Infighting Saps Strength of Santa Monica Coalition : Strife May Defeat Efforts to Retain Political Dominance

Dr. Robert Holbrook is the first person to admit that he owes his political life to the All Santa Monica Coalition. The 44-year-old pharmacist was unknown at the outset of his 1983 campaign for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board. With the coalition’s backing, his path to victory was paved.

Holbrook will try for a second term in November. But he may not seek help from the moderate political organization this time. Angered by moves made by the coalition’s leaders, Holbrook is threatening to run as an independent or seek the endorsement of the liberal Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.

Holbrook’s departure would be another blow to an organization already torn by infighting. Disagreements over rent control and other political issues have splintered the coalition and stymied efforts to forge a strong political agenda. People close to the group say these setbacks may endanger its ability to hold the City Council majority in November.

Degree of Dissension

“There is a degree of dissension at this point,” said Terry Pullan, a political consultant who has managed several successful coalition campaigns. “It has never been a really tight-knit coalition to any degree. But (we’re hoping) that many of those who are talking dissension will come back.”

Mayor Christine E. Reed is one of four City Council members aligned with the coalition. Reed agreed that the organization is in disarray. But she predicted that its members will regroup before election time, when Reed, Councilmen David G. Epstein and William H. Jennings will face tough opposition from candidates aligned with Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.

Reed said efforts to reach a consensus within the coalition have failed because its members come from vastly different interest groups. But infighting should not be taken as a sign that it is on the brink of collapse, she added.

“There is still a coalition,” Reed said firmly. “It faces a lot of hard work on the election. And I am quite sure our supporters will be with us.”

Stan Robbins, a former coalition leader, said he’s not so sure. Robbins walked away from the coalition last fall, furious over a decision to appoint Alan Katz instead of a conservative to a council vacancy. Since then, others have left because of disputes over the coalition’s failure to get tough on the homeless and its opposition to Proposition M, a unsuccessful rent control initiative that would have allowed apartment owners to raise rents on vacant units in return for sharing profits with tenants.

“Guys like us worked our tails off,” Robbins said. “But things that were important to us didn’t get done. They’ve lost a lot of people.”

Abandoned by Conservatives

It is impossible to gauge the exact toll the dissent has had on the coalition because it is not a membership organization. Backing comes from a variety of places and people. But those close to the group said the coalition’s large conservative wing has all but abandoned ship recently.

That group, which includes landlords and some major property owners, was extremely active in the formation of the coalition, but claims that it has failed to reap any meaningful benefits from the organization’s success.

“The (coalition) had a chance to accomplish something,” said Geoffrey S. Strand, a landlord who led the Proposition M campaign. “But they are afraid of alienating anyone. So they try to placate everyone by doing nothing.”

Funding Falling Off

Financial backing may also be falling off. Robbins pointed out that a recent fund-raiser for Councilman Epstein netted about $27,000, roughly half of what Reed and Jennings received from fund-raising events last year. Epstein called the event a success, but Robbins disagreed. “It’s a definite sign,” said Robbins. “Epstein didn’t get nearly as much as Jennings and Reed.”

Many people contend that the coalition has been drifting to the left (and philosophically closer to the tenant faction) recently. Reed said moderates provide most of the group’s support. She said it is impossible to appease the coalition’s conservatives without committing political suicide.

Some members, for example, want the coalition to join the fight to weaken rent control. But Reed said such a stand would work like vote repellent in a city where 80% of the residents are tenants who favor low rents. “The things that they (conservatives) want, they can’t have.” Reed added. “We support rent control.”

Councilman Jennings said the coalition cannot hope to satisfy everyone. “We are getting criticized because we were too careful and didn’t do what they (the conservatives) thought we were going to do when we got power,” Jennings said. “But each person on the council is very much an individual.”

Epstein said the coalition has restored fairness and a sense of order to city government. He cited the coalition majority’s decision to withdraw city funding from all but one of Santa Monica’s neighborhood organizations on grounds that the groups are overtly political.

The majority has also advanced a number of major projects such as the restoration of the Santa Monica Pier, the redevelopment of the airport and the complete overhaul of the Third Street Mall. In addition, Epstein said the coalition has made a concerted effort to lure commercial development back to Santa Monica.

Coalition Needs Time

Epstein conceded that many of those projects were initiated by Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights. He said the coalition needs more time to establish independent programs. “If we win you will find that we will be more secure,” Epstein said. “We will begin to institutionalize change. People will begin to see that the political complexion of the city has changed.”

Reed, Jennings and Epstein are joined on the council by Herb Katz, who still has two years on his term. Two other seats belong to Dennis Zane and James P. Conn, who are affiliated with Santa Monicans for Renters Rights. Their jobs are safe until 1988. The seventh seat is held by Councilman Alan Katz. Katz was appointed by the coalition, but calls himself an independent. He is running to fill the remaining two years of the late Ken Edwards’ term.

