First of two parts.
Six of the seven City Council candidates reported to this morning’s Chamber of Commerce Election Forum with their best game polished to a stunningly high gloss…
And it was the newest comer, Daniel Lee, who seized the jackpot moment of the fast-paced hour at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
Near the end of a program jammed with questions about upgrading relations between and among Culver City’s diverse factions of humans and commercial enterprises, Mr. Lee deftly placed a rhetorical cherry atop his excellent outing.
Scanning the audience of presumably conservative-leaning Chamber board members who later would vote on their three endorsements for the April 12 election, the proudly progressive Mr. Lee quietly deadpanned:
“I would like your endorsement.
“I don’t expect to get it, though.
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t work together effectively.”
A light, nervous, slightly approving titter rose from the audience – as if to say, “You betcha.”
In a sharply different arena last evening, another first-time candidate, Thomas Small, City Councilperson Meghan Sahli Wells and Mr. Lee were recommended for endorsements by the County Democratic Party, which formally votes next week.
The election for three open Council seats is seen as pitting the three liberals named above against more establishment-based contenders – small business owners Goran Eriksson and Scott Wyant, and the insolvency attorney Marcus Tiggs.
Seventy days before the polls open, the seventh member of the field, former police officer Jay Garocochea, is ranked as an outsider, as in longshot.
Chamber Board Chair Collette Moore popped seven questions at the candidates. Replies were strictly measured at 45 seconds. With the above noted single exception, Mr. Eriksson, Mr. Wyant, Mr. Tiggs, Mr. Small and Mr. Lee all delivered well-mapped responses.
Firing off condensed answers to complex, sometimes shopworn questions, is comparable to stretching up and stretching down simultaneously.
Ms. Moore shut down the respondents on time. Not one dared to venture over the line.
(To be continued)
