First in a series.
A resounding cheer rocked the Raintree Clubhouse on Sunday afternoon when candidate Scott McVarish suggested next Tuesday’s School Board election could mark the final time School Board voting and City Council voting are on separate days, separate months, separate years.
At this moment, such radical change at City Hall is iffy.
At issue is whether Culver City will be affected by a 57-day-old state law that is wildly popular with Democrats.
Senate Bill 415, signed on Sept. 1 by Gov. Brown, would force all local elections into the same single November day – starting in 2018 — if, by complicated calculus, voter turnout falls below a certain threshold.
The winning bill was authored by ambitious 46-year-old San Diego Sen. Ben Hueso. He followed a well-worn path, from the San Diego City Council to the state Assembly to the Senate. t
Since Culver City was designated a century ago by founder Harry Culver to be a charter city – a governmental euphemism for independence – the community may be exempt from the new law.
Historically, many have seen Culver City’s charter city status as quaint if not arcane. That point will be explored shortly.
Says City Atty. Carol Schwab:
“Our elections consultant believes we are exempt. We will know more later this week.”
Democrats love the compulsory aspect. They are confident that with virtually all barriers to voting having been razed, their side overwhelmingly will profit.
Veteran politicians in Culver City, though, are lining up against it.
For years, advocates of combined elections insisted that method would save City Hall bushels of dollars, but that no longer appears to be true.
For two reasons, some seasoned politicians are rising against the new law:
- Their donor sources may go dry with two sets of candidates vying for limited dollars.
- Publicity and appearances – Accustomed to having the stage exclusively to themselves throughout three- and four-month campaigns, now they would have to share/divide time attention.
- Will the forum-attending public became satiated by the nonstop glut of political speechmaking.
Considering the sum of those factors, will communities chill and give less financial and voter support either to school boards or city councils?
(To be continued)
