ing to a press release.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 people belong to SMRR on any given year. Before each election, SMRR mails out to targeted groups up to eight “slate” mailers, which list its endorsements for the election. The cost of doing so is roughly $70,000, making it prohibitive for most independent candidates to successfully campaign against SMRR-backed opponents.
“The first time I ran was for school board and... I talked to people who were on the school board, and they said it was impossible to get elected, because it is a strong and powerful political machine in Santa Monica,” said City Councilman Bob Holbrook, one of the two independent councilmen. “It’s always been hard. You have to raise an awful lot of money to raise the money they have, because they have a professional fundraiser that works year round.”
Opponents of SMRR have long worked to break the organization’s stronghold on local politics, saying the progressive group doesn’t respond to resident and business complaints about homelessness, traffic and City Hall bureaucracy, among other issues.
“It’s true,” Holbrook said on Tuesday. “I mean the fact that we have a homeless population in Santa Monica is directly attributable to the funding of social service agencies that provide support for those folks, and that’s the bottom line. When you keep spending money on it, you keep attracting homeless people. The officers realize that there’s no point in trying to move any of them along... Because if the city supports it, why buck it?”
Holbrook said working with the SMRR-controlled council is frustrating because many of its members are micro-managers who don’t trust City Hall staffers to see through any projects by themselves. Still, he said change is unlikely to happen soon.
“I’m a realist that (SMRR control) is not likely to be broken, because the public keeps returning them to power — and that’s the bottom line,” Holbrook said. “But I get pretty discouraged with people complaining to me all the time about things I can’t change.”
“I’m a realist that (SMRR control) is not likely to be broken, because the public keeps returning them to power — and that’s the bottom line.” — — BOB HOLBROOK City Councilman
The local chamber of commerce last year formed a political action committee to endorse a candidate for the upcoming November election, when four seats will be open. Three of the seats are occupied by SMRR politicians. Chamber officials are currently reviewing potential candidates and plan to hold a workshop for those interested in running.
Asked to respond to the chamber’s concerns, specifically homelessness, which has been stressed as a key election-year issue, Zane said, “What do I say to such people? I think they’re misguided and in some cases, heartless. The homeless problem is a problem national in scope. There are many, many cities with comparable homeless populations in California.
“The main causes of this problem are lack of affordable housing, lack of sufficient jobs, but also, of course, there were the problems of California giving up on its responsibility for the mentally ill,” Zane added. “Santa Monica is one community of many that experiences these problems. And to say that SMRR is responsible for this problem is absurd.”
Zane added SMRR is preparing for the election, adding it isn’t the first year opponents have tried to capitalize on the local homeless situation.
“Certainly there are people who are sympathetic to their point of view and who want to blame SMRR for this problem,” Zane said. “But Santa Monicans are an intelligent, thoughtful and sympathetic population, and they won’t do any better with that argument than they have any time in the last 20 years.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 14, 2004. Read the original PDF.