The sad, sour truth is that this great old beach town and its mostly smart, funny, spirited, wildly diverse, progressive residents are ruled by a handful of people.

We are not referring to the Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) City Council majority, which has reigned for 22 years, but to  the SMRR “steering committee,” which rules the rulers.
In 2008 and again this year, the committee overruled SMRR members to add candidates who had been rejected by members to the SMRR slate for the November 2 election.

The committee is not elected or appointed by the members, and apparently is not answerable to them. Its authority resides in the “fourth bylaw,” but we know SMRR members whose requests for the bylaw text and/or a list of  steering committee members have been ignored.

The unelected, unnamed committee members are, in effect, the puppetmasters, behind the scenes. pulling the strings. running the City show.

Since SMRR has dominated Santa Monica politics for three decades, the steering committee is obviously an efficient political device, as it ensures continuity,or obedience, but it wreaks havoc with democracy and representative government.

When a resident votes for a SMRR Council candidate, is he or she voting  for the person listed on the ballot or the committee? There’s no way of  knowing.   SMRR has the right to organize itself any way it wishes, and the rank and file members have the right to accept things as they are, attempt  reform the organization, or abandon it.

SMRR members or not, all voters will benefit from knowing who else they may be voting for this fall when they vote for SMRR candidates. SMRR Steering Committee: Judy Abdo, Bruce Cameron, Catherine Eldridge, Bruria Finkel,Todd Flora, Patricia Hoffman, Ana G. Hara, Maria Loya, Genise Schnitman, Linda Sullivan, Sonya Sultan, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein and Roger Thornton. (unofficial list)