Speaking publicly for the first time since his bristling dust-up on Monday night with fellow City Councilman Scott Malsin, Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary today explained why he chose to end a deadly serious taffy pull with his deadly serious rival.
“I was in kind of a spot, wasn’t I?” he asked, rhetorically, his Irish brogue in peak condition.
Having held the clearly junior position on an obscure subcommittee for two years, Mr. O’Leary said Mr. Malsin treated him “like a tourist” instead of a colleague.
For the past two years, as the primary and secondary delegates on a Council subcommittee, Mr. O’Leary said Mr. Malsin, the primary delegate, “has treated me like I was a tourist, just there to watch the proceedings. Very little discussion. But if that changes this coming year, the situation will have improved.”
For 15 entirely unscripted minutes toward the end of the meeting, Mr. Malsin and Mr. O’Leary dueled before disbelieving colleagues over who would be the lead delegate on the subcommittee to the Expo Metro Line Construction Authority. This group makes the decisions on the light rail being constructed from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City — due here in ’12. The assignment, among Council members, is regarded as a plum, probably the plum.
However, rotation has been the foundational policy of the City Council, especially regarding subcommittee assignments. This is why the Vice Mayor thought it was his turn to be promoted.
Mr. Malsin’s appointment as the lead delegate for the past two years was a cornerstone in his recent campaign for re-election. He has been Culver City’s chief spokesperson at Expo, a member of the prominent light rail decision-making team.
A number of times Monday night, he stressed the crucialness of continuity of leadership. He said that while this debate was not about him, he was clearly the better qualified to hold the position and the accompanying power.
Privately, after the City Council meeting, Mr. Malsin and Mr. O’Leary met. “He walked up to me and immediately shook my hand,” said the Vice Mayor. They spoke, candidly, about their cool to chilly relationship at Expo. The Vice Mayor alluded to his perceived second-class treatment from his colleague.
It was understood that Mr. Malsin said “he was sorry” for having taken such an inflexible public stand on the subcommittee re-appointment.
Today, Mr. O’Leary said: “If the treatment changes, then I will know I made the right decision” to break the deadlock and concede to his adversary, even though the momentum was his.
The two Councilmen jointly attended their first Expo meeting of the new year this afternoon.
The Vice Mayor said “absolutely” the public disagreement between the two is over — conditionally.
“It is over if, when we go to meetings, as long as I have something to say, it is included.”
After two years as Mr. Malsin’s “pretty unimportant” sidekick, Mr. O’Leary felt he deserved advancement to the main job, which Mr. Malsin had grasped firmly in his fist.
The ending, a moral lesson engineered by the Vice Mayor, was unanticipated.
After 15 crackingly tense moments, and even with a majority of the City Council openly supporting his bid, Mr. O’Leary shattered the mounting tension and gave in to Mr. Malsin. Practically everyone in the room seemed surprised at its content and suddenness. However, no congratulations were extended to the winner, only the sound of mute.
Mr. O’Leary tells his story:
“I did not understand the stance that Scott was making.
“I knew that he liked being on the board. I just did not understand him.”
Once Mayor Chris Armenta and former Mayor Andy Weissman had declared their support for Mr. O’Leary’s elevation, why didn’t he simply poll the Council and clinch the position for himself?
“After Chris and Andy spoke up, you may remember that (new Councilman Jeff Cooper) asked Scott and me to work it out between ourselves.
“When Jeff said that, I thought to myself, ‘Here is his first Council meeting. Here is my first display of how I am going to operate for at least the next two years with Jeff.’
“I thought, ‘I have to show Jeff I can compromise.’
“That’s what I did.”
Mr. O’Leary said that compromising was “absolutely an on-the-spot decision.
“Each time after I finished speaking, I kept thinking about calling for the vote. I thought about it again. I asked myself, ‘What is so important to me that I need to make this stand?’
“I couldn’t give myself a valid reason.
“Hopefully, Scott understands this today.”
