4 David Yakobson
From: Debbie Paperman <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 5:09 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la Torre; Phil Brock; Gleam Davis; Christine Parra
Subject: Public Comment about Antisemitism allegations
EXTERNAL
Dear Santa Monica City Council Members,
As a resident of Santa Monica and a board member of Democrats for Israel, I am writing to express my deep concern regarding allegations against Councilmember Oscar de la Torre. It has been reported that he made antisemitic remarks, suggesting the school board was "controlled by Jews," which perpetuates harmful stereotypes.This incident is just one of many that highlight a troubling pattern of antisemitism that must be addressed. Despite the seriousness of these allegations, there has been a noticeable silence from our city council members. Antisemitism is a serious issue that affects not only the Jewish community but the entire fabric of our diverse society. It is imperative that our elected officials take a clear and public stance against any form of hate speech or discrimination.I urge the council to address this matter with the seriousness it deserves. Public accountability and transparency are crucial in maintaining trust within our community. I respectfully request that the council members publicly condemn any antisemitic remarks and take appropriate actions to ensure that such behavior is not tolerated in our city.Thank you for your attention to this important issue. I look forward to seeing proactive steps taken by our council to uphold the values of inclusivity and respect for all residents of Santa Monica.Sincerely,Debbie Paperman Santa Monica Resident
Board Member, Democrats for Israel
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
1 David Yakobson
From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 10:20 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Oscar de la Torre Subject: item 16B Timeline of a scandal : Accusations of anti-semitism and racism against Councilmember Oscar de la Torre
Attachments: oscar othering dan and natalya.mp4
EXTERNAL
As an addendum to my other written comment, below is a recap of events on the accusations of antisemitism and racism against Oscar, as well as recent bigoted remarks he made on video in a public meeting, up through this morning published in Santa Monica Next today. https://santamonicanext.org/2024/10/timeline-of-a-scandal-accusations-of-anti-semitism-and-racismagainst-councilmember-oscar-de-la-torre Tonight, the City Council will hear an item in “Councilmember Discussion Items” introduced by Oscar de la Torre that will likely cause extended public comment about the scandal that has been raging over antisemitic remarks allegedly made by de la Torre in 2019 when he was a member of the Santa MonicaMalibu Unified School District Board of Education.
Despite this scandal being an issue in the campaign, not much has been said about it in the local press other than in the “letters section” and articles here at Next. For anyone just joining the discussion, here’s a timeline of what’s been happening in the last month.
On September 24, Jason Mastbaum published a piece in Santa Monica Next based on a staff report presented to the City Council in 2013 that recommended that the city stop funding the Pico Youth and Family Center. The report contained letters from four board members of the PYFC that resigned in protest of what they said was racist and abusive behavior. There was also a letter from the head of the local NAACP chapter asking the city to cease funding and substantiating the accusations of racism and antisemitism made by the resigning board members.
While the debate over funding PYFC was covered in the Daily Press, there was no mention of de la Torre’s alleged behavior. The piece focused on fiscal matters, meaning this is the first time these accusations were reported on.
Later that night, Mastbaum confronted de la Torre during public comment at the City Council meeting. “…here’s just a sampling of quotes about one of our city council members from some of his former colleagues contained in the city staff report for consideration by the community,” stated Mastbaum before reading portions of the resignation letters from the 2013 report.
De la Torre responded with a forceful defense of his work at PYFC and accused Mastbaum of bringing up this old report because of the upcoming election. “…for you to come up here and speak on something Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
2 that’s old history, and to try to make it sound like I’m anti Jewish…I mean, that’s what you’re trying to allude to in your comments. That’s despicable,” de la Torre responded.
The full statement by Mastbaum and de la Torre was transcribed and posted at Next on September 26.
