The tenderest, apparently most vulnerable moment in Monday night’s undistinguished City Council meeting was unscheduled.
It occurred after the community activist Sandra Kallander reached the speaker’s podium during the open-mic portion.
Ms. Kallander, a not unfamiliar voice, charged that she had been abused at a previous meeting, and she aimed her arrow at Councilman Scott Malsin.
Specifically, she claimed that Mr. Malsin had called her a liar at the Aug. 24 meeting when they engaged in an indirect disagreement — speaking non-consecutively — over whether there should be a moratorium on oil drilling by Plains, Exploration & Production Co. in the Baldwin Hills field.
Ms. Kallander, who lives close to the oil drilling layout, passionately believes drilling should resume, and continue unabated, for at least two reasons:
So Culver City residents may receive their mineral rights royalties, and in the process of pumping the field dry, the 2-mile stretch of land could be converted into more genteel, resident-friendly usage.
This is how Ms. Kallander opened her accusatory remarks on Monday:
“It bothers me when our elected representatives abuse their positions to get away with saying things they would never say to someone in a civil conversation.
“Even though I was called a liar by someone who has no way of knowing whether I am one, or not, it won't stop me from speaking up at meetings. However, I thought it was time to stick up for myself and others who should not be subjected to such abuse and to remind other members of the Council that they have an obligation to do the same.”
Ms. Kallander, among a reported 700 residents eligible for royalties from mineral rights, recalled that the dispute at the Aug. 24 meeting circled around her assertion that 3 persons had died awaiting their mineral rights royalties.
She said that Ms. Malsin knocked down this claim by branding her with the toxic term liar.
A review of the Aug. 24 webcast, by the newspaper, showed that Mr. Malsin, in part, made the following statements after 3 persons spoke against a drilling moratorium:
“A lot of misstatements were made, and it makes absolutely no sense to correct them.” But then he did.
After citing several examples, he may have been alluding to Ms. Kallander when he said:
“Nobody has been prevented from receiving royalties from wells that already have been drilled. They continue to be paid year after year.”
Finally, he said: “I have no idea who has died waiting for those mineral rights.
“In any case, that well may be related to, who knows, some kind of mis — who knows what these folks may have been told.
“In any case, if the oil company was able to pump oil from underneath these peoples’ homes, they would have received the oil royalties. And if they weren’t, well, that’s just the way it is working out now.”
Returning to last Monday, Mr. Malsin sat silently as Ms. Kallander made her charges.
Early in her presentation, she spoke of bullying:
“I have two younger brothers. Between them and my dad, I learned early on that the best thing to do when they're teasing me, is to ignore them. Let them go after my sister.
“This strategy also works with bullies.
“I was also raised to believe it is good to tell the truth. I was the kid in class who would tell the substitute teacher what last night's homework assignment was.
“The last time I was here to speak, I had to face, for the second time, Mr. Malsin's favorite argument, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”
“I have sometimes taken abuse for telling the truth, and I admit I sometimes keep my mouth shut, but I don't lie.
“Last time I was here, Mr. Malsin called me a liar when I told the truth.
“First: I need to make it clear that his accusation is completely false. I don't have to worry that my family will think I'm a liar, but Mr. Malsin called me a liar in front of people who don't know me.
“Mr. Malsin does not know me. He does not know whether or not I'm a liar when I said that I know of three people who died waiting for their potential mineral rights royalties.
“Hundreds of people are waiting for those rights to be exploited and to get royalties from them. It is plain old statistics that some of them have died in the last few years since PXP signed them up.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he assumed I was saying that the city had somehow stopped PXP from paying royalties that they owe to property owners.
“From what he said, I think he wasn't listening. I wasn't talking about the oil and gas being pumped today, but about the drilling that hasn't happened, yet.
“That's the second reason I'm here: to ask Mr. Malsin to retract his accusation and admit he does not know if I was lying or not when I said I know people died waiting.
“Which brings me back to bullying, and my most important point.
When government is the bully, ignoring it doesn't work.
“I ignored government for decades, but it kept getting more intrusive.
“Mr.O’Leary wasn't here last time, so I guess he's excused, but the other three of you just sat there and let Mr Malsin do it.
“I realize as well as you do that this made him look bad, and to your credit, you didn't join in.
“But standing by and watching someone else be bullied isn't good when any of us do it.
“However, the whole reason to have government is to protect our rights.
“Stopping abusive use of power is your job, and I suggest that you do it, not only for me, but for all the people you represent.”
