Mehaul O’Leary debuted on the City Council six weeks ago with a telling tag attached to his wrist:
Swing Voter. The tiebreaker.
A lonely position, and it could be a stressful position for anyone with a vulnerable personality, which does not seem to be the case for the ebullient Mr. O’Leary.
Going into his sixth Concil meeting — tonight at 7 in Council Chambers — Mr. O’Leary has been put on an uncomfortable spot nearly every Monday.
A New Role
This extra load has converted him into the new chief interrogator on the Council, the member who poses more probing questions than anyone else while colleagues settle into their positions.
Friend and foe of Mr. O’Leary during the last election cycle were not sure what to expect from him since the owner of Joxer Daly’s Irish pub had not previously served on a city commission.
How would he react when cornered?
Their curiosity is being answered with the way the Irishman digs, perhaps more deeply than anticipated, into the backgrounds of some issues.
A new conundrum confronts Mr. O’Leary tonight:
Should there be a citywide Youth Advisory Commission?
The Father of the Concept
This has been a favorite project of Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger for years — except that he has been unable to budget because his colleagues have argued that plenty of mechanisms already are in place to serve teenagers.
Mr. O’Leary is not sure — and this is what figures to create drama at tonight’s meeting.
When the newspaper caught up with him this morning, the Councilman was poring over data from three years ago when Vicki Daly Redholtz and Jeanette James of the Parks and Recreation Commission were directed to survey the interest of Culver City teenagers in a youth commission.
Mr. O’Leary was plotting the month-by-month account of the survey, and how the subject has laid dormant for the past two years.
At least initially, the Councilman was convinced that a youth commission was an idea worthy of support. “I have seen how excited they can become over certain organized activities,” he said. “I am of the opinion we need to get them involved.
“But we have to be sensitive and careful about this. If we make them sit through one of our Council meetings, where it can get so dreary, we will destroy their enthusiasm in a millisecond.”
What Do You Know?
Mr. O’Leary said he “has a few questions” for Mr. Silbiger to see what the Vice Mayor knows about the survey and precisely how he sees a council being structured.
However, the Councilman showed that as a newly elected politician, he is learning to be poker-faced. He didn’t even hint about which way he would vote.
