On Monday night in Council Chambers, it may look like the regular rituals in which appointments to city commissions are cloaked, but it really will be an extraordinary occasion because of the candidacy of one of the most visible political figures in Culver City, Alan Corlin.
Like a former President of the United States deciding — shortly — to run for Congress, the immediate past Mayor of Culver City will be seeking an appointment to a body that traditionally is regarded as a training ground for higher office.
This will mark a sharp reversal of roles for Mr. Corlin, who romps and frolics along the pathways of the political universe more than almost any of his colleagues.
He will be quizzed instead of being the inquisitor, be judged instead of conducting the judging.
Not for nothing is the dais, where the five members of the City Council preside every Monday night, elevated above the well where all petitioners are positioned.
There is in-charge and those who wish they were.
With one seat open on each of three city commissions, 15 applicants are in the running, several well-known, some vaguely known, others who are relative mysteries.
But the most unique illustration of the evening is Mr. Corlin.
His Path to Candidacy
Term-limited on April 28 after 8 years on the City Council, he hopes to be appointed by the Council to the vacancy on the Civil Service Commission, where he previously served, in the final 6 years of the last century.
It was druthers time when Mr. Corlin spoke to the newspaper this morning.
He said he wished he had applied the first time the opening was available, days after he left the Council. No one among Culver City’s 40,000 residents sought the appointment, and Mr. Corlin effectively would have walked out of one door at City Hall and directly through another. This time he has 5 rivals with varying degrees of heft, meaning that Mr. Corlin is miles removed from being a cinch.
Dusting through Culver City history, the most analogous case to his might be the example of the late Richard Alexander.
Before winning the first of 4 terms on the City Council, spanning 16 years, Mr. Alexander served on the Parks and Recreation Commission, one of the true loves of his long public life. When he left the Council, he was reappointed to the Parks commission.
Early-Day Multi-Tasking
Perhaps the most unusual record among public servants belongs to Mike Tellefson — as in Tellefson Park. During the 1940s, when Culver City was a vastly different, quieter community, Mr. Tellefson not only was on the City Council and enjoyed the requisite fling as Mayor, he also was Chief Administrative Officer and City Attorney.
On Monday night, Mr. Corlin may have to scoot over and share space with a similar but not identical former colleague, David Hauptman. He, however, has been gone longer from the public eye. Mr. Hauptman, who served on the City Council until ’02, is one of 7 hopefuls pursuing the Parks commission vacancy.
Only two of the 5 sitting members of the City Council utilized commission experience as training for elective office — Mayor Scott Malsin on the Planning Commission and member Andy Weissman, who was on 3 separate commissions.
A New Profile
Adjusting to his new role in the community, Mr. Corlin recently has been busy lobbying various Councilmen about his candidacy, visiting those likeliest to vote for him.
“I think I am able to give the Civil Service Commission what it needs now,” he said. “Given what is going on in the city, experience is needed. And people who know me know that I am a team player, which is important, too.”
Having spent 2 terms on the City Council, Mr. Corlin pointed out that he is more familiar than almost anyone else with matters coming before the Civil Service Commission, such as the Memorandum of Understanding with City Hall’s unions, with the new City Charter (“I made the motion for it”) and the commission’s new set of rules.
“I have credentials to offer that no one else has,” he said.
Distinguishing between the two panels, Mr. Corlin said that serving on the City Council is like being a general practitioner and being on the Civil Service Commission is more like being a semi-retired specialist. The far busier Council is regularly challenged by a myriad of issues, the Commission handles one or 2 at a time.
For the Civil Service Commission, Mr. Corlin will be contending with Charles Deen, CPA, Tom Camarella, Richard Ochoa, Phil Tangalakis and Shakeel Syed.
Besides Mr. Hauptman, Karlo Silbiger, Robert F. Smith, Marianne Kim, James Alamillo, Michelle Vogel and Ronald A. Valenzuela are pursuing the Parks and Recreation appointment.
Lauren Werner Hunter and Mary Ann Webster are rivals for the landlord opening on the Landlord-Tenant Mediation Board.
