Santa Monica is one of the most Democratic towns in one of the most Democratic states in America. But, last Wednesday, the Santa Monica Democratic Club members failed to endorse Bobby Shriver, by any measure, Santa Monica’s leading Democrat, and an exemplary City Council member, for re-election to the Council.

In another bizarre turn, though four seats on the City Council are in contention this fall, the Club members chose to endorse only the two Santa Monica Renters’ Rights (SMRR) incumbents, Richard Bloom and Ken Gender, both of whom are far more active as leaders of SMRR than as Democrats.

In refusing to endorse Shriver, the Club’s membership overturned the steering committee’s recommendation that he be endorsed,

Chair of the committee, Julie Lopez Dad, who is not given to over-statement, was quoted in Surf Santa Monica as saying, “It is ludicrous that the Democratic Club did not endorse a candidate whose Democratic credentials outshine those of all the rest of us, who is committed to solving our societal problems of the unhoused, who listens to all residents and actively seeks ways to address their concerns, who questions City staff on issues rather than accepting standardized answers, and who is deeply committed to and is living Democratic values…”

When Shriver took his seat at the City Council dais four years ago, the other six Council members had, collectively, spent 75 years there. Their meetings had ritual aspects. The old hands greeted the newcomer warily. Not only had he run well ahead of Bloom, Genser, and non-SMRR Herb Katz, and won SMRR Michael Feinstein’s seat, he was bent on picking up the pace of the meetings and ranking residents’ priorities over the staff’s agenda. It has made for some lively sessions.

Councilman Shriver has consistently opposed the increases in building heights and density that City staff is lobbying for, and is one of two Council members to vote against the City’s mega-housing project.”The Village.” In addition, he insisted that the City give top priority to the replacement of the storm drain at the Santa Monica Pier that has been the primary source of pollution in that area for some years.

On learning of the School District’s dysfunctional special education program from anguished parents, Shriver proposed that the City withhold $500,000 of its annual allocation to the District until an independent study of the program was done and reforms were made. It was unprecedented, “radical,” and the SMRR Council members opposed it. But, late in the debate, Genser “reluctantly” joined Shriver and the other two non-SMRRs to approve it. The District is scheduled to make a progress report later this month.

Shriver is the son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, and Sargent Shriver, who created the Peace Corps, the Job Corps, VISTA, Head Start, and a number of other community service organizations.

This fall, in addition to running for re-election to the Council, Shriver is actively campaigning for the election of the Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama.

A lawyer, Shriver has worked as a journalist and venture capitalist, but, for some years, he has been a kind of advocate for the poor and dispossessed . Currently, his company is raising money to battle AIDS in Africa — over $50 million to date.

Besides rejecting the Democratic Club steering committee’s recommendation that Shriver be endorsed, the membership also flouted the committee’s recommendation that the Club endorse Ted Winterer, an independent making his inaugural bid for a Council seat, along with its recommendation that Bloom not receive the Cub’s endorsement.

According to Dad, the steering committee chose not to endorse Bloom
as he was seen as “too pro-development,”

To win the Club’s endorsement. candidates must receive 60 percent of
the membership’s votes. The members’ endorsement of Bloom and Genser, and its rejection of Shriver and Winterer, along with a number of other candidates who sought the Club’s support, was, according to Dad, “the result of the heavy SMRR component, which we are glad we have, in the Club…A large part of the SMRR members were concerned about protecting the endorsements for the SMRR-endorsed candidates… Another part of the group, the anti-RIFT part, certainly did not intend to vote for Bobby since he has not taken a position (their position) on the initiative.”

With the two other SMRR Council members who were re-elected two years ago, B;oom and Genser hold a majority of the seats — a majority SMRR has held for 20 years.

SMRR also holds a majority of seats on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees and the Rent Control Board, and both SMRR. Both the SMRRs and the Democratic Club have endorsed all the SSMRR incumbents on all the boards who are seeking re-election, along with newcomer Ben Allen who is running for a School Board seat held by Kathie Wisnicki who chose not to run for a second term.

As we reported several weeks ago, the SMRR steering committee voted to endorse incumbent school board member Jose Escarse, who’s seeking a third term, nullifying the membership’s rejection of him. That led to independent candidate Judith Meister’s withdrawal. Even if the only independent candidate left in the race, Chris Bley, were to defeat one of the SMRR nominees in November, SMRR would maintain its majority, along with the status quo.

In arbitrarily giving its own steering committee the power to override the SMRR membership , while, in effect, giving the Democratic Club membership license to ignore its steering committee’s recommendations, SMRR is obviously attempting to frontload the Council contest, too.

For the first time in its 30-year history, SMRR is not running a full slate of Council candidates. To maintain its majority, all it has to do is re-elect Bloom and Genser. While Genser, in his 20 years o the dais, has become a kind of icon, Bloom will be a hard sell. Many people agree with the Democratic Club steering committee that he’s pro-growth. Others are offended by his manner, which ranges from arrogant to smarmy, depending on who’s at the podium.

SMRR has sold Santa Monica any number of lemons – people, projects, policies –since its founding in 1978.(list on request.) In this instance, the SMRR bosses have obviously concluded that Shriver threatens their hegemony, which depends on the re-election of both Bloom and Genser.
Its decision to deny Shriver the endorsement was purely political, /petty, and pathetic.

SMRR, once the very model of progressive politics, is now primarily concerned with preserving its own power, rather than preserving this legendary beach town and its residents’ beatific way of life

Its decline (“power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”)
was probably inevitable, but that doesn’t make it acceptable.