Thank you Jeff Worthe … will anyone else step up to save our City?

YOUR COLUMN HERE — The Measure D campaign is alleging in the press that somehow Mr. Worthe's donation to CLCSMAL was associated with the award of a contract by the City relating to the Bergamot Station Art Center. While flattering, this is of course ridiculous and typical of the dirty tricks and deceptions by the measure D folks. It is my understanding that Mr. Worthe's proposal was favored by the Coalition for a Livable City, the Bergamot gallery owners, heads of neighborhood organizations, and others. It was also the only proposal with a labor agreement in place. All good reasons for the Council to decide as it did.
Mr. Worthe donated on line on the CLCSMAL website. Neither I nor anyone else involved with CLCSMAL have spoken with him, but we are very grateful for his much needed contribution. Mr. Worthe lives in Santa Monica, and it is my assumption that like the rest of us, he cares deeply about the City and the environment in which he and his family live. I am quite sure that was the reason for his donation, and I would encourage others who care about our City to donate also. CLCSMAL has received literally hundreds of donations, most of them small. In fact, Mr. Worthe's donation comprises a small fraction of donations received to date. We are a community-funded campaign, but because each donation is small, they do not show on the 'large donation' filings that only cover donations of $1,000 and above.
During this election cycle, we are looking at what may ultimately be over a million dollars of spending by the other side to promote the deception that is Measure 'D'. Funding for measure D currently stands at $406,043 according to their financial disclosures so far. Of that amount 80 percent is from out of state (primarily from AOPA and NBAA), 16 percent is from aviation businesses and pilots, including the recent donation of $25,000 from Harrison Ford, 4 percent comes from other parts of California. In total they have received just $1,650 from ordinary local residents, that is 0.4 percent. It seems to me that the D campaign is hardly in a position to throw stones regarding funding sources.
By contrast 98 percent of CLCSMAL donations are from Santa Monica and surrounding ZIP codes, the remaining 2 percent was from a couple of local residents that recently moved out of state. In other words, CLCSMAL is essentially 100 percent funded by local residents such as Mr. Worthe who are concerned about adverse airport impacts and who resent aviation lobbyist heavy handed and arrogant attempts to subvert local politics and deceive the electorate.
If you look at the list of people and organizations that have formally endorsed a "Yes on LC, No on D" vote as displayed on our website (www.ItsOurLand.org), you will see that it has hundreds of entries and reads like a veritable who's who of Santa Monica. By contrast Measure D is yet to post their first 'endorser' because it turns out that the people of Santa Monica are not as gullible as they must have originally thought. The dramatic contrast in endorsement lists alone should make it clear which side has the best interests of this City and its people in mind, and which does not.
CLCSMAL is happy to receive funds from anyone concerned about our city's future and environment, and I would encourage others like Mr. Worthe to step up and help save the City we all love. Regrettably however, nobody associated with CLCSMAL is on either the Planning Commission or the City Council, and the only 'favor' we can promise in return is the knowledge you will have helped defend your City from outside attack, and you will have earned the lasting gratitude of all of us that live here.
And to everyone reading this that cares about our ability to control the future of our own land, and about our environment and quality of life, I call on you now to go to our campaign site www.ItsOurLand.org, scroll down, and read about what it going on. Once you realize to scale of the deception that is being perpetrated on the electorate by the national aviation lobby, I am confident that you, like everyone else that learns the truth about this critical choice facing our city, will decide to click on the 'Take the Pledge' button to volunteer, or go to the 'Donate Now' page, just as Mr. Worthe did, and help save our City. You can't just sit this one out, we are under a massive attack, we are being vastly outspent, and we all need to get involved to stop this travesty. Thank you in advance.
John Fairweather
Chair - Campaign for Local Control of Santa Monica Airport Land (CLCSMA - www.ItsOurLand.org