Tuesday’s City Council meeting did not disappoint in terms of entertainment, there was colorful language, attendees being ejected out of chambers, accusations, counter-accusations and a suspicious smell. As an end of season finale before the election, this one was an Emmy Award winner.
Councilmember Oscar de la Torre has faced an escalating number of accusations recently, from a number of different sources, over racist and anti-semitic statements he has allegedly made. A letter written by Jon Kean, published in the Daily Press on October 11, 2024, claimed that de la Torre said, "The biggest problem with the school board is that it’s run by the Jews" on August 6, 2019. De la Torre responded to this, with an editorial, published the following day.
Subsequently, other school board members reiterated the accusations.
The first indication that was going to be a rocky road came early on, during Public Input on Non-Agenda Items from Jason Mastbaum who previously accused de la Torre of antisemitism based on 2013 city documents that described resignations from the Pico Youth and Family Center that de la Torre founded. He accused both de la Torre and Mayor Phil Brock of racist, anti-semitic and anti-Islamic behavior again this week.
De la Torre exercised his right to personal privilege since Mastbaum did in fact mention the Councilmember by name, saying, "These tactics, this mud-slinging, these political attacks, they’re very dishonest and very hurtful."
Brock chose to exercise a moment of personal privilege and in a rare moment of the Mayor getting visibly angry, he said, "I appreciate the fact that you're so intensely interested in me. However, [rather than] dredge up people's reputations, you actually talked about facts, you actually talked about things in the city that are important and try to help the city, rather than continue to tear it down."
Mastbaum returned to the podium to speak again regarding an agenda item by de la Torre to support an anti-semitism conference.
Mastbaum said, "This is an offensive attempt by Oscar to prove that he's not anti semitic by allocating $2,500 of taxpayer money to a conference which does not need the money." He went on to claim that Oscar had attempted to "corner me in the hallway just now playing dumb, asking if I'm Jewish."
"Oscar and Phil have been all over social media trying to dismiss the myriad of allegations of anti semitism, racism and violent threats against Oscar as old news … Maybe Christine has the right idea. She attacked me on Facebook, calling me a disgusting little man," Mastbaum said.
Councilmember Christine Parra reacted, shouting from the dias, "He is talking about a bunch of other things. This is not related to the point of order."
City Attorney Doug Sloan attempted to intervene saying, "Mayor, at this point, the comments should be limited to matters on this agenda, which would exclude, I think, the Continued Items."
However, Councilmember Jesse Zwick pointed out that the last speaker spoke regarding entertainment zones, "So that should have also not been allowed to be spoken about," he said.
At this point, things began to fall apart and Brock attempted to draw Mastbaum’s remaining time to a close by asking that his microphone be switched off and he step away from the podium. "We need to maintain our decorum, regardless of what anyone in the audience or any speaker may say," Brock said.
De la Torre again took personal privilege and said, "First of all, I want to clarify a couple of things. The item that I'm bringing forward tonight was created on Thursday, the day before Jon Kean’s letter hit the Santa Monica Daily Press … It shows where my heart is, not where your false allegations are. You call it a stupid stunt. I think that's anti semitic.
Some back and forth continued between de la Torre and Mastbaum as Brock once again tried to quash any inappropriate conduct, threatening to have Mastbaum escorted out of chambers.
Two more speakers came to the podium, including Jon Katz, President of the Santa Monica Democratic Club, who spoke aggressively regarding the accusations against de la Torre. Then, after some consultation between Sloan and Assistant City Attorney Susan Cola in the background, it was decided that Mastbaum could return to the podium and finish. However, friction remained and in between some heavy sighs from Brock, Sloan suggested that in the best interest of the First Amendment, Mastbaum be allowed to finish speaking.
De la Torre responded once again and there were multiple, heated exchanges between de la Torre on the dias and Mastbaum and Katz in the seating area resulting in the two men being escorted out of the chamber by the Santa Monica Police Department, according to a witness.
When introducing his item related to the conference, de la Torre attempted to clarify that he had not brought this forward as a response to the "false allegations that have been raised against me in this election season" and in particular the accusations made in Kean’s letter.
In the item, de la Torre requested that the City work with SMMUSD to create awareness on the impact of hate crimes and racism using a hate crime letter from 1991. He also wanted to allocate $2,500 from Council Discretionary Funds to sponsor the 2024 Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism conference.
