If you haven’t already read about the corporate cash flooding in to elect Eric Friedman as mayor, now’s a good time: over $300,000 — including $170,000 from the National and State Associations of Realtors; developer, landlords, and construction lobbies; and the billionaire founder of Simon Property Group, one of the world’s largest mall developers … you get the idea.
You can look up the campaign filings on the city’s elections website.
Why would groups like the national realtors invest so much into sending Eric Friedman and his allies to City Hall?
Friedman’s nine-year City Council record shows why these corporate interests have found their guy.
As someone who’s devoted years to tenant organizing, I’ve witnessed Friedman reliably vote against efforts to rein in runaway rents, address habitability, and stop unjust evictions.
In contrast, Kristen Sneddon’s leadership has enabled us to pass historic tenant protections, stopping “renovictions,” fund affordable housing, and even pass rent stabilization.
Earlier this year, despite Friedman’s opposition, Sneddon and the city briefly paused rent increases for many units to protect tenants during a particularly vulnerable time. The Santa Barbara Rental Property Association lashed out with a baseless lawsuit, one that a federal judge dismissed because its claims weren’t plausible.
Friedman proactively bent the knee to the landlord lobby, refused to fund the city’s legal defense, and publicly legitimized the far-fetched corporate attack on the city and our working families.
Kristen Sneddon consistently uplifts people closest to the brutalities of ICE, low wages, and high rents — unlike Friedman, she’s earned virtually all of the endorsements from trusted community groups representing tenants and workers, climate resiliency and economic development efforts, and the public interest. She’s grounded, experienced, and effective.
The differences between Kristen Sneddon and Eric Friedman are clear, but I worry that all of this will get drowned out by big money and the niceties of Santa Barbara politics. Like Eric, I’ve also been a Trader Joe’s grocer, an elected official staffer, and am a longtime public service guy myself; I know how much name recognition and general public good will comes with those roles. But Friedman’s politics punch down and that’s worth speaking up about.
Kristen Sneddon will be a fantastic mayor. Let’s get her elected — for all of us!
And, if you’re asking: please also vote for Gabe Escobedo, Ian Baucke, and Devon Wardlow!
