> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The campaign ride to November election promises to be bumpy - URL: https://www.smdp.com/the-campaign-ride-to-november-election-promises-to-be-bumpy/ - Published: 2004-04-30T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T04:15:57.000Z - Author: Bill Bauer - Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import T his fall’s municipal elections should provide a varied roster of candidates for office, important issues to vote on and plenty of pulse-pounding excitement. Sources tell me that all four City Council incumbents will seek reelection in November. Councilmen Michael Feinstein, Richard Bloom and Ken Genser were all backed by the powerful Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights organization four years ago. SMRR should support both Bloom for his second full term and Genser who will be going for his fifth term. Word is that Councilman Herb Katz will run for a second term. He was previously on City Council from 1984 to 1992\. Katz is the only non-SMRR up for reelection. The big question is whether Feinstein will get SMRR’s endorsement for a third term. Last year, he was accused by fellow Green Party members of misappropriating a contribution and diversion of funds. Although no charges were filed and Green party representatives even withdrew a small claims court lawsuit against the councilman, his ethics are an issue. If SMRR determines that Feinstein is a liability, he will be tossed aside at their annual congress which will probably be held in July. With or without SMRR, you can bet the family Oldsmobile that he’ll run anyway. Speculation is that Abby Arnold and Josefina Aranda, who both ran in 2002, will seek SMRR endorsements. Current school board member, Maria Leon Vasquez, also is on SMRR’s list of potential council candidates. All three Santa Monica Community College District trustees — Graham Pope, Margaret Quinones and Annette Shamey — are expected to run for reelection. Jose Escarce is expected to run for a second term on the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District Board of Education. Maria Leon Vasquez also will seek reelec-tion if she doesn’t run for City Council. School board member Mike Jordan has announced he’ll not seek a second term. Two seats on Rent Control Board will be open. As usual, SMRR has a fat list of well-known activists to draw from while non- SMRR ranks are thin, indeed. But, with angry school supporters and the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce expected to be major players, new faces will turn up and mount strong challenges in what promises to be a contentious election. What’s a city election without a trumped-up rent control issue on the ballot? The Rent Control Board is studying an amendment to the city charter that specifies the annual rent increase (general adjustment) formula should be based on “75 percent of the previous year’s Consumer Price Index for Los Angeles- Riverside-Orange County with a cap of 7 percent.” This differs from the present formula, which is based on apartment maintenance and operating cost increases. A historical comparison of the two formulas indicates annual rent increases based on the CPI would have been higher, on average, than with the present formula. And if this makes the ballot, SMRR will hysterically implore renters to vote for it or “lose your rent controlled apartment.” Another hot issue is the Community for Excellent Public Schools initiative which would change the city charter, mandating the city of Santa Monica annually give 4 percent of designated general fund revenues, or $6 million, to the school district. Additional monies would be due when city revenues grow by more than 3.5 percent with a cap of 8 percent. CEPS campaigners are expected to submit petitions next week to qualify the measure for November’s election. Without no counter proposal in the works, the CEPS initiative will be on the ballot. If it passes, approximately $12 million in new annual revenue will have been generated locally for the schools within a year — including last fall’s $225 per parcel tax increase. The advantage of CEPS’ proposal is that it guarantees a reliable and never-ending revenue stream for the district. The city’s contribution would be unrestricted. However, there’s no mechanism to assure spending will not continue to outpace income. The city could find new revenue sources — an increase in the hotel bed tax has been mentioned — and/or cut services to fund its obligation. Various municipal employee unions, including the Police Officers and Firefighters Associations, fear passage will mean a loss of jobs and therefore, oppose the measure. Parents, school supporters and the Chamber of Commerce are supporting the charter amendment. The SMRR leadership is seriously divided on the issue. Some SMRR leaders have been actively pushing it while others, including most City Council persons, are firmly against it. Insiders predict the measure could fracture and weaken the powerful organization. Tighten your seat belts. We’re all in for a bumpy ride. (Bill Bauer is a longtime Santa Monica resident and a freelance writer). *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 30, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/043004.pdf?ref=smdp.com)