A group of challengers for City Council are accusing the incumbents of hiding wrongdoing inside City Hall as it relates to handling confidential information.
The slate of Barry Snell, Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, and Natalya Zernitskaya released a press release this week criticizing Mayor Phil Brock and Councilman Oscar de la Torre over a lack of investigation into a pair of leaks over the past four years.
The slate hasn’t specifically said Brock or de la Torre were the source of the leaks but they do say the pair of incumbents should have scrutinized the leaks and said that if elected, the slate would conduct an investigation into the matter.
There have been at least two verifiable leaks of closed session information in the past four years, once in 2021 and again this year.
Critics of Brock and de la Torre have repeatedly said the first leak, related to a candidate for the then vacant city manager position, caused that candidate to withdraw from the process. The press release described the incident as "An embarrassment to the City, a violation of the state’s "Brown Act" law, and at significant cost to the taxpayer."
However, the candidate in question, Renee Bobadilla said the leaking of his name to the press wasn’t actually a factor in his decision. In an interview with the Daily Press he said the City of Santa Monica used an "unorthodox" process for hiring him that included listing his name as the city’s choice on a public agenda before securing a contract with him. That disclosure prompted his current employer to open negotiations with him and ultimately make him an offer that took him out of contention for the Santa Monica job.
Council at first voted to investigate the leak of Bobadilla’s name but then reversed course when Councilwoman Lana Negrete changed her mind citing a desire to avoid conflict and division among the council.
When a second leak was reported this year, Councilmembers Gleam Davis, Caroline Torosis and Jesse Zwick had asked for the City Attorney to return with a proposal to ensure the City’s ethics rules apply to Councilmembers, return with a proposal to initiate an investigation into recent leaks of confidential information disclosed in Closed Session and return with one or more proposals to impose penalties on Councilmembers and staff who inappropriately leak confidential information out of Closed Session.
After a bitter debate, no investigations were authorized and instead Council directed the City Attorney to return with a proposal to ensure the City’s ethics rules apply to Councilmembers, return with a proposal on how to handle future confirmed leaks of information from closed sessions and what the remedy would be, return with a proposal on how to revise council rules to include discipline or penalties for habitual offenses and return with a proposal on how to handle repeat Brown Act offenses to include discipline or penalties.
"It is truly disappointing that Mayor Brock and Councilmember de la Torre have repeatedly voted against a transparent investigation into the rampant misconduct at City Council," said the release on behalf of the challengers. "These Trump-like tactics of ‘rules for thee but not for me’ have no place in Santa Monica and remind us of the bad behavior occurring at the national level."
Both incumbents said the allegations were political theater and inappropriate.
"Santa Moncia voters are smart enough to see that this is a political attack against those of us on City Council fighting for a safer Santa Monica. It is unfortunate that the establishment slate chooses to send out a press release misleading our residents with Trump style tactics instead of addressing the public safety crisis impacting our City," said de la Torre. "This is not a time to be wasting scarce resources on items that have no impact on our residents quality of life."
Brock said there has been no evidence presented of wrongdoing by any councilmember and that a frivolous investigation would cost a minimum of $150,000.
"This is the people’s money, and we must spend their hard-earned dollars on public safety, battling drug abuse, and the severe mental health issues we all see on our streets. We must also ensure that our city services, including our treasured libraries, can reopen," he said. "This is not the time to engage in spurious political attacks that take away the focus on the multiple crises in our city. I resent the allegation that I would ever prevent an investigation into misdeeds that affect the city I love. In fact, the City Attorney is bringing forward a new ethics ordinance to address this issue within the next month to clarify the policies and penalties for any Ralph Brown Act violations in the future. This will have my support."
