In ‘Belly of the Beast,’ Bork Leads Rally for Right Wing

For the disgruntled landlords and property owners, perceiving themselves victims of an unjust, left-wing political system, Judge Robert Bork struck a common chord.

The law, he told them, should not be subjugated to politics. The Constitution, he said, must transcend ideological skirmishes.

“A war is going on, a war for our legal culture,” Bork said. “Political victories that overcome constitutional rights . . . are undemocratic.”

And thus Bork, the man the Senate rejected last year as President Reagan’s nominee to the Supreme Court, drew one standing ovation after another from an audience of about 350 people at a cocktails and dinner affair at the beachfront Sheraton Miramar hotel in Santa Monica.

Bork’s appearance Tuesday night was sponsored by the Foundation for the Defense of Free Enterprise, a year-old organization of landlords and property owners formed to challenge rent control laws in the federal courts.

Bork was praised for coming to Santa Monica, labeled by his hosts as the “belly of the beast” because of its reputation for liberal politics and strict rent control.

The event quickly became a homage to conservative politics, a rally for the right.

Protesters Outside

Wesley Wellman, a real estate broker and president of the foundation, said that if the nation voted like Santa Monica, Walter Mondale would be president of the United States and Jane Fonda secretary of state.

Outside the hotel where Bork spoke, a handful of protesters implored arriving guests not to attend. They waved placards: “The Congress rejects. Santa Monica landlords accept.”

Landlords contend that rent control unconstitutionally deprives them of their property rights and of a just income. The free enterprise foundation is suing Santa Monica in federal court on behalf of an 89-year-old landlady in a case that seeks to overturn rent control. Proponents of rent control, voted into law in Santa Monica in 1979, say it is necessary to guarantee tenants affordable housing.

As guests waited for Bork to speak, the dinner-table conversation in the Miramar’s chandeliered Starlight Ballroom turned to war stories about how they had been abused by the administrators and defenders of Santa Monican rent control.

“Ben Franklin! He had the right idea!,” said one man, owner of several apartment buildings in Santa Monica. “Don’t give people the right to vote unless they own property!”

Another guest asked: “When do we come to the point of beginning violent protest?”

Much of Bork’s half-hour speech was dedicated to the “political campaign” launched by “ultra leftist special interest groups” against his nomination--what he termed a “Custer’s version of events at Little Big Horn.”

“My nomination became the battleground for control of the law. Raw political power has won for the moment,” he said. “(But) the battle is not over.”

Although he avoided specific mention of rent control in his speech, numerous questions on the subject from members of the audience forced a comment.

“One gets the impression there is a certain obsession in this room on a certain issue,” he quipped. “I don’t think the Constitution of the United States justifies much of what is done in the name of rent control.”

More applause.

“(Bork) has the ability to pick and choose speaking engagements,” said Geoffrey Strand, a spokesman for the foundation. “His decision to come here is a direct confirmation and support of the constitutional, legal direction we are pursuing” in challenging rent control.

“We feel it is clear he has come to the belly of the beast to applaud our efforts at trying to (defend) free enterprise . . . to make sure free enterprise means the same in Santa Monica as it does in Des Moines.”