ELECTIONS / SANTA MONICA CITY COUNCIL : Fire Union Head Clashes With 2 Councilmen

Santa Monica Fire Fighters Assn. officials have been fending off what they deem “inappropriate” calls from two irate members of the City Council who are upset by the union president’s contention that rent control is not the central issue in next week’s city election.

Despite lobbying efforts by Mayor Ken Genser and Councilman Kelly Olsen, union President Rob Wirtz said he is sticking to his view that residents should vote for council members who emphasize public safety.

“It’s got to be said,” Wirtz insisted. “The word just has to continue to get out there.”

Wirtz contends that the city’s powerful renters group, Santa Monicans for Renters Rights (SMRR), wins elections by perpetuating a myth that rent control is endangered, then pursues an agenda that favors social services over police and fire needs.

The renters’ group vigorously denies putting public safety on the back burner and is trumpeting its support of the Police Department in its campaign literature.

SMRR is also pushing its “rent-control-is-threatened” anthem. A mailer sent to voters this week is headlined, “When the big landlords start telling you rent control is safe . . . it’s time to start double-locking your doors.”

As a charter provision, only the voters can alter what is arguably the nation’s strongest rent control law.

Eighteen candidates are vying for four council seats Tuesday in an election many community insiders describe as a confusing mess.

Genser is the only one of SMRR’s slate of four candidates who has been endorsed by the police and firefighter unions, whose separate boards voted this year to pool their resources to push their own public safety slate. Their endorsement has proved potent in the past, particularly in defeating veteran Councilwoman Christine Reed two years ago.

As a fallout of the fight over Wirtz’s remarks, the union has not been distributing red-and-white lawn signs for Genser, as they are for their other chosen candidates, Anthony Blain, Asha Greenberg and Alan Weston.

Political foes of SMRR characterize the calls to the union as threatening, but fire union officials say that is a matter of interpretation.

“It depends on whether you perceive it as a veiled threat or as stating an opinion,” union Vice President Paul Radomski said.

In the calls, Wirtz said the two council members demanded to know whether firefighters were going to tell voters that rent control was safe when they walked precincts this weekend. The inference, Wirtz said, is that the Fire Department could suffer if the group persisted in this tack.

“I don’t like the tone of it,” Wirtz said. “The comments that were made were inappropriate.”

Wirtz said Olsen warned him that SMRR was going to sweep the election and the department “wouldn’t get its red firetrucks” if they meddled in the group’s signature issue of rent control.

Santa Monica firetrucks are painted an unusual yellow-green color, and firefighters want to switch to traditional fire-engine red. The department also is in line for new equipment--if the council approves it.

Olsen hotly denied pressuring union officials, saying his commitment to the fire and police departments remains solid. “I’m still trying to push red firetrucks and modern equipment,” Olsen said. “If we voted on it tonight, I’d be there.”

Under state election law, candidates backed by independent committees, such as the police and fire unions, cannot discuss or be involved in the committee’s election strategy. That is why Wirtz said he has not returned Genser’s last three phone calls. “I’m running a separate, independent campaign,” he said.

In an effort to isolate the Wirtz remarks, Genser and Olsen also met with police union officials and asked them to intercede with the firefighters group. Police union spokesman Steve Brackett said his association is not getting involved in the rent control issue.

Both Olsen and Genser attacked Wirtz’s comments as uninformed because the fire captain is a Thousand Oaks homeowner who is unfamiliar with the need for the council to repel attacks on its rent control law.

“I hope he’s a better firefighter than he is a housing policy expert,” Genser said.

Councilmen Herb Katz and Robert Holbrook, the only two council members not aligned with SMRR, reacted strongly to reports of pressure on the unions.

“It’s inappropriate to pressure police and fire during a campaign, which can be interpreted as a form of threats and coercion,” Katz said. “You do not threaten public safety.”

Holbrook said, “Anybody who would threaten an employees group--to me it’s absolutely outrageous,” he said.

The police and fire unions are not alone in pressing the public safety issue. As if to underscore its preeminence around the city, more than 100 residents from the Pico neighborhood appeared at the City Council meeting Tuesday to demand more police protection for their crime-plagued neighborhood.

“We will hold you accountable come voting time,” one speaker vowed.