Second in a series.

Re: “Why a Predicted Council Vote Went Awry”

As the chief voice of the City Council, Mayor Jim Clarke is no ordinary politician who distractingly serves for 12 months in the rotating chair.

Politics and the authentic welfare of his community penetrate as deeply in Mr. Clarke as his red blood.

From the opening moments of the chatter last year when sentiment arose, then rocketed, for Culver City to be a sanctuary city, to hide illegal immigrants from the law, Mayor Clarke has been wincing.

He does not want to conduct a hunt for illegals and then turn them over to authorities.

First, however, he is a law-and-order guy, not a politically correct social justice advocate.

For that bold stance in a liberal community, he probably is outnumbered on the dais.

He sees daylight in the definition of a sanctuary city. “It is very vague what constitutes a sanctuary city,” Mr. Clarke said.

Why change – a matter that the City Council will decide at its March 27 meeting.

“We are doing everything we can legally,” says the mayor. “Why do we need to call it something? To call attention to ourselves?

“Meantime, we need to do a better job of educating the public about what a sanctuary city is and what we are doing.”

Most crucially on the subject of shielding illegal immigrants:

“The reality is,” said the mayor, “if ICE comes into our community and conducts a raid, there is nothing we can do about that.”

(To be continued)