Politics: Homelessness and the Defeat of Tony Vazquez for Santa Monica Council

Regarding “3 Police-Backed Candidates Win Seats on Council” (Nov. 10), ousted Santa Monica City Council member Tony Vazquez, in playing the race card to explain his loss in the Nov. 8 elections, revealed not only a lack of contact with reality, but a lack of class.

Vazquez was rejected for the simple reason that he spent all his political capital on the “rights” of homeless people instead of those of the bona fide tenants (i.e., voters) of Santa Monica which his party, Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, purports to represent. That Vazquez is a Hispanic was completely irrelevant to his defeat. The people that elected him in the first place are the very same people that, this time around, voted him out. In the interim, we’d been able to remove the mask of rent control he’d been hiding behind, and saw him for what he really is.

With his passion for advocating the needs of the disenfranchised in our society, he’d be a great candidate for the mayor of Skid Row, but he proved himself utterly incapable of representing the people of Santa Monica. I don’t even think he knows who we are. But at least he’s now finally heard our voice.

DAVID STOUGHTON, Santa Monica