First in a series
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Sen. Price – but for how much longer?
For tall, stately Curren Price, the Los Angeles City Council primary election two weeks from today finally may be his long-awaited portal into big-time politics.
He has been patiently waiting on the side porch for 17 years –
- 10 on the Inglewood City Council.
- Seven years in the Witness Protection program that is the fate of all but a half-dozen heavily publicized recycled members of the state Legislature in Sacramento.
He is shopping for political sunshine, regular exposure, the kind of media attention regularly showered on select political peers just because they tie their shoes every morning.
He may have found the right race, the unlocking key, in the City Council competition.
Isn’t It About Time?
At a freshly turned 62 years old, state Sen. Price (D-Culver City), longtime resident of the suburbs, is seeking to move downtown.
Literally.
In the unlikely event he wins outright over six rivals in the March 5 primary or, more logically, wins a May 21 runoff, he will take over the chopped-up 9th Council District that includes a chunk of downtown – despite Council President Herb Wesson’s controversial attempt last year to perform political surgery on juicy parts of the district.
Suave, traditionally fashionable to a fault, more debonair in his toes than most of his colleagues cumulatively, Sen. Price is approaching a pivotal moment in his professional political career:
Is he going to be a written- and talked-about star?
Or is he destined to remain saddled in the shadows?
Paying guests at Sen. Price’s latest fundraiser, Sunday afternoon at a chic Rodeo Drive art gallery, surely would have voted for the former.
Just Right
At 6-foot-3, trim, smiling, accessible but not too accessible in a smart black pinstriped suit, Sen. Price presented a favorable portrait of the consummate politician, directly from the casting office.
In an immaculate white gallery setting, Sen. Price greeted a visitor at the base of a winding stairway that led to a crowd of well-dressed supporters, chattering away as their clinking wine glasses provided a soft musical undertone.
Demonstrating again that he is adaptable to changing scenarios, the former Washington, D.C., businessman who was born in the 9th District and hopes to now close the circle, was as comfortable in the upper-story Beverly Hills gallery as he had been not long before on a car lot in Culver City.
The first question put to him was whether Sen. Price regretted his assenting vote a year ago on Gov. Brown’s iron-fisted attempt to destroy hometown Redevelopment Agencies.
His answer was unusually candid.
(To be continued)
