By Jorge Casuso

October 17, 2024 -- The political faction backing an incumbent-led slate for City Council erased a fundraising gap, while the candidates received the backing of two neighborhood groups this month.

Santa Monicans for a Real Positive Future has taken in $157,500 in October -- including a $100,000 contribution from Strategic Hotels & Resorts -- that put its campaign war chest above the $500,000 mark.

The recent contributions erased the fundraising lead held by the opposing faction headed by Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR), the local Democratic Club and the hotel workers union.

To date, the opposing factions battling for control of the City Council have each raised about $600,000, making the 2024 race for four seats the most expensive Council campaign in Santa Monica history.

Santa Monicans for a Real Positive Future is backing the pro-law enforcement slate composed of Mayor Phil Brock, Councilmember Oscar de la Torre and business owners Vivian Roknian and John Putnam.

The slate has made enhancing public safety and addressing Santa Monica's persistent, and highly visible, homeless problem, a top priority shared by local businesses and residents concerned about crime.

Strategic Hotels & Resorts -- which spent more than $150 million turning the Loews hotel into the Regent Santa Monica Beach hotel -- is the fourth major business to make a $100,000 donation to the newly formed Real Positive Future PAC.

Opened a year ago, the Regent promises to "usher in a new era of extraordinary experiences to the California coastline" and "set a new standard for modern upper luxury in the Americas hospitality industry."

The donation comes two weeks after the Edward Thomas Management Company, which owns the Casa del Mar and Shutters hotels on the beach, donated $100,000.

Also donating $100,000 each were tech entrepreneur Jerry A. Greenberg, whose restaurant group owns two Downtown restaurants, and Douglas Emmett Properties, which owns a large portfolio of commercial properties in Santa Monica, as well as The Shores Apartment Towers in Ocean Park.

The police union, which reported receiving $25,177 in contributions this year, had an ending balance of $86,841 from dues paid by its members that is being used to back the the two incumbents, Roknian and Rent Board Chair Ericka Lesley.

The opposing political establishment slate, which needs to win two seats to regain control of the City Council on November 5, is composed of College Trustee Barry Snell, Planning Commissioner Ellis Raskin, Pier Board Chair Dan Hall and Natalya Zernitskaya.

The faction's biggest campaign war chest has been amassed by Renters and Workers for Santa Monica sponsored by UNITE HERE Local 11, which has raised $275,000, with $150,000 contributed by the national union.

The political establishment faction has received about $100,000 in contributions from pro-housing groups, double the approximately $50,000 raised by SMRR.

In addition to catching up in the fundraising race, the pro-law enforcement slate picked up endorsements from two neighborhood groups this month -- Northeast Neighbors and Friends of Sunset Park.

Both group's cited the slate's focus on public safety and homelessness, its opposition to the County's needle distribution program and its support of "housing affordability and rent control."

They also cited the slate's opposition to implementing a state law that allows multi-family buildings in single-family neighborhoods with City Council approval.

The four candidates on the political establishment slate have said they would vote to implement the law.

The other five neighborhood groups in the city have not endorsed, are not expected to endorse or cannot legally make endorsements in political races.

The incumbent-led slate can also count a PAC, which qualified this month, that opposes the establishment slate.

The PAC's name is Committee to Protect Renters, Retailers & Homeowners -- Santa Monicans Against Failed Government Policies Opposing Raskin, Hall, Snell, and Zernitskaya for City Council 2024.