On October 7, in a Northeast Neighbors meeting, de la Torre singles out city council candidates Dan Hall and Natalya Zernitskaya as newcomers to Santa Monica politics, claiming Hall has basically just arrived and says of Zernitskaya, “Natalya…I can’t even pronounce her last name because I haven’t seen her long enough, to know who she really is. I don’t even know where she came from. <see attached video of de la Torre at Northeast Neighbors meeting, or youtube link here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0V1hslzWm4>
“Some of these folks. They just come into our community, and we don’t know who really they are, but it looks like they were handpicked. They’re there to follow an agenda.” On October 8, Mastbaum sent in his September 24 article, which had not been posted in time for the written public comment cutoff time for that day’s city council meeting, as written public comment for the October 8th council meeting. De la Torre, who has not publicly denied the contents of the 2013 city staff PYFC report, sent a private denial to Mastbaum at 1:20 AM on the morning of October 9th, while the October 8th council meeting still had about an hour and a half left to go. He also included “The negativity you focus on can affect your health. Try being more positive.” On October 11, the Santa Monica Daily Press published a letter from Jon Kean stating that on August 9, 2019 de la Torre (then a member of the school board) said, “The biggest problem with the school board is that it’s run by the Jews.” Kean goes on to explain that he didn’t speak up then because in private conversations with de la Torre, he sensed growth and he was concerned that as Councilmember he would seek revenge against Kean and thus the school district should he speak out. However, after statements made by de la Torre during debate on a cease-fire resolution between Israel and Palestinians and the back and forth between him and Mastbaum, he had to speak up. “For me, I cannot ignore what I have experienced and felt that if I failed to speak up before this important election, I would have failed the Jewish people once again. That was a bridge too far for me to stay silent any longer,” he concluded.
On October 12, de la Torre responded with a letter in the Daily Press forcefully both denying the allegation and claiming that Kean was just playing politics because Kean and the slate of candidates opposing de la Torre are endorsed by the same political groups. He also says that Kean could be motivated by the desire for payback himself because of de la Torre’s advocacy for district based elections for SMMUSD that would change the makeup of the elected board on which Kean serves.
He wrote, “After five years, why is this being presented to the public for the first time? The alleged comment is so offensive that Mr. Kean would have had a moral and ethical duty to publicly repudiate anyone for making such a comment when it allegedly occurred. No elected official should get a pass for hate of any kind.”
On October 16, a second SMMUSD Board of Education Member was published in a letter in the Daily Press corroborating and expanding on Kean’s accusation. Dr. Richard Amir Tahvildaran-Jesswein, who Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
3 was board president in 2019, gave details of a conversation he had with a government improvement consultant who met individually with each school board member. “As Board President at the time, I was later informed by the facilitator Ms Maniker, who is Jewish, she could no longer continue her work with the Board due to antisemitic comments made during her meeting with de la Torre. According to her, de la Torre remarked that the Board was “controlled by Jews,” Tahvildaran-Jesswein wrote.
Also on October 16, Santa Monica Forward, a progressive political group in the city, launched an online petition calling for de la Torre to resign in light of the scandal. The petition has 130 signatures as of the writing of this story.
To help protect your privacy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.
Image from Santa Monica Forward petition.
On October 17, the agenda for tonight’s City Council meeting was posted, and it had an interesting agenda item that appears to be in response to the scandal by de la Torre. Item 16 B (Agenda, for links to supporting documents), uses a lot of words to do two things should the Council pass it. First, it directs the city manager to ask SMMUSD Superintendent to use “the 1991 Hate Crime Letter” that de la Torre received in response to student activism as a learning tool to teach about racism. The second is to direct the city to spend $2,500 to sponsor a national conference against anti-semitism that will be in Beverly Hills in December.
