Bad Calculus: 8 for 6
In the midst of this national trend of increasing political involvement, a grand total of 8 people chose to run for those 6 seats.
How pathetic.
And it’s not as if our city has been living in political harmony over the past few years.
Our weekly City Council meetings come with plenty of name-calling, personal attacks and vigorous debate over issues ranging from Metro to graffiti to homelessness.
With so many differing opinions and such rigorous debate, why did only 2 candidates choose to challenge Councilmembers Gary Silbiger and Albert Vera?
Lonely Contender
In the midst of a huge health care controversy and a fight over the teachers’ contract, was there really only 1 person willing to put his name to the voters in addition to incumbents Jessica Beagles-Roos, Saundra Davis and Dana Russell?
Then there was City Clerk Chris Armenta. He ran unopposed!
If we intend to call our city a democracy, we need to provide the voters with choices.
Increasing Appeal
We must find ways to make our electoral system inviting to potential candidates and accessible to all those with visions of creating a better community.
As someone who has worked ####### local campaigns dating back almost 10 years (including work on candidate recruitment for every election over the last 6 years), I submit to the residents of Culver City 2 potential remedies:
Currently, our City Council and School Board members are all elected at large, creating many problems for our city.
Running a political campaign takes time and money.
In 1993, I worked on a winning campaign that raised and spent less than $8,000.
Now, candidates must spend upwards of $30,000 to win.
In addition, candidates and campaign workers are expected to spend more than 40 hours per week talking to voters and planning strategy.
Dividing the Community
It should be obvious why the average resident is not interested in more work and a huge financial burden.
While there are many potential solutions (including some kind of Clean Elections or Public Financing system), the most practical would be the implementation of district elections.
We should divide our city into 5 equal districts.
Allow each district to elect 1 member to the City Council and 1 member to the School Board.
How to Spend Less Money
Running a campaign to reach 5,000 voters instead of 25,000 would cost less money and take less time, making it much more appealing to potential candidates.
Additional positive effects of district elections would include the increased diversity of our elected officials (a City Council that has never had an African-American member and has never had more than 1 woman serving at a time does not well represent our diverse city) and an increase in voter participation.
As I have spoken to dozens of people about running for office, their No. 1 answer always is that it would conflict with their job or cause a significant financial hardship to their family.
All of our elected officials (with the exception of the City Treasurer) make disgustingly low amounts of money considering the amount of work that they do.
Building a Case
City Council members often put in over 20 hours per week between meetings, community events, constituent communication, preparation/research, and meetings with staff.
For all this work, they are paid under $5,000 per year.
While I understand the argument that this is supposed to be their form of civic participation and is not supposed to be their job, we are severely limiting who can afford to run for office.
A Monopoly for the Affluent
Culver City is a diverse place with residents of many socio-economic statuses.
Why should only the well-off get to serve?
Currently, all 5 City Council members either do not work or work in jobs that give them some flexibility (self-employed or head of company).
What Every Member Needs
In order to open up our community’s government and encourage a broader segment of the population to participate, we must start paying our elected officials a decent wage and giving them staff.
In 2006, Culver City made history.
It was the first time since 1990 that a City Council campaign had only 3 candidates and the City Clerk ran unopposed. We Should Be Pro-Choice
Culver City voters deserve choices when they go to the ballot booth.
They need a strenuous debate of the pertinent issues by a group of candidates representing the full range of Culver City’s diversity.
Let’s join with the rest of the country in promoting an increase in political participation.
Mr. Silbiger, the son of Mayor Gary Silbiger and former School Board member Barbara Honig, is a teacher. He will receive his Masters degree from Harvard in June. Check Mail Compose
