The Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) political machine endorsed councilpersons Kevin McKeown and Pam O’Connor, along with school activist, Gleam Davis for City Council seats in the upcoming election during their annual congress on Aug. 6.
There was a move to dump O’Connor, who seems to have amassed more political enemies this year than former City Councilman Michael Feinstein did two years ago. In 2004, Feinstein didn’t receive SMRR’s endorsement and came in a distant ninth and lost his council seat.
The Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC), which I find to be the smartest and most savvy of the civic groups around, uncovered a slew of donations from Jan. 1, 2005 to June 30, 2005, from Macerich Company executives to O’Connor’s still open, debt-ridden 2002 campaign. Thirteen Macerich executives contributed a total of $3,100, according to campaign disclosures posted on the City’s web site. Macerich is the owner of Santa Monica Place mall.
Two years ago, Macerich announced a controversial plan to completely rebuild the aging mall with underground parking, office space and three 21-floor market-rate condominium towers -- a plan that was later withdrawn. In January 2005, “O’Connor voted to move forward with an expedited timetable for a new proposal.” Two months later, O’Connor received the contributions about the same time, she “lunches with Macerich execs, knowing she may vote on their (new) project in the Fall,” stated an SMCLC flyer circulated at the SMRR congress.
O’Connor claims she did nothing wrong. But, accepting campaign donations from a developer of a multimillion dollar project that must have City Council’s “OK” raises serious questions about her judgment and ethics in my book.
Former planning commissioner Kelly Olsen had his fangs out, too. In a letter posted just before SMRR’s congress on surfsantamonica.com, Olsen charged that O’Connor joined with big developer and hotel-backed council members Michael Feinstein, Bob Holbrook and Herb Katz in years past “to create a new pro-developer Council.”
Olsen accused O’Connor of siding on development issues with now-Mayor Holbrook and Councilmen Katz and Bobby Shriver, who replaced Feinstein in 2004. Olsen also accuses O’Connor of betraying her SMRR colleagues and playing politics with her “true ally” — Bob Holbrook — at the detriment of fellow SMRR, Kevin McKeown.
Olsen sandbags O’Connor by writing her pro-development voting pattern has put her in the same league as Holbrook, “who is in bed with the developers and does take there (sic) money and does vote their way.”Holbrook, who is seeking a fifth council term this year, is once again being backed by a coalition of hotels, developers and business interests.
People still talk about O’Connor, a preservation planner by occupation, reluctantly telling a room full of surprised “Proposition A” advocates three years ago at a Franklin School forum that she supported the March 2003 “mail-in” ballot measure that would’ve allowed single family homeowners to refuse city landmark status for their homes.
Many believed that she lied about supporting Prop A so as to not anger a room packed with its supporters. Later in the campaign, she changed her mind and joined SMRR in opposing the measure, which ultimately failed.
SMRR was wise in endorsing O’Connor. If denied their support, I could easily see her hiking up her skirt, jogging over to the opposition and seeking their endorsement. Because most Santa Monica voters are uninformed about local politics and often vote for a familiar name, a seated councilperson, especially a woman, is assured thousands of votes out of the box.
With hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from Casa Del Mar and Shutters hotels and other business interests, O’Connor would have an excellent chance of keeping her seat without SMRR’s resources. And, if rejected by SMRR, O’Connor could “get even” by breaking SMRR’s grip on City Council if Holbrook and McKeown were re-elected.
So it’s McKeown, O’Connor and Davis on SMRR’s ticket, and most likely Holbrook and planning commissioner Terry O’Day on the opposition slate. While the opposition could endorse a third candidate, some observers feel that too many candidates on their slate could draw precious votes from Holbrook.
Will the hotels and business interests go for a double or a triple? There’s more to come.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 14, 2006. Read the original PDF.