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By Jorge
Casuso
October 26 – Mayor Bob Holbrook spent much of
Wednesday poring over a table full of documents making sure he
wasn’t violating a campaign law that is at the center of
a brewing controversy.
The law -- which the City unsuccessfully challenged in court
and which the City Council will challenge at the ballot box November
7 -- bars council members from taking contributions, cash or jobs
from individuals who may have benefited through some action taken
by the council.
Earlier that day, Election Watchdog -- which is opposing a council-backed
proposition that would replace the current law -- charged that
the mayor had received a $250 contribution from Bayside Hotel
on Ocean Avenue. That donation, the group alleged, was the first
violation of the Oaks Initiative approved by local voters in 2000.
But Holbrook, who said he cross-checked a list of individuals
and organization who may have benefited from a council action
against the donors listed on his campaign finance disclosure statements
– failed to come up with a match.
“I quadruple checked, and the Bayside Hotel was not on
the list the City provided me,” the mayor said. “I
have not heard that name, until just now.”
Holbrook could not have known the alleged contribution may have
violated the law because the donor was not on the list sent to
the three council incumbents, said City Attorney Marsha Moutrie.
“That was one that didn’t make our dragnet,”
she said.
Holbrook’s tedious exercise as the hotly contest council
race enters the homestretch is one of the reasons the Oaks Initiative
should be replaced with Prop W, which the council placed on the
ballot this summer, supporters of the proposed measure argue.
The current law, they said, is simply too burdensome and chills
political participation in a city that prides itself on community
involvement.
In addition to cross checking donors against the list provided
by the City Attorney’s office, Holbrook also had to check
the nearly 700 members of the boards of the more than two dozen
non-profits that received money from the City.
“I’ve spent all day, and I still haven’t gotten
through the list,” he said, noting that three organizations
had yet to furnish him with a list of their board members. “I
haven’t even heard of some of these organizations.”
Holbrook rattled off some of the names -- the Center for the
Partially Sighted, Hill and Dale, the Aresis Space Ensemble/City
Garage and the El Nido Family Center, which alone has 121 members
on its board.
The mayor said he found only one donor from the lists of board
members he compiled – which included everyone from Los Angeles
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to actress Jaime Lee Curtis –
and returned the check “right away.”
“The temptation is don’t vote for any of these, and
you don’t have to worry about it,” Holbrook said,
noting that all the grants given to the groups are included in
the annual budget, which is voted on in its entirety.
Holbrook said he also returned checks to a member of the Bayside
District Board and a member of the Convention and Visitors Bureau
Board, two agencies that, along with the Pier Restoration Corporation
receive money from the City.
Opponents of the Oaks Initiative note that even Council member
Kevin McKeown, who was held up at the Election Watchdog press
conference as an example of a candidate who has willingly abided
by the current law, must return one of the nine donations to his
campaign.
Prier Board President Ellen Brennan gave the Santa Monicans for
Renters’ Rights incumbent $250, according to campaign finance
disclosure statements submitted October 5.
At the press conference Wednesday afternoon, consumer advocate
Ralph Nader had urged candidates to follow McKeown’s lead.
“It’s not cumbersome if you do what Kevin McKeown
does, which is not take corporate money,” Ralph Nader said.
“That should simplify the matter.”
Meanwhile, Moutrie said her office will continue to log overtime
hours making sure candidates are provided with the information
they need to avoid violating the current law.
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