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Why, you may ask, was Mehaul O’Leary, a City Councilman without a special designation, asked to be a centerpiece at state Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas’s (D-Culver City) community swearing-in yesterday at West Los Angeles College?
Apart from the fact this was one of Mr. O’Leary’s home run days when he had ‘em in the aisles.
This, while some with notable titles were at-rest in the audience.
Answer: Because this is a new day, Culver City.
Throughout his hard-working campaign last autumn, Mr. Ridley-Thomas wrote, implicitly, in large gold letters, without ever overtly saying so, that he is no Holly Mitchell, no Curren Price, and emphatically no Karen Bass. All three, by City Hall standards treated Culver City as a drive-through theatre while they were en route to a genuinely important destination.
Without ruffling a sensitive feather, Mr. Ridley-Thomas declared that day an unrevivable relic of the past, deader than George Washington’s wood-toothed dentist, for whom the Pullman train berths were named.
Mr. Ridley-Thomas made certain that Culver City stood in the center ring before a jammed house. And Mr. O’Leary, son of Dublin, left ‘em laughing and applauding.
He was assigned the prestigious opening slot after West President Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh welcomed “our august audience.”
Funny, poignant, open-faced, with perfect timing and pacing for four minutes, Mr. O’Leary was a smash.
Looking erudite in his smart horn-rimmed spectacles, he sought to unscramble a case of unintentional double-dipping.
“Before I get to my words of wisdom, I want to clear the air,” Mr. O’Leary began. “I have the dubious distinction of being a Culver City Councilman who supported both candidates last fall in the race for Assemblymember.
“I felt I needed to explain the other candidate (Christopher Armenta), a colleague of mine a fellow Council member, got out of the gate early, came to me – by the way, I learned a lot about endorsements,” and the audience roared again.
He Was Only the First Choice
“Before I knew who the other candidate, or candidates, were going to be, he came to me, said, ‘I am running for Assembly. Will you support me?’ Of course I said ‘You are my colleague. Of course I will endorse you.’
“And then a few weeks later, this man walked into my office. I own an Irish pub” – laughter breaks out again, until the next line.
“I call it my office. Makes things go smoother.
“A man walks into my office, and I knew immediately who it was. Said he would like to talk to me. Safe to say, I spent 20 minutes with this young man whom I hadn’t met before.
“In that 20 minutes, I realized I had probably backed the wrong horse,” and the Ridley-Thomas crowd roared appreciatively again.
“So, I thought, there’s no harm in backing two horses!
“If you have both horses in a two-horse race, you are bound to have a winner,” and that brought the biggest laugh yet.
“It was obvious in the weeks that followed,” said Mr. O’Leary, “that this was not even a race.
“The gates opened, and it was astonishing and surprising to see the number of people who were supporting Sebastian. It was people I don’t ever recall agreeing on anything, were agreeing on this candidate. I thought ‘This has to be the right man for the job.’”
For four minutes yesterday, Councilman O’Leary and his Irish brogue formed the right man for the salutation to Assemblymember Ridley-Thomas.