Straightaway, Brock set the record straight. "I'm attending this conference and I have checked that the anti semitism conference does not need any funding whatsoever from Santa Monica. So I would like to ask that you remove that part of the item," he said.
Brock spoke of how that letter had been well publicized for over 30 years, asking, "Are we beating a dead horse that's already been beat on this one?"
Councilmember Gleam Davis concurred. "I am not in favor of supporting this conference financially. I'm glad to hear Mayor Brock is attending, and I think by his attendance, we will be showing our support for anti semitism," she said.
Davis also suggested that rather than have the City Manager instruct the SMMUSD superintendent, which she said was not within the City’s role, perhaps de la Torre could visit in person and talk about anti-semitism, using it as a learning moment. "Why go through the city manager? Why not go just directly to the school board?" she asked.
De la Torre said he didn’t feel welcome talking to the board given its members had made accusations against him. The ongoing discussion included talk of additional DEI training and ideas to promote awareness on a community level, until Councilmember Jesse Zwick asked the all-important question that cut to the heart of the conflict.
"Are you denying what these three members of our community who have come forward to confirm, that these were never words that you spoke?"
In response, de la Torre said, "I wrote that exactly … exactly what I said in my letter is that I never said that. I deny ever making those comments. That comment that was made allegedly came from a conversation that I had with a consultant that has a relationship with Jon Kean.
"I did talk to that consultant about how in our school district, the majority of the elected officials on the school board reside north of Wilshire, and I did say that the wealthier part of our city is well represented," he said, adding, "If there was a misinterpretation by the consultant … discussing these social dynamics within our city. You know, I don't know where that comment came from, but I can just tell you that the people that you say are credible are not credible to me."
Davis addressed de la Torre directly, "Council Member de la Torre, you have called me racist on numerous occasions on this dais … I'm really hurt that somebody has called me anti semitic when you apparently give better than you get … If this is going to be a healing moment, everybody needs to heal, including you."
Davis said that she believed the people who had written the letters accusing de la Torre, saying, "Maybe you're right. It was a misinterpretation. I wasn't there, so I can't say, but I do feel compelled to say that I have heard you make other comments that at least could be interpreted as anti-semitic. One was made directly to me."
She said that long before de la Torre was on the Council, she had met with him regarding his work at the youth center. She said Oscar had dismissed her suggestion to contact a Jewish vocational organization regarding job opportunities for youth on the basis that Jews wouldn’t know anything about helping Latinos get work.
De la Torre said he had no memory of the comment said said he actually had a partnership with the organization in question.
"All I'm going to say is I have a vivid memory of that, because it did, I found it to be a stunning comment, and I not surprised that you say you don't remember it, but I do remember it quite vividly," she said. "And you know, I wasn't going to say anything, except we got into this discussion about it and you said you'd never made an anti semitic comment. And I will tell you I interpreted that comment as being anti semitic."
De la Torre accused Davis of lying and as Brock put it, "We’re dissolving again" after which de la Torre began an almost 12-minute speech that covered all manner of various subjects, making reference to pensions, rent control and a water leak in his apartment.
He said he has always worked to better the community, specifically representing the residents who have been ignored or marginalized by those in power. He said the accusations being made against him now were a function of his work to challenge the establishment and said Davis is affiliated with the same people who want to unseat him in this election cycle.
"How do you change anything without offending people in power? You know, it's like we talk about racism, white people get mad? We talk about sexism, men get mad. You know, it's kind of hard. You know, I still haven't figured that out," he said while stating he is always looking for ways to improve. "But you look at all leaders throughout our history, everything that's trying to challenge the status quo, to make change, to bring justice or equity or whatever, those individuals run into a lot of problems with the people in power. And so, you know, I guess it comes with the territory, but now I'm in a position of power and I guess that's what I'm getting right, is people are trying to assassinate my character. But you know, I'm not, I'm not backing down from what I believe in, because I think that you believe in it as well. It's just different coming from your perspective and coming from my perspective."
Eventually, a motion was made to "reaffirm that we are united against hate, racism, religious intolerance, etc … and that we will give direction to our city manager to work with our DEI professionals to bring back healing and restorative options, to educate us about anti semitism and all forms of hate" and to direct the city manager to have a discussion with the SMMUSD superintendent and return with any options related to the hateful letter from 1991. It passed unanimously 7-0.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
