While six of the seven City Council candidates espoused traditional liberal views, it was the unmistakably most progressive wing of Democrats who scored a near monopolistic victory in yesterday’s City Council election.
Led by the redoubtable second-term-seeking Meghan Sahli-Wells, followed impressively by the most unique candidate, newcomer Thomas Small, progressives snared two of the three seats at stake.
Only businessman-environmentalist Göran Eriksson, who ran third, was able to loosen the vise-like grip of progressives.
Social justice specialist Daniel Lee, another fresh faced progressive, finished a string fourth.
Scott Wyant, Marcus Tiggs and Jay Garocochea came in fifth, sixth and seventh.
Once the vote-counting began at City Hall under the tutelage of City Clerk Martin Cole shortly after the 8 o’clock poll-closings, the race for the three seats was nearly over.
What drama? What breath-holding?
The final score virtually never was in doubt.
Not only was the counting starved for even a speck of drama, there are more histrionics in the screening of a silent film at the Braille Institute.
The golden champion, the overwhelmingly most dominant star of the night was the lone incumbent Ms. Sahli-Wells.
To more properly appreciate the tremendous wingspan of her accomplishment:
An eloquent arch-environmentalist and arguably the most outspoken liberal, certainly among elected officials, as the runaway winner, she scored 2,760 votes, almost 1,000 more than runnerup Mr. Small (1,769).
Mr. Eriksson, third at 1,645, switched places several times during the counting with Mr. Small, the globe-traveling architectural journalist-consultant-design specialist.
Excitement was a non-starter in their switches since both were assured of Council seats on the dais.
Ms. Sahli-Wells’s extraordinary dominance may be more clearly understood via this factoid:
No One Was Close
She was the No. 1 vote-magnet in 12 of the 13 precincts in the mail ballot count. In the live vote, she swept through all 13 precincts as No. 1, marking her indisputably as the magnificent maven of monopoly.
Environmentally this will be a greener City Council than was the departing body that included term-limited Mehaul O’Leary and Andy Weissman.
However, it will not be a green Council in a seasoning sense.
Besides Ms. Sahli-Wells who will be entering her second four-year term, neither Mr. Small nor Mr. Eriksson needs a map to navigate Council Chambers.
Mr. Small is an influential — and strikingly articulate — voice/force on the Cultural Affairs Commission.
Mr. Eriksson is the chair – make no mistake — of City Hall’s muscular, policy-influencing Finance Advisory Committee.
Son of a Filipino mother, Mr. Small is the first Asian American to grace the City Council. Mr. Eriksson, son of a Swedish mother, is the first native Swede to gain a Council seat.
Hewing to a Culver City tradition, as Karlo Silbiger, Mr. Small’s manager, pointed out, form held when the top three votegetters in the counting of absentee ballots, easily maintained their wide lead over the far-flung field when live votes were tabulated.
No one in the audience hunched forward a scintilla after the mail ballots were counted.
The wide open spaces between and among the seven candidates was good for the nerves of observers but disappointing for other reasons.
Mr. Wyant, the titan of technology in Culver City, drew 1,279 votes for fifth place, 143 fewer than fourth-place Mr. Lee.
Mr. Tiggs, bankruptcy attorney, was about 100 votes farther back at 1,103.
Security specialist Mr. Garocochea was at 574 votes.
