SMRR Members Back Just 2 City Council Candiates

Planning Commissioner Ted Winterer and incumbent Gleam Davis won the backing Sunday of the locally influential tenants rights' group, Santa Monicans' for Renters Rights, the Santa Monica LookOut reported.

Their names will appear on the Santa Monica for Renters' Rights, called SMRR, slate in November, and will enjoy campaign funding from from the political group that has influenced Santa Monica elections since the late 1970s.

A 13-member steering committee that the LookOut previously described as "secretive" is expected to meet this week to consider backing at least two more candidates in the council race. That the committee can choose to endorse candidates on behalf of the entire membership has been criticized in the past.

Frank Gruber, Terry O'Day, Shari Davis and Tony Vazquez also sought SMRR endorsements but were unable to garner enough votes from the approximately 250 members in attendance at Sunday's voting convention, according to the online news source.

Winterer and Davis have previously won support from SMRR membership. The Planning Commissioner missed a spot on the City Council dais by 56 votes in the 2010 election.

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Four council seats are open in the 2012 election. Incumbents Davis and Terry O'Day are the only two who have pulled nomination paperwork for the Nov. 6 ballot. Councilmen Bobby Shriver and Richard Bloom—a candidate in California's 50th Assembly—are not expected to run again.

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