Allen David Heskin After the Battle is Won, Political Contradictions in Santa Monica, UCLA Lecture and unpublished ms. Fall, 1983. 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1977
"In 1981, a coalition of groups referred to as Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR) won majority control on the City Council of the City of Santa Monica. Having won this battle, however, SMRR faced a new challenge, that of governig the city.
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"From 1979 to 1981, Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR), an electoral coalition in the City of Santa Monica, scored an impressive set of victories at the polls. They passed and defended a tough rent control law, elected a full rent control board, elected school board candidates, and gained a two-thirds majority on the seven member city council. SMRR had combined an almost military mobilization of the population and the latest in computer aided electioneering to score their victories.
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". . . In 1981, 72.3% of the Ocean Park voters voted for SMRR council candidates and 21.8% for the opposition.
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"After the first victory in 1981, a fourth group was added, OPEN. The Ocean Park Elector Network (OPEN), was the product of the same organizing effort that led to the formation of the Ocean Park Community Organization (OPCO), for whom I worked. While OPCO's members worked in the first campaign, OPCO, as a tax exempt organization, did not participate. After the election victory, however, members of OPCO formed the Ocean Park political organization, OPEN, and petitioned SMRR for membership.
"The opposition to SMRR has repeatedly charged that OPCO, with the formation of OPEN, became and continues to be a political organization. SMRR activists also complain about OPCO, but their complaint is about the separation and that OPCO itself is not political enough. In my experience, the differentiation between OPCO and OPEN was strictly maintained. However, the role of OPCO, as opposed to OPEN, and the other community organizations in Santa Monica in the political life of the city is a major issue in this paper and will be dealt with later."