ELECTION REFLECTIONS

"...and as to the people, they have no understanding, and only repeat what their rulers are pleased to tell them."
                     — Plato

If we include in the definition of rulers the current political powers and any others with wealth and the willingness to spend it in a political campaign, this quote pretty much sums up the last election in Santa Monica.

Three key issues dominated the local election. Proposition HH, a.k.a. VERITAS, a plan to elect local council members from the neighborhood in which they live. Proposition I I, SMRPH, a tenant-friendly condominium conversion initiative. Proposition JJ, the Living Wage initiative. All three initiatives lost.

VERITAS, the plan to create a system of historical districts, and to elect a city council member in each was a noble intellectual and democratic exercise that was dead on arrival. Santa Monica for Renter's Rights (SMRR) naturally opposed it as a challenge to its local political hegemony and the financial backing favoring the initiative was inadequate to mount even the most basic campaign.

The condominium conversion law not only lost, it got trounced. This despite the fact that similar versions of the law passed previously three times with more than 66% of the voters approving the measures. The first time a similar condominium conversion measure was on the ballot it was backed by SMRR and a $300,000 campaign bankrolled by one owner, Larry Kates. The next two times it passed with no campaign other than the SMRR endorsement. This time SMRR opposed the measure and there was essentially no money behind the campaign for it.

The most surprising result was the come-from-behind defeat of the Living Wage Initiative. Despite trailing by more than two to one in initial polling, an effective $600,000 campaign by the Dolphin Group, paid for by the hotel industry, caused the measure to suffer a narrow defeat. The Dolphin Group you may remember for creating the Willie Horton ads that contributed to the demise of Michael Dukakis' presidential aspirations.

Sadly, had the Hotel Industry piggybacked its campaign with SMRPH and VERITAS both of these initiatives could have passed, which would have served the hotels' "long-term" interests. But the Hotel Industry is new to Santa Monica politics and can be forgiven for being at the front end of their learning curve.

The changes in the newspaper industry have increased the importance of money in local campaigns. With the demise of the Evening Outlook and the elimination of the Westside section of the Los Angeles Times, the reach of the remaining local print and on-line chroniclers of local politics are pretty much limited to political junkies who usually have their minds made up on issues and, in any event, are a minute fraction of the local electorate. Thus the job of "educating" the voters on local issues is left to the direct mail pieces which fill out mailboxes in the last few weeks before the election.

The local police and firefighters unions played an important role in this campaign, as well. Continuing their mutually beneficial alliance with SMRR, they exchange their endorsements for money and benefits from the soft-on-crime City Council. Despite the problems caused by the homeless population in Santa Monica being the number one issue with voters, our guardians of public safety, most of whom do not live in the City, have personal priorities that outweigh community concerns.

In Santa Monica elections, you get what you pay for.