Conversation so far:
What was John Searle's political career like?
In the late 1980s, Searle, along with other landlords, petitioned Berkeley's rental board to raise the limits on how much he could charge tenants under the city's 1980 rent-stabilization ordinance.

Question: What significance did this have?
Self-contained rewrite: What significance did John Searle along with other landlors petitioning Berkeley's rental board to raise rent limits have?