Resentment blamed for council candidate’s loss
Internal politics may have been to blame for the narrow defeat of city council candidate Abby Arnold in last week’s election.
Four days before the election, a letter was sent to more than 1,000 members of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, an organization of renters that has dominated local politics for decades. The letter urged them to vote against Arnold, one of the group’s three endorsed candidates.
The unsigned letter consisted of quotes taken from a prior letter from city council members Richard Bloom and Ken Genser, as well as Mayor Mike Feinstein, which was distributed during SMRR’s endorsement convention in August that asked the membership to endorse anyone but Arnold.
However, Arnold won the nomination because of 49 “bullet votes,” which are votes by members who consolidate all their votes for one candidate. But resentment remained over Arnold’s candidacy, which some SMRR members believe was a hijacked endorsement.
Arnold’s opponents say her record on protecting affordable housing and renters’ rights was not strong enough to warrant the SMRR endorsement.
Lingering bad feelings over Arnold’s candidacy culminated in a letter received by many SMRR members on Friday, Nov. 1 that was paid for by Feinstein’s friend and political ally, Eric Siss.
Siss was unavailable for comment.
SMRR leaders Denny Zane and Judy Abdo, among others, immediately wrote a letter of their own in response to Siss’ letter which re-affirmed their support of Arnold and urged SMRR membership to vote for her. The letter did not mention SMRR’s other city council candidates Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McKeown or Councilwoman Pam O’Connor, who won re-election.
However, Arnold ended up losing to incumbent Councilman Bob Holbrook, a more conservative member of the council that SMRR attempted to unseat this year. Holbrook edged out the victory with 10,485 votes to Arnold’s 10,242 — a margin of 243 votes.
Zane said he believes the letter sent by Siss was an attempt by Feinstein to swing votes for city council candidate Josefina Aranda, whom he supported over Arnold at SMRR’s convention.
5F1,“I think it’s very clear that Abby Arnold was hurt by two things,” Zane said. “One was Josefina Santiago (Aranda) who took away some share of the liberal SMMR support and the last minute hit piece that attacked her.
“When you lose by only 200 votes or so, things like that make a difference,” he said. “It’s very regrettable.”
Feinstein — like the others who signed the letter at the SMRR convention — denies having anything to do with Siss’ letter.
But Feinstein said the letter could have been avoided.
“If Abby’s people hadn’t stolen the SMRR convention and gotten her an illegitimate endorsement, there would have been a more unified SMRR ticket,” he said. “And I think a more unified ticket would have possibly won all three seats.”
“If Abby’s people hadn’t stolen the SMRR convention and gotten her an illegitimate endorsement, there would have been a more unified SMRR ticket.” — — MIKE FEINSTEIN Santa Monica Mayor
And instead of taking away votes from Arnold, Feinstein believes Aranda pulled people to the polls who typically do not vote. Since many of those people Aranda pulled to the polls have liberal beliefs, Feinstein said Aranda supporters probably voted for Arnold, O’Connor, or McKeown.
That would have resulted in more votes for all of SMMR’s endorsed candidates, instead of simply taking away votes from Arnold, he said.
“To the extent that Josefina voters perceived Abby to be similarly left of center, Josefina actually helped Abby get more votes from people that otherwise wouldn’t have voted,” Feinstein said.
“Abby gained votes from Josefina’s voters, who also voted for Kevin and Pam,” he said. “Those votes far out numbered the people that voted for Josefina instead of Abby.”
Zane said he finds that argument without merit. He said many of the 6,152 votes Aranda received are votes that should have gone to Arnold.
“Certainly there are people who voted for Josefina who are friends and associates, but Josefina is far more philosophically like a SMRR candidate than any other that was running,” Zane said.
“She was competing for the same SMRR base, and it’s frankly delusional that she didn’t have a significant impact on Abby and other SMRR candidates as well,” he said. “Our victory would have been far greater if Josefina had not run.”
SMRR was formed in 1979 when the group successfully helped pass a measure on the Santa Monica ballot that established the city’s rent control laws.
Since then, the group has dominated local politics and helped enact legislation protecting the rights of renters, who make up approximately 66 percent of the city’s population.
McKeown, who like Aranda and Feinstein is Green Party member, downplayed Aranda’s role in Arnold’s loss. He said city council candidate Jerry Rubin or Matteo “Matt” Dinolfo could have siphoned votes away from Arnold as easily as Aranda could have.
“Everyone has the right to run for office,” he said. “If different people didn’t run people wouldn’t have candidates with a difference of opinion to chose from.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 13, 2002. Read the original PDF.