By Daniel Larios
Staff Writer

November 4, 2014 – Santa Monica City Council candidates and their supporters raced around the bayside city over the weekend, shaking hands, explaining their positions and trying to scoop last-minute votes before Tuesday’s elections.

But some candidates also resorted to more attention-getting tactics to reach the more than 64,000 Santa Monica voters who have received dozens of mailers and repeated robo phone calls in one of the mostly hotly contested races in Santa Monica history.

When not channeling Hollywood legend Christopher Walken in his campaign robo calls, political newcomer Nick Boles was out on Halloween afternoon passing out small Snicker bars to passing children in costumes.

Parks and Recreation Commissioner Phil Brock and his supporters have been standing near the 10 Freeway exit Downtown with campaign signs starting at 6:45 a.m., hoping to catch the morning commuters and voters walking to work.

Brock supporters, all of whom are volunteers, have been among the most visible across the City – including Santa Monica Airport -- with their signs, T-shirts and information cards urging voters to “Brock the Vote.”

Planning Commissioner Richard McKinnon has knocked on every door in Santa Monica during the campaign, hoping to make good on his second attempt to win a council seat.

But one of the most comprehensive ground campaigns has come from supporters of former Planning Commissioner Frank Gruber, who counts on the backing of the hotel workers union UNITE HERE Local 11 and the Police and Firefighter’s unions.

This translates into a large pool of volunteers hitting the pavement and staffing the phone banks in support of Gruber’s second council bid.

In addition to being out on the streets, candidates and campaigns have begun inundating Santa Monica voters with a barrage of campaign mailers – both supporting and attacking candidates.  

Republicans in Santa Monica were targeted with a campaign mailer this weekend from Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a Republican, with the headline “Pam O’Connor: The Republican Choice for City Council.”

O’Connor, who has been on the council since 1994, “is fiscally prudent and strives to make sure our tax dollars are spent wisely,” Antonovich said in the mailer.  “That’s why I endorse Pam O’Connor for City Council.”

O’Connor is a registered Democrat and has the endorsement of the Los Angeles Democratic Party in her fifth council bid, but in a close race, the City’s 9,508 registered Republican voters – about 15 percent of Santa Monica’s electorate -- can make a major difference.

Mailers have also been used to bolster and attack Planning Commissioner Sue Himmelrich, who is considered a frontrunner in the race.

Last week, Himmelrich released a mailer portraying the Fairmont Miramar Hotel as Godzilla, drawing an robo call attack and a series of mailers from the hotel. (“Miramar and Himmelrich at War in Santa Monica,” October 31, 2014)

One of the Miramar’s mailers -- entitled “How to Buy an Election in 5 Easy Steps by Sue Himmelrich” -- accuses the candidate of wrongly stating she is backed by School Board member Ben Allen, hiring former mayor Denny Zane as her campaign manager, loaning her campaign $130,000 and doing “whatever is necessary to get elected.”

The mailer also notes that Himmelrich’s husband, Michael Soloff, donated a total of $20,000 to SMRR and the Democratic Club after their endorsements.

Another follow-up mailer also reprinted a “Letter to the Editor” written by Shawn Casey O’Brien to the Lookout critical of SMRR and Himmelrich. (“RE: Powerful Santa Monica Tenants Group Gets Fundraising Boost from its Candidates,” October 14, 2014)

Along with the mailers, have come robo calls made to thousands of Santa Monica homes a day.

This weekend, one robo call financed by the Super PAC “Responsible Leadership for a Better Santa Monica” featured the group’s chairman -- Mayor Pro Tem Terry O’Day -- pushing for candidates Gruber and O’Connor.

The call touted O’Connor’s past endorsements by the powerful tenant rights group, Santa Monicans for Renters Rights (SMRR) and noted that Gruber received the send-highest vote total for the organization’s endorsement during the SMRR convention in August. (“SMRR Fails to Back Santa Monica Council Candidates,” August 4, 2014)

Another robo call pushing for O’Connor and Gruber featured former mayor and SMRR Steering Committee member Judy Abdo, reinforcing O’Day’s message about both candidates supporting tenants’ rights.

SMRR officials noted that the tenants group had not endorsed either candidate.

“I think that it’s quite clear that neither of them have been endorsed by SMRR,” the group’s co-chair Patricia Hoffman told the Lookout. “Pam didn’t even reach the 20 percent of votes needed to make it out of the first round.

“I think that everybody is trying to copy SMRR and the work we do,” she said.  “As far as I know, none of them have been in the Rent Control Board or show up for court watches” to monitor tenant cases.

“I think that the real SMRR works day in and day out to protect tenants,” she said.  ”I wish they weren’t pretending to be us, and give credit to the work we’ve done.”

Voters can find their polling place in the back cover of their county sample ballot booklet, which was sent a few weeks before Election Day.

Voters can also find their polling place by location using the Los Angeles County poll locator.

Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on November 4. If voters are in line before 8 p.m. they are eligible to vote.

For more information, visit www.lavote.net or follow the LA County Registrar/County Clerk’s office on Twitter @LACountyRRCC.