By Gene Williams

Staff Writer

October 30 -- More than 100 demonstrators showed up on Ocean Front Walk Sunday afternoon to protest what they say is big corporate money trying to buy Santa Monica's City Council election.

The crowd --which included dozens of veteran city activists -- assembled on a grassy knoll at the end of Bicknell Street, then carried their homemade picket signs a few hundred feet north to the Casa Del Mar and Shutters on the Beach hotels.

Circling the luxury lodges, they chanted "hey hey, ho ho, hotel lies have got to go," while an equal number of puzzled hotel employees, patrons and beachgoers looked on.

Longtime education activist John Petz, who organized the newly formed Santa Monicans for Open Democracy (SMOD), said the demonstration was spurred by a hotel-sponsored ad campaign targeting incumbent Council member Kevin McKeown.

The ad campaign -- which includes three spots airing on local cable television – attack McKeown for opposing several ordinances that crack down on the homeless and boost public safety efforts. McKeown's supporters say the ads are manipulative and deliberately misrepresent the council member's voting record.

"The attacks on Kevin are something we should all be concerned about," Petz, using a bullhorn, told supporters. "We don't want a single entity bringing millions of dollars into the community so they can dominate the election."

The Edward Thomas Management Company, which owns the two beachfront hotels, has contributed nearly $500,000 to oppose McKeown and support Mayor Bob Holbrook and Planning Commissioner Terry O’Day in the November 7 race for three open council seats, according to campaign finance disclosure statements filed with the City Clerk last week.

Former Mayor Denny Zane, founder and leader of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, helped rally the troops for McKeown, who did not attend the rally.

"Kevin needs to know that we're there for him," Zane told the crowd.

Zane said SMRR has already sent out "robo-calls" decrying the the hotel's anti-McKeown campaign and plans to escalate the effort with more calls and mailers in the final days before the election.

"People will know when election day comes who the good guys are," Zane said.

Ironically, several of the demonstrators helped bankroll a mailer from the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City attacking SMRR incumbent Pam O’Connor for accepting donations from officials of the Macerich Company, which owns Santa Monica Place. (see story)

Coalition officials were quick to draw a distinction between the hit piece sent by the group and the hotel-sponsored cable ads.

"There's a big difference between calling someone into account for the actions they've taken…… (and) an unsubstantiated blanket smear," said Diana Gordon, one of the heads of the coalition.

"Our piece documents the public record," she said, adding that the hotels are deliberately misrepresenting the truth. "They're just wrong with the facts."

The political consultant behind the hotel-funded ads opposing McKeown notes hat the two-term council member voted in 2002 against an ordinance that makes providing meals without County and City permits in a public park or space a misdemeanor. And last year, he voted against a law to prohibit “humans” on the steep cliffs towering above Pacific Coast Highway.

"His voting record speaks for itself, and we merely document that," siad Seth Jacobson, whose firm produced the ads.