Council members do not always vote along organizational lines. But each group ultimately seeks to rule City Hall. And the pitched struggle for political power has dominated city politics for the better part of the 1980s.

Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights fired the first shot in the political wars in 1979, when its members successfully campaigned for the passage of the city’s rugged rent control law. Two years later, the renter faction made another major advance by capturing a majority of the City Council seats.

United Splinter Groups

The All Santa Monica Coalition was born in 1982. It brought together various splinter groups--including landlords, homeowners and businessmen--who shared a dislike for renter politics. Some coalition backers were opposed to rent control. Others were angered by the renter management of the city. They could not understand why the council issued foreign policy statements or alienated business by placing a moratorium on commercial development.

The coalition’s first big victory came in 1983 when it shocked tenant activists by narrowly defeating liberal Mayor Ruth Yannatta Goldway. The coalition completed its council takeover a year later when Councilwoman Dolores Press, a liberal, failed to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Herb Katz, a former planning commissioner, won the seat.

The coalition held onto a 4-3 council majority for several months. Then, in the fall of 1985, another seat became available when Councilman Ken Edwards, the head of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, died of cancer complications. Edwards’ death left the renter faction with only two seats. At the same time, however, it created a painful dilemma for the coalition.

Conservatives wanted the seat to go to Irene Zivi, a longtime activist who shared many of their views. The moderates lined up behind Alan Katz, a newcomer who was more likely to appeal to Santa Monica’s young voters. When Katz got the nod, the coalition’s solid wall of support started to crumble.

Upset by Appointment

Conservatives such as Robbins and real estate businessman Wes Wellman had worked hard for Zivi’s appointment. When she was rejected, the conservatives realized that they had lost their biggest opportunity for council representation.

“The Katz appointment really upset them,” said one coalition member who asked not be be named. “They felt that they weren’t even consulted.”

Others had a different complaint. As the new year began, some homeowners and business people who had supported the coalition in the past became outraged over the council’s failure get tough on the homeless. They publicly complained that vagrants, who were becoming increasingly visible throughout the city, were terrorizing elderly people and ruining tourism.

“Give Us Back Our Parks and Streets,” said one large newspaper advertisement paid for by the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and directed at the coalition-led council. Others called on the council to fire City. Atty. Robert M. Myers, who was refusing to prosecute nonviolent vagrants.

When neither occurred, some supporters started to question what they had gained by electing the coalition in place of the renter faction. “The new group sold us on the idea that they were better than the radicals,” said one backer. “But it turned out that they were just concerned with power.”

The latest coalition feud erupted in the spring, when a group of Santa Monica landlords united behind Proposition M, the unsuccessful rent control measure.

Strong Opposition

The landlords who supported Proposition M at first hoped for coalition backing. Later, they tried to persuade the coalition members on the council to remain neutral. Instead, the entire council expressed its strong opposition.

Landlords responded angrily in the final weeks of the campaign. A flyer circulated among voters charged that “Santa Monica Politicians Can’t Think for Themselves.” It characterized Mayor Reed and the rest of the council as puppets of Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica).

Proposition M was overwhelmingly defeated in June. In the aftermath of the bloody campaign, landlords threatened to run their own slate of council candidates in November. Such a slate would have little chance of winning. But a field of conservatives could draw votes away from the coalition.

“The landlords could very well hurt us by running candidates,” said Councilman Jennings. “But we’re not going to suddenly move to the right to prevent that from happening. We would hope that these people would realize that our viewpoints are valid . . . and that we’re not close-minded.”

The leadership of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights hopes to gain strength from the coalition’s weaknesses. Tenant activists contend that their political opponents have become almost invisible during their tenure at City Hall.

The renter faction will hold a convention Aug. 3. They are expected to nominate at least two people, probably former Councilwoman Press and Rent Control Board Commissioner David Finkel, to challenge the coalition slate.

Losing Support

“The coalition always wanted to characterize us as radicals,” said Councilman Zane, a tenant activist. “But we have shown an ability to govern responsibly. And that makes it difficult for them to organize against us. . . . It looks like they’re trying to appeal to our constituents. But as a result, they are losing support from some of the people in their own camp.”

Reed, who has served on the council since 1975, maintains that Zane and other detractors are jumping the gun. The coalition’s wounds could easily heal between before November, Reed said. Besides, the coalition continues to provide the only alternative to ultra-liberal politics, Epstein said.

“The business community still prefers us over Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights,” Epstein said. “Homeowners are still behind us. Even some moderate tenants are behind us. . . . We’ve done a good job.”