Anti-SMRR Group Revs Up for 2006 Council Race

By Jonathan Stroud
Special to The Lookout

March 9 -- An anonymous non-profit group that sent out a series of controversial mailers during the recent City Council election is moving to become a permanent fixture in Santa Monica politics.

Santa Monicans for Sensible Priorities will soon become a political action committee and will raise and spend money supporting and opposing candidates during the 2006 City Council race, according to the group's current leader Seth Jacobson.

The group hopes to rival Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR), the tenants group that has controlled city politics for the better part of a quarter century, he said.

"Citizens for Sensible Priorities will become ... an advocacy group similar to SMRR that will work to elect new city leaders," Jacobson said.

The group is currently listed as a non-profit, non-political organization and does not support or oppose candidates. But that would change before the next race for three of the seven council seats, Jacobson said.

The group has signed up several hundred members, including members of SMRR, the Chamber of Commerce and the Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS), which successfully pushed for more municipal funding for the school district last year, Jacobson said.

The PAC will hold meetings, endorse a slate of candidates, accept and spend campaign donations and build bridges to different Santa Monica communities, Jacobson said.

While groups that have previously rivaled SMRR coalesced around an issue or a campaign then disappeared, the new group intends to become a "lasting institution" in Santa Monica, he said.

SMRR-backed Council member Richard Bloom questioned the motives of the group, calling it a Chamber of Commerce-funded organization originally set up to defeat the City's living wage law in 2002.

"Santa Monica voters are a smart bunch," Bloom said, adding that voters would not be fooled by the group's intentions.

The new PAC would come in the wake of an election that pitted two well-funded slates against each other -- those endorsed by SMRR and those endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce, which entered the local political arena for the first last year.

But while the chamber backed a slate, it did not raise money to back the candidates, instead sending letters to chamber members encouraging them to make individual contributions.

The new PAC plans to extend the sphere of influence in the 2006 race, which is expected to be hotly contested.

"It won't be the usual suspects this time. It won't just be SMRR or the hotels or the Chamber," Jacobson said, adding that the PAC would be composed of a wide coalition of community members.

Unlike the chamber, the group is expected to raise large sums of cash for the upcoming council race, which could shift the balance of power from SMRR to a business-backed majority.

During the previous election, Jacobson headed Santa Monicans for Change, a PAC that spent $360,000 backing a Chamber of Commerce-endorsed slate of candidates that included incumbent Herb Katz and newcomer Bobby Shriver.

The PAC was bankrolled by the owners of Hotel Casa del Mar and Shutters on the Beach Hotel, which, along with Jacobson Communications, Inc, are members of the chamber.

After the election, Jacobson left Santa Monicans for Change to head Santa Monicans for Sensible Priorities, which has not been required under law to publicly disclose the source of its funding.

During the election, the organization drew fire for a series of mass mailers critical of the SMRR-dominated City Council.

Since the mailers fell short of endorsing or opposing candidates by name, the group did not have to disclose expenses or sponsorship, according to Robert Stern, a campaign finance expert who helped write the State law governing nonprofits' participation in political activities.

SMRR co-founder and former mayor Denny Zane, who was attacked in one of the mailers, said he worries about the lack of disclosure.

"I'm angry that they can get away with that kind of campaigning without having to identify themselves," Zane said. "People should know who the message is from so they can judge the motivation."

SMRR leaders contend that Santa Monicans for Change and Santa Monicans for Sensible Priorities are connected to the chamber and include some of the same people.

Chamber Executive Director Kathy Dodson denied any allegations that the chamber's political activities were linked to the groups.

Announcement of the new PAC comes in the wake of Shriver's resounding victory, which saw the well-connected member of the Kennedy family spend nearly $400,000, a local record.

Jacobson said he believes voters will be emboldened by Shriver's election, which could change the face of Santa Monica politics.

"If people see the power of Shriver's candidacy, if we get this thing going, then change can happen," he said.