Police and Firefighter Unions Endorse Brock, de la Torre, Roknian and Lesley
Santa Monica’s police and firefighter’s unions made a joint announcement and endorsement earlier today in the City Council race. The unions endorsed incumbents Phil Brock, Oscar de la Torre and newcomer Vivian Roknian of the “Safer Santa Monica” slate but chose Rent Control Board Chair Ericka Lesley instead of the slate’s John Putnam for the fourth seat.
“Phil, Oscar, Ericka, and Vivian are deeply rooted in Santa Monica, attending local high schools, serving on local boards such as SMMUSD, Downtown Santa Monica, and Chair of the Rent Control Board,” said the unions explaining their endorsement. A full copy of their endorsement can be found at the bottom of this article.
The mention of Lesley’s leadership at Downtown Santa Monica was perhaps more of a surprise than her endorsement. When Lesley’s seat on the DTSM Inc. Board was up for renewal just last month, Brock and de la Torre voted against her renomination. At the time, Brock even commented that he felt new leadership was needed. Apparently the police and firefighter unions both disagree with Brock’s and de la Torre’s judgment on that matter, but still trust him to keep the city safe.
Even though news is just breaking, the Santa Monica Lookout offers analysis of how the surprise endorsement of Lesley could impact the race by giving Lesley’s progressive campaign a boost of resources that could hamper the progressive United Democratic Slate of Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya.
Regardless of the politics, Lesley’s endorsement from the Police Officers Association also comes as a surprise because of her stated support for Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon. SMPOA has long opposed Gascon’s reforms, citing them as soft-on-crime and all members of the “Safer Santa Monica” slate have echoed these concerns. Lesley voiced support for Gascon when seeking the support of the Santa Monica Democratic Club.
While just announced today, the endorsement was made official before de la Torre and Brock directed city staff to break state law at last night’s meeting.
In 2022, the Santa Monica Police Officers Association and Firefigher’s Union split their endorsements. Both endorsed Lana Negrete (an incumbent at the time who won in 2022), and Armen Melkonians. However, the firefighters endorsed Caroline Torosis (who won her first term on the Council) while the Police Officers Association endorsed Albin Gielicz who was not a major factor in the final results.
