By Jorge Casuso
October 30, 2024 -- As the Santa Monica race for City Council entered the homestretch, PACs and the candidates they support had spent a record $1.4 million -- or some $20 per registered voter.
Both the total amount spent as of October 19 -- $1,355,897 -- and the total amount raised -- $1,528,534 -- shattered local records for a Council race in the city of some 93,000 residents.
Leading the fundraising and spending were the candidates and PACs running on a pro-law enforcement platform, according to campaign finance disclosure statements covering the period from September 22 to October 19.
The four candidates running on the Safer slate -- incumbents Phil Brock and Oscar de la Torre and business owners Vivian Roknian and John Putnam -- raised a total of $194,071 and spent $137,456.
The rival "United" slate backed by the city's political establishment -- composed of College Trustee Barry Snell, Planning Commissioner Ellis Raskin, Pier Board Chair Dan Hall and Natalya Zernitskaya -- raised $197,155 and spent $137,399.
Rent Board Chair Ericka Lesley raised $12,817 and spent $8,766, according to the finance statements. Wade Kelly did not raise the necessary $1,000 to file a disclosure statement.
By far the biggest money was raised and spent by PACs supporting the Safer slate, who raised a total of $645,180 and spent $571,626, with about $505,000 spent between September 22 and October 19.
PACS backing the United slate raised $489,311 and spent $438,744, with the latest filing period accounting for $265,350 in spending.
In addition, the Police and Firefighters unions have pumped some $100,000 supporting a slate composed of Brock, de la Torre, Roknian and Lesley.
The record spending surprised longtime campaign consultant Sharon Gilpin, who has run successful campaigns for City Council and ballot measures in Santa Monica for nearly three decades.
"It's astounding," Gilpin said. "The reality is that this election is almost unlike any other we've had.
"This is one of the first years we've had all these avenues to hit voters -- web, social, text/phone," she said. "Everyone is being inundated, and it's causing them to wait to vote."
Gilpin believes the stakes are also higher than they've likely ever been, with crime and homelessness, which are having a big impact on local businesses, uppermost in voters' minds.
"A lot is happening to Santa Monica," she said. "This is do or die. That's how a lot of people see it."
By far the biggest player in this year's Council race is Santa Monicans for a Real Positive Future, which is bankrolled by major donations from large hotel and restaurant owners.
The PAC had raised a total of $539,820 as of October 19, $100,000 more than the combined total raised by PACs backing the United slate.
Also backing the Safer slate is Santa Monicans for Change, which has raised $45,360 and spent $37,394, and Safe Santa Monica, which raised $50,000 and spent $32,597.
The slate can also count on a newly formed PAC -- the Committee to Protect Renters, Retailers & Homeowners -- that received $10,000 in contributions to oppose the establishment slate. As of October 19, the PAC had spent $50.
The biggest financial backer of the rival United slate is Renters and Workers for Santa Monica sponsored by UNITE HERE Local 11, the hotel workers union, which has spent all of the $275,000 it had raised.
Santa Monicans for Renters Rights (SMRR), which has long been the backbone of Santa Monica's political establishment, raised $94,784 and spent $70,371, far less than it typically raised before the coronavirus shutdown in 2020.
The Community for Excellent Public Schools had raised $57,027 by the end of the latest filing period and spent $42,973, while Abundant Santa Monica, a newly formed pro-housing group, raised $62,500 and spent $50,430.