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
4 Also on October 17, Mastbaum reached out to several of the PYFC board members who resigned in 2012 to see if they had any comment on Oscar’s attempt to deny the contents of the staff report or the back and forth in the Daily Press between Kean, de la Torre, and Tahvildaran-Jesswein. One, Jill Moniz, responded regarding de la Torre’s October 9 comment to Mastbaum about “the negativity you focus on can affect your health”, saying, “Sounds like the same old Oscar making veiled threats about people’s health when they raise concerns about the way he acts with impunity.” On October 18, Rev. Jim Conn weighed in with another letter to the Daily Press. Conn, a former mayor and retired Methodist Minister, took de la Torre to task. “That evil out of his mouth was reported by two current and upstanding members of the school board in these pages. I was particularly chagrined because I endorsed his election to the school board. In fact we have worked together and advocated together from time to time over the past several decades. I expected more of him.” Over the weekend, Mayor Phil Brock, who is running with de la Torre on a slate for re-election to the City Council was confronted in a Nextdoor group about the accusations against de la Torre. We copied his responses to the accusations below.
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
5 To help protect your priv acy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
6 In response to the accusations made by Kean and Tahvildaran-Jesswein, Brock defended de la Torre’s character before saying the two were playing politics.
If I had evidence that Oscar was anti-semitic, I would take action. All that has been published has been two reports by two enemies of his, who also serve on the SMMUSD school board. Neither person was there during the supposed incident, they are relying on hearsay. Oscar is a person who has stood for those who otherwise had no representation for decades, including the diverse populations and those who were ignored by society. I have known Oscar for almost two decades, and I have never heard any words from him that are anti semitic. If there is firm evidence, let it be published. The incident supposedly occurred in 2019. It was not broadcast before or even before (sic) the 2020 election cycle. It seemed quite opportune for this supposed information to come out three weeks before the 2024 election.
As for the report by Mastbaum on 2013, Brock said the accusations occurred so long ago they were “old news:”
I believe this was reported in the City Council report at the time, it’s old news that was settled within Oscar’s board. It occurred when the city council was trying to defund the PICO Youth and Family Center, a nonprofit that Oscar was president and founder of.
On October 21, Vivian Rothstein wrote to Next on de la Torre’s comments about Jewish city council candidate Natalya Zernitskaya, “The words were said in a public neighborhood meeting, slurring the background of Council candidate Natalya Zernitskaya, an American citizen and Jewish refugee from Belarus.”
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
7 David Yakobson
From: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 10:19 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Oscar de la Torre Subject: item 16B
EXTERNAL
I'm writing to oppose Oscar's offensive attempt to buy his way out of the mountain of credible evidence of his history of antisemitism using public money.
To recap, we currently have eight people and counting who have made credible accusations against Oscar regarding antisemitism, racism, and violent threats against those who oppose him. Five of them told city council this--four members of his charity board and the head of the local NAACP chapter. Two have served on the school board with Oscar and another is a school board consultant who resigned from that job because of how upset she was by Oscar saying to her that "The biggest problem with the school board is that it’s run by the Jews".
Oscar has taken to the press to attack Jon Kean's credibility regarding this 2019 statement, but he has not publicly denied the contents of the 2013 PYFC staff report--in his point of personal following my reading those quotes into the public record, there was no denial of anything in the report. Only an absurd claim that he can't be antisemitic because a rich Jewish woman once gave him a bunch of money. He apparently also thinks that giving $2,500 of city to a well-funded antisemitism conference and the fact that he suffered from a hate crime once in 1991 means that he cannot himself be hateful in 2012 or 2019 or 2024.
Oscar did however feel compelled to try to deny the claims in the 2013 staff report to me privately at 1:20 in the morning on October 9, while the October 8 council meeting still had another hour and a half left to go. I have included this email below. I shared these comments with several of the PYFC board members who resigned in 2012, one of whom quickly responded "Sounds like the same old Oscar making veiled threats about people's health when they raise concerns about the way he acts with impunity".
Oscar resorting to character assassination and threats is consistent with everything that was said about Oscar in 2012, is consistent with why Jon and Richard said they haven't spoken up about this earlier, and is the mark of someone who knows he's been caught. Disturbingly, other city councilmembers have joined with Oscar on this atrocious response to his being found out. Phil for instance has taken to trying to disparage this as "old news" and "suspiciously timed" on NextDoor. I wonder if Phil was saying that E.
