Opponents of Prop KK Turn to Biblical Prophets

By Jorge Casuso

Casting the living wage battle as a moral war, members of the clergy on Monday invoked the words of the Biblical prophets to bolster the case against a business-backed living wage initiative on the November ballot.

Flanked by the cut-out image of a robed and bearded prophet, several rabbis, ministers and a Catholic priest read passages from the Old Testament prophets, as shoppers strolled in and out of stores at the northern end of the Third Street Promenade.

The late morning press conference was meant to draw attention to what union supporters contend is a deceitful ballot measure that will cover few workers and strip the City Council of the authority to pass any living wage law, including a proposed measure that targets hotels in the coastal zone.

"We are part of the 3,000-year-old tradition of the prophets who stood in the market places of their town," said Rabbi Jeff Marx. "They were not afraid to critique society as they saw it and condemn those who make a profit on the backs of the poor."

The clergy members then read passages from the prophets they felt had bearing on the current political battle between hotel owners -- who are bankrolling the nearly $1 million initiative campaign -- and union supporters, who are mounting a grassroots-based opposition.

The contention that hotel owners are trying to trick voters with a "phony" living wage measure was addressed by the biblical passage, "Your inhabitants speak lies with tongues of deceit in their mouths."

"They know nothing of fair dealings" and "How dare you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor," were among the other prophetic verses invoked.

The battle over Prop KK is heating up as Election Day approaches. For weeks, supporters of the measure have been blanketing the city with mailers touting the measure, which would give voters the final say on any living wage law.

Opponents, who have been calling voters and walking precincts, view the ballot initiative as a death knell for a pioneering living wage ordinance being studied by the council. The proposed ordinance, which targets hotel workers in the Coastal zone, would make Santa Monica the first city in the nation to require businesses with no municipal contracts or grants to pay a living wage.

But whatever happens on November 7, it is the voters who will most likely get the final say at the polls, perhaps as early as next Spring.

If Prop KK is approved, the council is expected to place the ordinance they are studying on the ballot. If Prop KK fails, the hotels will likely seek a referendum requiring voter approval of whatever measure the council passes.

But on Monday, union supporters welcomed all the help they could get.

"This is a really difficult fight and sometimes we lose heart," said Vivian Rothstein, an organizer for Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Toursim, the group behind the proposal being studied by the council. "So it's important you stand by us and give us strength."