First of a series
As if he were chewing on shards of palatable glass four steps from the edge of the cliff, “Down but not out,” Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary loudly vowed this morning at the end of a stirring interview.
Changes, they are abounding in his colorful life.
Too Irish to surrender, too determined to write success on his entrepreneurial career to concede one inch, Mr. O’Leary is standing up, dusting off, squaring his shoulders and grimly prepping himself for his next challenge.
He can measure it by the clock, not a calendar. That is how fast benchmarks in his life are changing.
Following his divorce, Mr. O’Leary, closing out his seventh year on the City Council, made two mountain-sized moves driven by the splitup:
- Sold his two businesses, the legendary Joxer Daly’s Irish Pub of Culver City and a pub of the same name in Moorpark. The Culver City pub was the Dublin immigrant’s principal form of identity before being elected to the Council on his second try.
- Months after hinting here that he might move from Culver City after he is term-limited out next year, possibly to contend for mayor of Los Angeles, Mr. O’Leary has taken the first step. He sold the home he and his ex-wife formerly shared. He still occupies the property, however.
“Can’t leave the city while you are an elected official,” he said.
(To be continued)
