[img]1154|left|||no_popup[/img] Since it never is too early for political speculation, Meghan Sahli-Wells was asked if she will make a second run at the City Council next spring when three seats will be available — all likely defended.
The devastating heartbreak of losing her first campaign by a practically invisible three dozen votes to the more conservative Jeff Cooper is not to be underestimated.
Historically, hardly any young women run for office in this town.
Even fewer are young moms who breeze about the community on two wheels, a bicycle being her favorite mode of transportation.
Still fewer are imaginative, smart, well-read and knowledgeable, especially about leading topics that spin the globe these days, such as the state of the environment and alternative forms of energy.
In Culver City, at least among public personalities, Ms. Sahli-Wells owns those kinds of topics.
Unlike the weather, she is sunny every day, rounding out a vivacious political persona that carried her within inches of the dais in Council Chambers.
Since the disappointing afternoon last April when a hiccup was the margin separating first and second places, Ms. Sahli-Wells, a fervent activist, has kept her voice prominent and her presence visible in the marketplace.
No sense in investing time reviewing the weather or the Bulgarian astronauts’ first trip to the sun.
Question: Are you cranking up for a second campaign next year?
“I want to keep my options open,” Ms. Sahli-Wells told the newspaper 9 months before the filing deadline.”
What will determine whether you run?
“Good question,” she said with a chuckle, plainly not ready to disclose.
“I don’t know.
“I am afraid I will disappoint you with an ambivalent answer.
“Contrary to popular belief,” she said, referring to a speculative report in this newspaper, “I am not running (this summer) for the School Board.
“If I see a (School Board) candidate I believe in, I look forward to supporting and walking with that candidate. We need a strong School Board.”
Have the issues changed much since your last campaign?
“Obviously the budget is the overriding issue, and it has been. The question is, how do you balance everything? Do you throw the baby out with the bathwater?
“And this would be more on the national level: One of my arguments with the Republican perspective is, the economy is a free-for-all for cutting every program that we have. They also want to de-regulate air quality control and all types of things.
“When we talk about California, if you take funding away from schools, you are going to get more prisoners. At the end of the day, that is not a good long-term investment.
“Every city must think about its overall goals.
“In the long term, how do we want to define ourselves as a culture?”
“What can we do to avert cuts?
“Who are we helping?
“At the last Democratic Club meeting, I really was impressed with Desmond Burns’s remarks,” Ms. Sahli-Wells said, referring to the President of the largest municipal union, the Culver City Employees Assn. “He talked about not just doing top-down decisions but how important it is to make sure all employees have a chance to have their say. All employees have ideas.
“I remember when (former City Manager) Mark Scott came to Culver City and had to make cuts. He looked at all departments, all employees, not just top-down. He asked everybody to step in and give their ideas for making the city effective and efficient as possible.
“I would go with that more inclusive model.”
