Commission Charges Living Wage Foes with Deception

By Jorge Casuso

June 30 -- A commission convened by supporters of the City’s Living Wage law issued a report Friday charging that opponents misled voters into defeating the unprecedented measure in a hotly contested election last November that garnered national attention.

In a 42-page report, the commission alleges that a campaign largely bankrolled by Santa Monica hotels engaged in a “pattern of deception” and violated the slate mailer law, turning what polls indicated was an almost certain victory for Proposition JJ into a narrow defeat by 970 votes.

In conjunction with the report -- titled “Democracy Distorted: A Report on Electoral Deception and Manipulation by Opponents of the Santa Monica Living Wage” -- the commission expected to filed complaints with the Los Angeles District Attorney and the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

The report also outlines a series of ballot measure reforms, including a three-strikes law for consultants who repeatedly break disclosure requirements for slate mailers and the creation of a Santa Monica Ethics Commission.

“This report is a call for accountability on the part of those special interests that have violated the trust of Santa Monica voters,” said Stephen Rohde, a constitutional law attorney who served as the commission co-chair.

“In an era where voter trust is a precious commodity, there is no graver threat to our democracy than cynical manipulation of the electorate,” Rohde said.

Opponents of the Living Wage measure called the report “extremely disingenuous,” given the track record of the Democratic Party that supported the measure, and especially State Party Chairman Art Torres, who praised the report.

“The members that spoke on Friday are extremely disingenuous in that the Democratic Party of California is the worst offender,” said opposition spokesman Seth Jacobson.

“In the last election they mailed over 30 different slate mailers to hundreds of thousands of voters and did not comply with any of the recommendations of the ‘So-Called Commission,’” Jacobson said.

The report charges that living wage opponents employed a variety of “deceptive tactics” in the campaign to defeat Proposition JJ.

They include misleading voters into signing qualifying petitions to force a vote on the living wage law approved by the City Council and giving the false impression that poor Latinos opposed the measure by hiring day laborers to stand on street corners holding “No on JJ” signs. They also include sending three “blatantly deceptive mailers” the weekend before the election.

Distributed by organizations established less than two weeks before voters went to the polls, the mailers falsely suggested that the Democratic Party, pro-choice leaders and educators opposed the living wage, the report alleged.

“Strong evidence suggests that the three organizations which produced the mailers violated the state’s slate mailer disclosure requirements by falsely indicating that the committee supporting a separate school bond measure, Measure EE, paid for and authorized its appearance on the mailers,” the report said.

Given that the Living Wage law was ahead in voter polls, the slim margin of defeat can be attributed to the mailers, which played a “decisive role” in the outcome, the report contended.

Jacobson questioned the ten-member commission’s understanding of the law.

"There seems to be a complete lack of understanding on the part of the ‘so-called’ commission members as to who is responsible for the slate mailers,” Jacobson said. “First, the ‘No on JJ’ folks did pay for a share of the mailer, but we were not the sole proponent of the mailers.”

The report, Jacobson said, is comprised of grossly exaggerated and inaccurate statements by supporters who are having a difficult time accepting the defeat of a measure that would have required private businesses in the coastal zone to pay workers at least $10.50 an hour plus benefits.

“We believe that this report constitutes no more than a last ditch effort by a narrow minority of union activists to keep a failing issue alive,” Jacobson said. “The residents have spoken.”

Tom Larmore, a leading foe of the Living Wage, questioned the impact of the last-minute slate mailers on a measure that had been debated in the community, at the City Council and at the polls for three years.

“I think it’s all nonsense,” said Larmore, an attorney involved in local politics. The report, he said, “is trying to create an issue where there isn’t one.

“The notion that these slate mailers had any huge effect is fanciful,” Larmore said. “If there was a ballot measure people understood, it was this one. It had been kicking around for three years.”

Commission members -- who include distinguished liberal attorneys, scholars and members of the clergy -- hope the report will spur action that will lead to reform.

“Voters in Santa Monica and communities throughout the state must take action to restore integrity to our elections,” said Xandra Kayden, a board member of the National League of Women Voters and the other commission co-chair. “For without a resolute response, these abuses will continue unchecked.”

The report outlines a series of proposed local measures, including requiring any slate mailer organization to file a statement of organization at least two weeks before the election and committees that spend more than $1,000 to report the expenditures to the City Clerk.

In addition, the report calls for a local ballot measure requiring any ballot pamphlet or advertisement for a Santa Monica ballot measure to identify the five largest contributors to the committee that qualified the measure or paid for the advertisement.

The report also calls for increasing the fines for repeat violations of California slate mailer election laws. Under the third-strike provision, a third violation would result in “disqualification from paid campaign work in California for a period of ten years.”

Mayor Richard Bloom and Mayor Pro Tem Kevin, who attended the press conference Friday announcing the findings, hailed the report and vowed to consider the proposed local reforms.

In a statement read by her senior deputy, Laurie Newman, State Sen. Sheila Kuehl called the findings “deeply troubling.”