Jean Carroll shouldn't have waited 25 years to sue Donald Trump for raping her.
Meanwhile, Oscar has made a number of hateful claims on video and within the last two years, one as recently as two weeks ago! These include othering Dan Hall and Natalya Zernitskaya (while Phil sits by silently). Dan and Natalya are LGBQT+ and Natalya is Jewish, and he singles them out to say they're carpetbaggers here to take over the city for "special interests". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0V1hslzWm4
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
8 And at the August 23, 2022 city council meeting, Oscar said that being transgender shouldn't be a protected class because you can't hide if you're black or Latino, but your landlord can't know you're transgender unless they go snooping in your closet and find a dress (a real WTF moment in city council history). Then last year Oscar tried to get in on trans panic fearmongering over the gender neutral bathrooms item, saying it was a potential threat to public safety.
Plus, guess what? The head of the $500k Douglas Emmett independent expenditure committee understood loud and clear where Oscar stands on trans issues! He thinks it's good that Oscar didn't want "transgender bathrooms on public beaches in SM so kids are safe".
Earlier this year seven councilmembers voted to declare that Santa Monica stands united against hate.
We should all be concerned one of them knew he could not live up to that pledge at the time he voted for it, and that other councilmembers are joining him in dismissing and attacking those speaking up against it instead of engaging honestly with this long list of credible allegations and video recorded behavior. ---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Oscar de la Torre <[email protected]> Date: Wed, Oct 9, 2024 at 1:20 AM
Subject: Re: item in general public comment 10/8/2024 "And when Oscar verbally insulted several of our Board members with racial, religious and / or ethnic slurs, Oscar demonstrated that the right to have Social Justice does not apply to everyone."
To: Jason Mastbaum <[email protected]>
Jason:
These allegations never had an impact because they were false and unbelievable by anyone that knows me. The negativity you focus on can affect your health. Try being more positive.
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
9 Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
1 David Yakobson
From: Caro Vilain <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2024 9:47 AM
To: councilmtgitems; Council Mailbox; Gleam Davis; Phil Brock; Christine Parra; Lana Negrete; Jesse Zwick; Caroline Torosis; Oscar de la Torre Subject: Items 16A & 16B
EXTERNAL
Dear council,
I’d like this email to serve as a reminder that city council meetings are not campaign events.
You were elected to be in the position that you are in, and you are there to make informed decisions that are in the best interest of the community.
While it has been shown time and time again that this isn’t a concern for some of you, your community would still appreciate you making ethical decisions.
Using one’s political power to promote hate is just not acceptable and does not reflect the values of this city.Yet, that is sadly what council member Oscar de la Torre has been doing.
Funneling $10k of these very limited funds towards a conference that does not need the sponsorship, simply to try to cover up one's own antisemitic remarks, is more damaging than anything.
Weaponizing students who will have to “fight” for the remainder of your discretionary funds is another example of a council member not being truly thoughtful about the impacts of their decisions on the community as a whole, and using their power to divide people.
I don’t support these items because they are unfortunately clearly rooted in bad faith.
If you’re making decisions that are meant to be in your own (or your fellow campaigning buddy’s) interest, you’re in the wrong place and should resign.
Caro Vilain, 90404
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
1 David Yakobson
From: Kevin McKeown <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2024 8:13 PM
To: councilmtgitems
Subject: Item 16-B
EXTERNAL
We now have three separate members of the Board of Education sharing with us what appear to be independent recollections of a shockingly hurtful statement by Oscar de la Torre: "“The biggest problem with the school board is that it’s run by the Jews.”
May I suggest that some of the energy and resources considered for item 16-B be directed toward resolving this conflict here in our own community?
I realize how difficult it is to confront someone with whom you share the Council dais. You may wish to appear collegial, but you shouldn’t wish to appear complicit.
