Hotels Double War Chest for Ballot Initiative
By Jorge Casuso
Doubling what was already one of the biggest political war chests in
Santa Monica history, the city's luxury hotels have raised $880,000 to
push for the nation's first business-backed living wage initiative.
Four luxury hotels contributed a total of $443,332 between July 1 and
September 30 and spent $400,448 during the same period. Of the total expenditures,
$68,972 was paid to the Dolphin Group, one of the state's most influential
political consulting firms.
Opponents of Prop KK -- which covers businesses with City contracts and
requires voter approval for any living wage measure -- raised $66,098
during the current filing period. That brings their total contributions
to $178,003 as of September 30. Opponents spent $43,126 during the current
filing period.
The contributions to the business-backed initiative came in large sums
from a handful of luxury beachfront hotels, which are the target of a
pioneering ordinance being studied by the City Council.
The ordinance -- which would cover nearly 2,500 workers, most of them
in hotels -- would be the nation's first living wage measure to require
businesses with no municipal contracts or grants to pay their workers
a living wage, in this case $10.75 an hour.
The largest contributors continued to be the Edward Thomas Management
Co. and Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, each of which gave $200,000 during
the current filing period.
The Edward Thomas Co. -- which owns Shutters on the Beach Hotel and Casa
del Mar -- are the initiative's biggest contributors, donating a total
of $368,828. Loews, which is in the midst of a bitter union organizing
campaign, has contributed a total of $325,000.
Other hotels contributing to the campaign during the current filing period
were C.W. Hotels and Holiday Inn. The former, which owns Le Merigot, gave
$33,332, bringing its total contributions to $74,997. In its first contribution,
Holiday Inn gave $10,000. (The Radisson Huntley and Pacific Shores, which
have donated a total of $50,000 each, did not contribute to the campaign
during the current filing period.)
Opponents of Prop. KK received a $15,000 contribution from the Los Angeles
Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), a liberal advocacy group that includes
Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism (SMART), which crafted the
proposed ordinance being studied by the council. The group has given a
total of $79,770 to opponents of Prop. KK.
Other contributors included LANNE's director, Madeline Janice Aparicio,
who gave $4,000, and Liberty Hill, a philanthropic group, which contributed
$12,500.
The latest campaign finance disclosure statement confirms a report published
in the July 17 edition of The LookOut, which reported that sponsors
of the initiative had retained the services of the Dolphin Group, the
prominent consulting firm behind some of the biggest conservative causes
in recent California history.
The West Los Angeles-based Dolphin Group helped oust liberal State Supreme
Court Justice Rose Bird and helped elect conservative Republican governors
Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson. The group also ran the unsuccessful campaign
for Prop 188, a 1994 ballot initiative bankrolled by big tobacco interests
that would have watered down tough local and state smoking restrictions.
Following their strategy in the tobacco initiative, where they spent
$8 million on direct mailers and outdoor billboards, the Dolphin Group
is once again relying on older methods of advertising. So far, they have
sent Santa Monica voters several glossy flyers touting Prop KK and posters
have cropped up across the city.
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