SETH JACOBSON’S RETURN
Of course, Malibu should be represented on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education. But it can only be represented if it actually runs candidates, which it hasn’t done in a while.
This fall, however, there will be three Malibu residents on the ballot. They bill themselves as “education activists,” a “reform slate” that favors the secession of Malibu from the District, parents, and members of “Advocates for Malibu Public Schools,” a coalition of parents, businesses and community leaders.
They are Karen Farrer, executive vice president of Malibu High School’s PTA and a member of the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee; Craig Foster, a member of both the SMMUSD Financial Oversight Committee and the Superintendent’s Advisory Committee, and Seth Jacobson, a political consultant and former vice president of the Point Dume Elementary PTA.
Yes! Political consultant Seth Jacobson, architect of arguably the ugliest campaign in Santa Monica history.
The Edward Thomas Management Company, which owns Casa del Mar and Shutters, spent upwards of $400.000 on campaign materials that included multiple mailers and cable TV spots attacking SMRR incumbent, City Councilman Kevin McKeown.
None of the company’s principals lived nor voted in Santa Monica, but Jacobson’s political action committee (PAC), “Santa Monicans for Sensible Priorities,” blamed McKeown for what it claimed was the growing number of homeless people, including “criminal vagrants,” in Santa Monica, as well as escalating traffic problems.The charges were not merely baseless, but ludicrous.
Early on a Sunday afternoon, several weeks before the election, a crowd of about 100 casually dressed people gathered outside Casa Del Mar and Shutters. They weren’t there for brunch. They were protesting the hotel owners’ attacks on Mckeown, and their placards had a common theme: “Integrity and Democracy NOT FOR SALE,” “Democracy or Sleaze. You Can’t Have Both,” “Santa Monica Not for Sale,” and “Our Integrity Is Not for Sale.”
In addition to opposing McKeown, Jacobsen’s PAC backed two Council candidates — non-SMRR incumbent Bob Holbrook, who was seeking his fifth term, and City Planning Commissioner Terry O’Day, who was making his first bid for a Council seat. As Jacobson admitted after the election, it also “quietly” backed O’Connor.
Jacobson’s most piquant campaign touch was a lacerating anti-McKeown pitch on one of the cable channels by a sort of semi-cowboy, who soon confessed on the air that he didn’t know McKeown and had been paid by Jacobson to make the verbal assault.
McKeown and O’Connor both won re-election to the Council. McKeown led the field, with O’Connor running second, Holbrook third, and O’Day finishing fourth, and out of contention.
Do Malibu secessionists really believe Jacobson will help them win the day?
Ms. Clifford’s story while long on sensationalism is short on facts. First and most importantly, my name is spelled JACOBS”O”N. A likely error given the lack of facts in the totality of your research. I am also glad to hear that you support Malibu representation, I hope you will use the same amount of energy and time to support “unification” but perhaps do better research as the campaign evolves. I am honored that you give me such import that you would take the time to write a “dispatch” as to my involvement in past elections. But this election is not about Santa Monica’s ongoing battles over development and homelessness, it is about my desire to do what is right for the children of the SMMUSD school district. Most importantly, your categorization that the campaign was “ arguably the ugliest campaign in Santa Monica history” is rather curious, and reflects a lack of knowledge of what has been 20-some years of overly contentious and important elections in Santa Monica. While i did play a role as the face of the campaign I think it would be a stretch to surmise that I was the architect of the entire effort. And any information distributed was in fact based on facts not opinions such as the column. Just one more error, its “Pt Dume” not “Pt Dune”, I understand this mistake since its is rare that Malibu schools are provided the awareness and Board support they deserve.