Even though half of the City Council will be new when the next generation of members is installed on Monday, April 23, let there be no doubt about who the leader – still – is:
Andy Weissman was reconfirmed as the patriarch, the elder statesman, the conscience of the Council and Culver City’s best-liked politician following last night’s stunning unofficial election results that were heavily draped in both joy and sadness.
His new teammates and one returning colleague acknowledged his special status by either visiting his headquarters or contacting him – Meghan Sahli-Wells, who ran a firm second, Mayor Mehaul O’Leary, who placed third for the third consecutive election, and Jim Clarke, who was a comfortable fourth to capture an unexpired term.
“I am happy and grateful for the outcome this evening,” Mr. Weissman said as he stepped away from circles of celebrating supporters to a corner of the second floor. “I felt comfortable after the first couple (of 13) precincts came in” for a virtual and cushy wire-to-wire triumph.
Absentee ballots often are a reliable indication of the order of finish, and so they turned out last night.
“I think one of the reasons I won was because I have done a credible job as a Council member for the last four years. As significant as that is my record of working in the city for decades. My resilience, my experience and my support in the community are a reflection of those years of service.”
The volatile race that no one would venture to dope out in advance, ended in a blaze of mixed, but mostly sunny, feelings.
Some of the happiest Culver City denizens are leaders of the Democratic Club. They were wreathed in brilliant smiles after endorsing the winning newcomers Ms. Sahli-Wells, a community activist, environmental enthusiast and first woman member of the Council since Carol Gross was termed out four years ago, and Mr. Clarke, who has spent much of his career as a sharp-eyed aide, currently to Mayor Villaraigosa.
Perhaps the most closely watched of the six candidates for four seats was the veteran Scott Malsin, who abruptly became a divisive storm-center in the final month of the campaign.
He finished well out of the money.
Running far back all night, Mr. Malsin drew 335 fewer voters than Mr. Clarke for the last qualifying position, and he announced at a sombre after-party that his once-meteoric political career is over.
“It is time to move on,” he told the newspaper.
He said he would have no appetite for staging a draining, time-consuming fourth campaign in two years when Mr. Clarke and Jeff Cooper will be up for re-election.
It is time to concentrate on his business and his young family, he said.
Changing Trajectory
The 51-year-old Mr. Malsin’s political life was in its ascendancy last year when he spent six months publicly debating his fate while belt-tightening City Hall drastically was altering healthcare benefits for elected officials. Finally, after much open community discussion about his delicate dilemma, he stepped down from the City Council in the middle of his second term to safeguard health benefits he would have lost.
Here is the order of finish:
1. Mr. Weissman, 2,630 votes
2. Ms. Sahli-Wells, 2,491
3. Mr. O’Leary, 2,439
4. Mr. Clarke, 2,348
5. Mr. Malsin, 2.013
6. Stephen Murray, 841.
[For complete precinct-by-precinct results, see culvercity.org]
Mr. Murray, cast as an outsider throughout the campaign, said that His first try for elected office will be his final one, but he promised to remain fully engaged In community activities.
Measure X, the hotel tax or Transit Occupancy Tax, bed tax, overwhelmingly was approved, 83.1 percent to 16.7 percent, 3,116 to 626.
The second story of the popular, dimly lighted Rush Street restaurant in the bosom of Downtown formed the intersection of Culver City politics as the three other successful Council contenders paid tribute to the sagacious Mr. Weissman.
Mayor O’Leary was the first to arrive at Mr. Weissman’s party headquarters, at 10:30, minutes after City Clerk Martin Cole declared the outcome in Council Chambers. As they warmly embraced, the Irishman said that Mr. Weissman is his lodestar, the person to whom he has turned for four years for counsel, wisdom and Culver City history.
Paying Tribute
Mr. Clarke, who placed fourth with ease, capturing the last two years of the term Mr. Malsin surrendered last Dec. 12, trooped down the block and across the street to congratulate his new colleague at 11 o’clock.
Moments later, a jubilant Ms. Sahli-Wells, who jumped from third place to second in mid-evening to score an historic victory, asked for Mr. Weissman’s cell phone number to message her congratulations from out in the neighborhoods as a misty, then pelting, rain visited upon the community.
“I am absolutely thrilled,” the 38-year-old Ms. Sahli-Wells beamed just two years after heartbreakingly losing her first Council run by 32 votes.
What made the difference?
“I just think Culver City is ready for change,” she said. “I am really happy to be part of that change.”
Being a woman was not a minor factor, she asserted. “That became part of my talking points when I was meeting with voters,” Ms. Sahli-Wells said. “To my knowledge, we have had three women on the Council since 1917. Apparently one was not elected. She stepped in when her husband died.”
In more recent times, Sandi Levin, Jozelle Smith and Ms. Gross helped to form a slender army of women.
