a former Santa Monica resident. Stern attributes much of the activism to the often divisive issue of rent control, which popped up in the late 1970s as housing prices skyrocketed. “There’s no SMRR in Los Angeles. There’s no SMRR in Culver City. There’s no SMRR in Manhattan Beach. Up in Berkeley, there’s a similar coalition.
Thomas Hollihan, a USC professor and expert in campaign politics and communication, said he wasn’t surprised by the increase in the activity and organization of local political action committees — groups that prop up candidates through fundraising campaign volunteering.
“As people learn from the process, they see what they should do to get their voice heard,” Hollihan said. “Politics is very Darwinian in that sense — the strong survive and the smartest take advantage of everything they can possibly use to get their desired outcome.
“It doesn’t strike me as unnatural that, in response to the development of a strong power, that that becomes a strong signal for other groups to create their own committees. That’s what we’ve seen on the national scene.”
“Berkeley and Santa Monica have the most active grassroots organization in the state.”
While many of this season’s political committees haven’t come out in clear opposition to the city’s current ruling party, all of the groups have worked to at least qualify the SMRR endorsement. Each of the committees has its own motivations for supporting a slate of candidates — even if those candidates are endorsed by SMRR.
City Councilman Bob Holbrook said the division exhibited by the overflow of groups and candidates could make for an extremely contentious election.
Two of the incumbents — Michael Feinstein and Herb Katz — didn’t receive the SMRR endorsement. While Katz did not seek the party’s support, Feinstein did but was unable to win over SMRR, which helped him get elected in 2000.
“It’s always hard to challenge SMRR and win,” Holbrook said. An independent, Holbrook was elected in 2002 with virtually no endorsements. “SMRR is a well-oiled political machine... What’s different about this campaign is that we’ve got people like (Bobby) Shriver, who’s someone new and exciting, and Katz, who’s someone people have gotten to know, and some other exciting people who have thrown their hats into the ring.
“Michael Feinstein, of course, is a wild card,” he added. “I’d expect that there will be three or four candidates who emerge as leading non-SMRR candidates, and SMRR will be battling amongst themselves over Feinstein.”
Though City Councilman Ken Genser and SMRR co-founder and co-chair Denny Zane agreed that more political groups had sprung up this campaign season, they said similar political action committees have opposed SMRR over the years — just under different names.
“It seems like there are several well-funded independents and non-slate based candidates,” Zane said. “That’s different. But the battle lines are essentially the same between, in my view at least, the folks for whom real estate and business objectives are a primary concern and folks for whom neighborhood and community and housing security are prime objectives.”
SMRR opponents have said that perceived division is oversimplified, maintaining that voters should focus on the common issues confronting the city — like homelessness, traffic problems and the education system — instead of building divides.
Thus far, SMRR has maintained its hold, much to the amazement of political observers like Stern.
“The amazing thing to me is that they’ve been in power so long, that they’ve stayed unified for so long,” Stern said. “This year, there’s enough opposition, we may see them start to show some cracks.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 30, 2004. Read the original PDF.