New School Board member Dr. Kelly Kent said that when she called Karlo Silbiger summer to ask whether she should run, “he wouldn’t say. Everyone was like, Karlo thinks you should run. But he would not say.”
This was Dr. Kent addressing her supporters on Election Night before she officially had won, but confident that she would.
The up-tempo crowd of progressives was enraptured by Dr. Kent’s smiling account of how she came to be a candidate.
“I said, ‘Karlo, I need you to tell me what to do. Everyone says that you know best. Tell me what to do.’”
Eventually, Dr. Kent won Mr. Silbiger’s assent, he became an advisor, and all of that “has meant a lot to me,” she said.
She was a rookie candidate, and in spite of his relative youthfulness, he is seasoned, keen-minded, insightful and respected.
A former School Board member himself, the second-generation Mr. Silbiger largely is in the political consulting business these days.
As for his precise role, Mr. Silbiger said:
“As an advisor, I tried to help the leadership with setting strategy, especially around message and mailings.”
Activists will remember when 11-year-old Karlo stood in the shadow of his father Gary, a former City Councilman, and now he says “I have been working on campaigns in Culver City for 20 years.
“Campaigning is an art, but it also is a science, and there are things you just need to know how to do.
“Because of my experience and my knowledge, I was able to help them make sure all of the puzzle pieces were put together.”
