Santa Monica City Councilmember Gleam Davis Leaves the Reservation, Goes Out Hunting For Bear

In what City Councilmember Phil Brock called a "Partisan Witch Hunt" Gleam Davis said she was prepared to go to the DA and swear out a warrant to seal leaks to the press. She's seemingly furious that 4 freshmen City council members were able to select David White as the new City Manager, and divert contracts from real estate developers Davis and Sue Himmelrich favor. Kristin McCowan will generally vote with Davis and Himmelrich.

Davis sponsored and the City Council adopted a resolution to "authorize the City Manager and the Interim City Attorney return to the City Council with a proposal to have an independent investigation of possible violations of the Brown Act by City Council members in connection with the search, candidate evaluation, and recruitment for the positions of City Manager and City Attorney conducted in 2021 and 2022."

In other words, Davis' developer friends were not able to make as much money developing real estate with the current City Manager as she was with the previous City Manager. Phil Brock is sometimes able to assemble a council majority including Oscar de la Torre and Christine Parra.

These three are sometimes referred to as "the Slate," who displaced Santa Monicans for Renters Rights last year in a much overlooked sea change in local politics. SMRR (aka Santa Monica Forward) has become extremely pro development. For example, they want to replace all the parking lots in 90401 with high density housing, awarding as many construction contracts as possible.

Lana Negrete, who was appointed last year to fill Kevin McKeown’s seat, is the swing vote. "She voted to endorse Gleam's witch hunt," said posts on social media.

"The investigation also would encompass possible breaches of the Confidentiality Agreements signed by City Council members in connection with these matters. Any proposal should include, as legally proper, full subpoena and other investigatory powers as may be appropriate to conduct a comprehensive review of any potential Brown Act or Confidentiality Agreement violations that the investigator might discover in the course of the investigation."

We are told that the real intention behind the resolution is to torpedo the appointment of a new City Attorney, favored by the slate but not by the Himmelrich, Davis and