Kevin McKeown
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K e v I n M c K e o w n
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mckeown.net__;!!OfuUnHCITYtmmjM!u1oiJTg7aA9P9WCo8ROP4uKJT plCKxRfcxSDRbmkVShUvaGjut3pkNOOyuIMXSpToz8F3JRUxvmF9YMN2OqphYnFqXc$ Choose to be conscious
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Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
1 David Yakobson
From: laurie lieberman <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 21, 2024 4:38 PM
To: councilmtgitems; Clerk Mailbox
Subject: Letter on Item 16-B
Attachments: LL Letter on Item 16-B_October 22 CC agenda.Final.pdf
EXTERNAL
Please note: This is intended to replace an earlier email that mis-identified the communication as pertaining to Item 16-A.
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Re: Item 16-B
Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,
I am writing to support the City Council sponsorship of the 2024 Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism. I fully support the City Council’s participation in events and educational activities that are intended to combat all forms of hate and prejudice in thoughtful ways, including antisemitism.
However, agendizing this item does not exonerate my former School Board colleague, Oscar de la Torre, from his offensive antisemitic statement that has now been shared publicly by School Board member Jon Kean and corroborated by School Board member Richard TahvildaranJesswein. I’d like to share my account of the incident they have described in letters to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
During the summer of 2019, the School Board hired a consultant to facilitate and improve Board member effectiveness/communication/teamwork. The consultant’s first step was to interview each Board member individually. I was the Board member who met with the consultant following then Board member Oscar de la Torre.
When I walked into the room to meet the consultant (who I had never met before), she was extremely flustered. She apologized and acknowledged that she was very shaken. She said that she would never ordinarily share what was expressed in another Board member’s interview, but she felt compelled to share with me what the previous Board member had said. He had told her that the biggest challenge the School Board faced was that it was run by the Jews. I do not recall whether she named Oscar; she didn’t have to since he was the person scheduled to be interviewed immediately before me. As I recall, I went immediately to look for our thenSuperintendent, Dr. Ben Drati, to share what I had just heard. I also called Richard TahvildaranJesswein and Jon Kean that afternoon, since they were President and Vice President of the School Board, respectively.
I subsequently learned that Dr. Drati, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswein and Jon Kean had all spoken with Oscar de la Torre about his antisemitic statement, which he did not deny making.
Oscar de la Torre’s now infamous statement, “the biggest problem with the School Board is that it’s run by the Jews,” cannot be erased by a 16 Item, especially since he now claims that he never uttered these hurtful and disgusting words.
With respect to the other request addressed in this16 item, the attached 1991 letter is utterly repulsive. It is a loathsome example of “hate” speech. I believe that the Santa Monica Police Department has investigated the circumstances surrounding it and has never been able to identify the authors. I can only imagine how this letter made Oscar de la Torre feel in 1991, then a young man who had recently served as student body president at Santa Monica High School.
Councilmember de la Torre, who has a personal relationship with the Superintendent, should share the letter with him if he has not done so already along with any suggestions he would like to make. The City Council, however, should not be giving direction to the school district about school curriculum.
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Like the City Council, the SMMUSD stands united against hate, racism, religious intolerance, Islamophobia and antisemitism. As an educational institution, we deeply understand how harmful incidents like these can be on an individual level, within a school system, and on a societal level. We are committed to confronting, preventing and educating students about the harm caused by hate and prejudice. We would be more than willing to describe the SMMUSD’s robust approach to furthering this commitment in our schools at the convenience of the City Council.
In closing, I feel compelled to share a final observation about this item. We should all be united against hate and prejudice in any form. Count me in. But the fact that Councilmember de la Torre was harmed by hateful speech himself in 1991 and now seeks to promote a conference on antisemitism does not excuse his recent denial of the antisemitic statement he made in 2019, which he did not deny when confronted by his School Board colleagues shortly after he made the statement. The path to redemption and recovery begins with telling the truth.
Sincerely,
Laurie Lieberman
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024
Item 16-B
October 22, 2024