Unsung Heroes of the Santa Monica Militia

Chester Hoover, a longtime foe of Rent Control, was buried Wednesday. Following is a tribute to Hoover and two fellow “militia” members that originally ran last year in WAM, the monthly magazine put out by ACTION Apartment Association. Hoover’s death, which follows those of Al Kindt and John Jurenka, marks the end of a colorful era in rent board politics.

By James L. Jacobson

The Santa Monica Rent Board got into foreign policy in late 1989 by supporting revolutions in Nicaragua and El Salvador. When this happened, three courageous apartment owners appeared who fought this waste of public time and funds. I refer to them as the Santa Monica Militia because they are unpaid citizen soldiers who stand ready to defend personal liberty against oppressive power of the government.

The first person who opposed the unlawful activities of the Rent Board on a regular basis was John Jurenka, a founding member and past president of ACTION and a veteran of the Rent Board wars from the beginning.
For the first ten years of Rent Control, John spent more time at the weekly Rent Board meetings than any person who was not a paid employee of the Board. There were many occasions when he sat alone at meetings until midnight as the only member of the public watching the Board and arguing with them whenever they strayed from their written agenda. Before cable TV covered the meetings, John Jurenka was the only member of the public who knew what was happening at those meetings.

The second member of the Militia is Chet Hoover, Lt. JG, USN Ret. Serial # 565674. A former Navy carrier pilot, he supported many legal challenges to the Board including two published decisions which curbed the Board's power to penalize owners who paid registration fees late and allowed the local court to exercise its independent judgment when reviewing certain Rent Board decisions. He was as generous with his money as John was as generous with his time. He began to attend Rent Board meetings each week when the Board began setting foreign policy and failing to show proper respect to Old Glory.

The third member of the Militia is Al Kindt, 1st Sergeant, U.S. Army Ret. Serial # 12016032. He and Chet Hoover attend Rent Board meetings every week claiming to be P.O.W's. and making speeches that display humor, wit and sarcasm. Al has sued the Board over using the public meetings for private purposes and although this has not brought a direct benefit to many other apartment owners, it has brought the Board's foreign policy actions and abuse of the Rent Control law to the attention of Federal judges.

The three veterans identified above were in the forefront of the December 7th, 1989 Rent Board meeting, supported by a Marine color guard and over 100 property owners and other patriots.

But more action followed in the months to come as John, Al and Chet fought the Sandinista Rent Board headed by Commissars Wayne Alfred Bauer and Susan Packer Davis (known as the "B & D Team" or simply "BAD.").

From December 7, 1989 through the following January, the fighting was brutal and there were casualties on both sides. When Commissar Bauer publicly claimed to be a patriotic veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, The Outlook newspaper ran an article which revealed that he was only a veteran of Marine boot camp and did not complete that tour of duty before going AWOL.

As a result of the nasty Board meetings, Commissar Julie Lopez-Dad quit the Rent Board in disgust, although she was an early supporter of the revolution. Commissar Lipson would soon follow. Jean Hobson, who was the Board's Secretary for over ten years, (and universally liked by everyone) also quit her job claiming that Commissar Bauer had been rude to her. (She was not alone. Commissar Bauer was rude to many people he did not agree with, and he was not a very agreeable person.)

And it came to pass that in February 1990, the owner of the Sea Castle apartment building (which had 178 rental units) finally got fed up with Rent Board decrease petitions and litigation. And so he announced that he was going out of business under the Ellis Act, which is a state law that allows property owners in radical rent controlled areas to go out of business. (Is this a free country or what?)

In response to the unfettered act of liberty by the owner of the Sea Castle, the Rent Board decided to attack the Ellis Act by holding a special meeting where tenants could tell horror stories about getting evicted because of that law. The videotape of the meeting would then be "edited" (i.e., censored) and sent to Sacramento. But events did not unfold as planned.

Unfortunately, (for the Board), landlords crashed their meeting and outnumbered the tenant speakers by a margin of nearly five to one. Instead of a video that showed the horrors of the Ellis Act, the tape became a great advertisement for vacancy decontrol. And so ACTION sent complete copies of the tape to Sacramento with the caption, "Hear and see the whole story!"

