THE LOW-DOWN ON THE TOWN Impudent, uncensored account By C. Castle

C. Castle Hits the Campaign Trail
WHAT 'S THE STORY?

According to the mailer, Cloke "worked as a lobbyist for a real estate company in Venice attempting to evict hundreds of families in affordable rental housing to make way for high income condos."

Cloke says she in fact helped stem the evictions.

"I never participated in the evictions of anybody," Cloke said. "It's like saying Susan Cloke is in charge of the fire and arson squads without saying I put out the fires. Yes, I was present at the arson fire, but I put the fire out. I stopped all the evictions."

Cloke said she explained her position to SMRR leader Dennis Zane after the same charges were made during the November race.

"It was carefully explained to Denny, and he was given independent people to contact who could corroborate what I told him," Cloke said. "It was purposely misleading.

"If you've been attacked falsely," Cloke added, "then you have to defend yourself."

So far, the winner comes from candidate Susan Cloke. An anonymous hit piece against opponent Richard Bloom landed in mailboxes Friday bearing a 33-cent first-class postage stamp and a compilation of the city's most cliche Bloom critiques.

Here's the breakdown of Cloke's zings:

-- "SMRR Leaders say NO to Homeowner/Lawyer Richard Bloom...On August 4, 1996, Richard Bloom, in a letter written to the SMRR membership, was described by prominent SMRR leaders Dolores Press and Denny Zane as 'not qualified by experience or temperament to carry the SMRR banner.'"

Whatever happened to letting bygones be bygones? Whatever happened to giving people a second chance?

Bloom concedes that he has broadened his perspective in the past few years. Zane admits that he has changed his opinion of Bloom.

And the letter Cloke talks about is so fraught with politics, it's practically oozing -- unfortunately for Bloom, who never has been able to live the letter down.

The letter came at a time when SMRR leaders were at odds over who to support for the 1996 election and how many candidates to back. The letter wasn't as much an attack on Bloom as it was a vote of support by some SMRR leaders for Councilman Paul Rosenstein.

It's complicated, but here's the behind-the-scenes story.

Bloom sought SMRR's endorsement in 1996 along with councilmembers Ken Genser and Michael Feinstein and former councilmember Kelly Olsen. Meanwhile, longtime SMRR candidate Rosenstein decided to run as an independent.

Rosenstein's decision threw a wrench into the well-oiled machine and sealed Bloom's fate.

That's because Rosenstein was backed by Zane and SMRR political heavyweight Judy Abdo. They didn't want the political organization to run four candidates; they wanted to leave a spot open on the ticket for Rosenstein, despite the fact that he already had decided to go out on his own.

That meant one of the candidates had to pull out. And it ended up being Bloom, who withdrew his SMRR application for an endorsement even BEFORE Zane wrote his letter. Insiders say Bloom knew that only three candidates would get SMRR's endorsement, so he decided to bow out.

-- "(Bloom) sued to prevent the building of a supermarket desperately needed by the Pico Neighborhood, and to blockade his own neighborhood with speed bumps." EIR Study

Santa Monica Confidential has read plenty of environmental impact reports and has never come across one so colorful -- and, frankly, so personal. Bloom denies Cloke's allegation, as he has a million times before.

"We didn't sue to prevent the building of the supermarket or to blockade our neighborhood," he said. "We sued on an amendment to a development agreement. We needed to send a message to the city that we would oppose any new development that would be added to the city until they started dealing seriously with the traffic issue."

-- "Bloom sought SMRR's endorsement in 1998, and he only received 40 % of the votes of the SMRR members."