Decades ago when I worked as a story analyst at United Artists, my colleague gave me for the holidays a book called “The Portable Curmudgeon,” a collection of acid quotes from wits ranging from Oscar Wilde to Groucho Marx. My colleague proudly wore her curmudgeonly colors and insinuated I was part of her tribe of bellyachers.
Whether or not I was curmudgeonly in the 1980s, I will now cop to having evolved into a cranky old man who rails against dog owners who don’t pick up after their pets and drivers who blow through stop signs. Beyond those peeves, what really riles me is the decline of ethics and integrity in our country – how else can one explain all those Trump supporters willing to vote for a man whose moral compass points due south?
Which brings me to our local election and the four Council candidates who purport to be the law and order slate – shouldn’t’t they hold themselves accountable to the same laws they will swear to uphold if elected? Here are troubling examples of behavior which don’t align with their campaign messaging.
Mayor Brock has for many years been running the Samohi High School Alumni Association as a tax exempt 501(c)3. His Facebook page for the association describes it as a nonprofit. In 2020 he violated that entity’s nonprofit status by campaigning for himself and his allies in his newsletter to alums. And his newsletters solicit donations described as tax-deductible. However, a check of the CA Franchise Tax Board’s website shows the organization on a list of entities who have had their tax exempt status revoked. Likewise, the CA Secretary of State’s website shows its standing with the FTB as “Not Good.” Brock has been made aware of these paperwork failings since 2021 and has failed to correct them. So in seeking “tax-deductible” donations he has induced his membership to commit tax fraud and he has knowingly broken the law.
Councilmember de la Torre, as was made clear in a recent council meeting, first constructed a fence at his home with a height in excess of that allowed by City code, requiring a permit and fees –he sought neither. He then voted to change the ordinance to make his fence legal, thereby generating a financial benefit for himself, and failed to disclose his conflict of interest and recuse himself from that vote as required by law. That’s two strikes.
The two political newcomers on this slate are a bit of a cipher given their lack of involvement in civic affairs. But at a recent meeting attended by the slate candidates and a rep from one of the PACs supporting them (another law broken by the way), Vivian Roknian lauded the “broken windows” theory of policing in which even the most minor infractions are prosecuted to stem more significant lawbreaking. And yet her yard signs are displayed on public property throughout Santa Monica in violation of local ordinance. Is that a double standard under which the law should apply to others but not her?
As for John Putnam, he simply hasn’t been honest with the public. The political mailers funded by corporate interests supporting this alleged law and order slate assert that all four are Democrats. Yet public records show he conveniently and cynically changed his voter registration to Democrat on June 25th, 2024, just in time to pull nomination papers to run for Council. Prior to that date Putnam made political donations to Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani and the GOP during the Trump administration.. It all seems a convenient change in party affiliation in order to run for office in a predominantly Democratic town. What’s the old adage about sheep in wolf’s clothing? And given his slate mate’s recent harangue calling residents who moved here within ten years “carpet baggers,” does that make Putnam a carpet bagger Dem? At the very least he’s a DINO.
These four candidates want voters to believe they will be unimpeachably honest standard bearers for law and order? I guess they are counting on the words of H.L. Mencken, perhaps the greatest of all curmudgeons: “The most costly of all follies is to believe in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.”
Ted Winterer, Santa Monica
