First in a series
[img]493|right|Karlo Silbiger||no_popup[/img]In his first interview since voters stunningly removed him from the School Board three weeks ago on Election Day, Karlo Silbiger made a statement he had not anticipated needing for 50 more years:
“For the moment, my focus, politically, is nonexistent.
“Once I have an opportunity to refocus on Culver City, I am going to do all I can to help elect great candidates.”
Going into his final School Board meeting tomorrow evening, he may be pardoned for not having redrawn a substitute career plan.
Twenty days into shock, the numbness has retreated but hardly evaporated.
At a still youthful 30 years old, with his mapped-out School Board plans abruptly nuked, Mr. Silbiger did not say no or yes to a future Board run or, equally logically, to a City Council race.
Just the other day it was speculated here that a wave of Silbiger-style progressives likely is headed for the City Council in the coming four to six years.
Will he be among them?
“I don’t take anything off the table,” Mr. Silbiger said. “I don’t have any plans of doing that. For the next year and a half, though, my attention will be on getting my doctorate (in education, at UCLA) done. After that, we will see.”
Making a U-turn?
What about returning to the School Board in two years, when Nancy Goldberg is expected to step down and Laura Chardiet will be up for re-election?
“I very much enjoyed my time on the School Board, and I love education with great passion,” said the teacher/counselor from Animo Venice High School.
Could it be time for Mr. Silbiger to move on from the School Board milieu?
“A lot of it depends,” he said.
“Originally, I never had any intention of running for School Board. I came back from the East Coast six years ago, started going to meetings, and I was turned off by the way some projects weren’t getting done. I thought maybe I could do a better job.”
Here came the broadest hint that City Hall may loom in his sightlines:
“I could imagine a situation – I am not saying this is going to happen – where a similar thing happens to another office sometime in the future.”
Ironically, Mr. Silbiger’s final School Board meeting will be in City Hall. He led the fight to move 50 percent of the Board’s twice monthly meetings to a large, more polished professional environment.
Age is irrelevant since he has more seasoning than candidates double his age. Dating back to when he was 14 years old, he calculates he has participated in 18 political campaigns in 16 years.
He spent more time talking about a career as a fulltime campaign strategist.
Everything beyond today is comprised of liquid.
(To be continued)
