Fifth in a series
Re “He Was Slated to Lose His Second Term Bid, Karlo Says”
[img]1789|right|Karlo Silbiger||no_popup[/img]In his ongoing assessment of last month’s School Board election where, as the favorite to finish No. 1, he lost to a slate of candidates, Karlo Silbiger predicted that slates will be fashionable from now on in Culver City elections.
Mr. Silbiger ran at the head of what some observers called a slate, as formed by the Teachers Union.
Until the late election, the Teachers Union had run candidates unopposed in every biennial cycle. Their nominees automatically were deemed the most desirable choices voters had. The difference this time, in the minds of many, was the presence of the year and a half old parents union, United Parents of Culver City. Not accidentally, their first-time slate, Dr. Steve Levin, incumbent Kathy Paspalis and Sue Robins swept the field. The outcome was not close.
“The Teachers Union had a slate, that’s true,” said Mr. Silbiger, who ran at the head of a ticket that included Claudia Vizcarra and Vernon Taylor.
He inserted a caveat. “While it was a slate, I would consider it a little bit differently,” Mr. Silbiger said. “The three of us did not endorse each other. We were not necessarily campaigning together. The Teachers Union members were not going out door-to-door or at events passing out literature.”
But Mr. Silbiger wondered whether it was a traditional slate kind of campaign.
“It is true that the Union did send out two mailings,” he said, “as has the Chamber of Commerce and others. That is not uncommon – groups going out, endorsing candidates and letting members know. But I do think there is a difference between that and being out in front of schools passing out slate cards, going door-to-door and handing out slate cards, which is what the UPCC was doing. They were also going to candidate forums and passing out slate cards. To me, that is a different level of campaigning. It is just different.”
(To be continued)
