Santa Monica Council Candidates Ask for Transparency from New "Responsible Growth" Group

August 22, 2012

Dear Santa Monicans for Responsible Growth,

As candidates for Santa Monica City Council, we believe that sharing views and priorities with the city's highly engaged electorate is the foundation of every campaign – whether it be door to door, through candidate questionnaires or at community forums. All of us want to do everything we can to facilitate the flow of information and encourage informed debate. But just as voters have a right to expect transparent politics from us, voters and we have a right to expect that organizations requesting information from candidates do so with transparency themselves. This is especially true for new organizations that do not have a history of participation in Santa Monica elections.

We want to emphasize that anyone has the right to engage in politics, which includes independent
campaigns. As candidates, we have a responsibility to encourage transparency by those organizations that want information and participation from us.

With regard to activities organized by new or unfamiliar groups or PACs, we have collectively agreed only to consider participating in forums and/or respond to questionnaires from those groups that provide us with the following information:

Enough information so that we and the public know who controls the group, such as a list of board of directors or steering committee members;

How many members it has;

Information about the organization’s mission and history, including when it was formed and for what purpose;

Its FPPC ID number and name of Treasurer, if it is a PAC;

Whether the organization intends to endorse or advocate for candidates or simply provide information to members and/or the public.

These requirements would not apply to Santa Monica’s existing political organizations or neighborhood groups, nor would they apply to Santa Monica’s media outlets.

We look forward to the many opportunities we will have to communicate with residents during thiselection cycle and appreciate the efforts by residents to take the time to learn about each candidate.

Sincerely,
Gleam Davis
Shari Davis
Frank Gruber
Jerry Rubin
Terry O’Day
Tony Vazquez
John Cyrus Smith