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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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