By the end of February of 1990, tempers were running high. John, Chet and Al would sit in the front row of seats at Rent Board meetings and interrupt the Commissars whenever they interrupted the meeting with public announcements that had nothing to do with Rent Control business. (I joined them on some occasions, happy to be an honorary member of the Santa Monica Militia.) But the Rent Board fought back.

In an effort to keep the members of the public from interrupting the Commissars while they themselves interrupted the meetings with private political announcements, the Commissars would call the Santa Monica police to escort protesting landlords out of the meeting. And when that failed to silence the hecklers, the Board closed the front row seats to members of the public.

But that did not work too well either. As police officers were removing us from the front row, protests could still be heard. "Get to the back of the bus!" was a favorite protest that arose as landlords were being escorted to the back of the hall or out of the meeting altogether.

Another SMRR tactic was employed by Commissar Bauer, who often interrupted speakers during the three minutes that members of the public were allowed to speak to the Board. But at the meeting of February 22, 1990, Commissar Bauer picked on the wrong person. At that meeting the large wooden speaker's podium in front of the Rent Board fell in Commissar Bauer's direction while he was interrupting John Jurenka.

Although some will claim that John threw the podium at Commissar Bauer, such claims are exaggerated. I was sitting nearby when the speaker's podium headed in Commissar Bauer's direction. Although John pushed the podium a bit, it did not attain a very high altitude.

But unfortunately, John was arrested and put out of service. John's doctor advised him to avoid stressful situations and lifting heavy objects (such as wooden podiums). And John's attorney told him that damaging public property is still a crime although stealing private property is perfectly legal. Anyway, that skirmish did not end the conflict.

At the March 1st, 1990 meeting, 1st Sgt. Kindt fought back by telling Bible stories about how Sampson vanquished his enemies using the jawbone of an ass. He then pointed out that Commissar Bauer used the same weapon whenever he spoke to landlords.

That was a fun hearing! But not nearly as fun as the public announcement the following week when Commissar Bauer did not speak in parables. He called Lt. Hoover, "A yella piece of sh*t."

Just in case anyone watching the show on TV at home missed that announcement, Sgt. Kindt seized both the moment and the public microphone and announced, "Madame Chairman! Did you hear that! Commissar Bauer just called Mr. Hoover `a yella piece of sh*t on the television!'" Thanks to Al, The public's right to know was well preserved.

And while Sgt. Kindt was making the public announcement, Commissar Bauer was walking out of the meeting shouting at Chet Hoover, "You're yella, you got no guts," while challenging him to a fight in the parking lot. It was the Rent Board's finest hour. (It was also the only time I got to see a Rent Board Commissar who had to leave a meeting after arguing with a landlord.)

More than six years have passed since the battle over the Flag and foreign policy broke out at the Rent Board. Rent Board meetings are quieter now and the police are gone, but Al Kindt and Chet Hoover still remain in the front row seats at each meeting, ever vigilant for the cause of freedom of speech and to insure that the Rent Board sticks to Rent Board business.

Although the fall of the Soviet Union and the rusting of the Iron Curtain may have contributed to the demise of the Sandinista Rent Control Board, those events alone were not enough. North Korea and Cuba would be under new management if the fall of the Soviet block was enough to cause the total demise of socialism everywhere.

I think that all apartment owners owe a debt of gratitude to John, Chet and Al for risking their time, money and reputations to make the Rent Board mind its own business.

And if you don't think they are doing a good job, call City TV at (310) 458-8590 and order a videotape of the Rent Board meeting of December 7th 1989 and/or the meetings from February 8th through March 8th 1990 when the Sandinista Rent Board was at the high water mark of its glory.

You should find that when it comes to lewd and rude public broadcasting, Howard Stern and Jenny Jones will never be able to top the old Sandinista Rent Board shows.

James L. Jacobson, who works for the law firm of Gordon P. Gitlen, is a longtime opponent of rent control.