“I have not made many appearances before you,”Mr. Vera began.
Since he wanted their support not their scorn, he declined to mention why he had made himself a stranger. (See below.)
Employing his most persuasive tones, he said, deflectively, that when he stands in front of them in the future it may be as an ordinary citizen. In other words, this was more or less his final hurrah. He did not say he was going away. He said that when he next addresses the club, it likely will be as a civilian.
Bryan and Vera — There Is a Pair
For a moment, Mr. Vera’s impassioned presentation against Measure V, the Charter Reform measure, could have been the memorable scene from one of the
epic motion pictures of the twentieth century, “Inherit the Wind.” In a historic debate over evolution eighty years ago in Tennessee, the two most celebrated lawyers of the day, William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, clashed in a monster moment.
Mr. Bryan, the perceived underdog, cried out to the skies. Mr. Vera pleaded no less emotionally before a warm, crowded showroom of Democrats at the Vets Auditorium.
In the first meeting under the control of new President Tom Camarella, members and the curious lined the walls in the Rotunda Room to see the debate over V between City Councilman Alan Corlin and Mr. Vera.
To even a stranger, the contrast was gaping between two of the most powerful voices at City Hall, Mr. Corlin, smooth and urbane, and the mayor, homespun with an unmistakable twist of Italian.
Making his first appearance before the Democratic Club since the Dems resisted the temptation to endorse his return to office four years ago, Mr. Vera lunged for their hearts, and he didn’t stop until he had every heart in the audience in his unrelenting grip.
Everybody in town has known for several years that the mayor’s wife Ursula is ill. Without wasting a breath on anything mundane, Mr. Vera immediately struck up the emotional band with a cymbal crash.
Describing the Importance of His Mission
Despite the fact that Mrs. Vera was powerfully ill, despite the fact that she had just undergone surgery that afternoon, despite the fact that she was in the first stages of recovery, the mayor said, as grave worry lines etched his once youthful face, he left his husbandly station to be with the members of the Democratic Club and make his case.
That, he said emphatically, is how crucial it is on April 11 for the voters of Culver City to defeat the Charter Reform measure. If the five spotlighted changes had been split into separate ballot items, he said, he would not be standing before them. He would have remained at his wife’s bedside.
This was vintage Vera — again. There is no need, he argued, to change from a chief administrative officer form of government to city manager just because almost everyone else has. He repeated two of the most persistent strains from opponents of V, that expenses will rocket at a time when City Hall is in an austere mood financially, and too much authority will be concentrated in a single executive. The mayor also objects to removing civil service protection from the police chief and from the fire chief.
As far as Mr. Vera is concerned, the arguments for Measure V can be overcome with a single thought: “Culver City is known as the best city around here. If the new Charter was excellent, one hundred percent, why didn’t the Council open it up for the people to vote (on individual elements of it)? There are some excellent parts, excellent, which I will vote for, one hundred percent. I don’t think anyone in this audience (though) wants to vote yes or no.”
Returning to his American Émigré Roots
Invoking his immigrant roots, as he is wont to do when he senses that he needs to rally, Mr. Vera said, with dramatic inflection: “This is America. Let’s treat Culver City as part of America, not part of Russia,” and the strains of military music almost could be heard in the background.
“Only in Russia would you have to vote for one or the other. You have no choice,” he repeated, but to cast an up or down vote. “You have no choice to make up your mind.
“I know I have not been a popular Council member because I have my own way. But I am proud to be an American citizen and a citizen of Culver City.”
Soon he would be gone from the Vets. He arrived late and left early, to return to Mrs. Vera’s bedside.
On his way into the warm evening air at 8:30, the working day had been thirteen and a half hours, but there was a distance to go.
Walking toward his trusty white van, far from new, Mr. Vera said he had one regret. He wished he were as eloquent of a speaker as his colleague Mr. Corlin. “But I want you to know,” he said, “that I never write a speech. It always comes from here,” pointing at his heart.
Although inside a few minutes later, the Democratic Club would soundly reject Mr. Vera’s assertions, he remained optimistic.
“If I weren’t sure we were going to win,” he said, “I would not be here tonight. And if Measure V wins, it will not be my fault.”
He turned philosophical. “It is easy to throw stones,” the mayor said. “But to receive them is a different story.”
The President’s Perspective
After his maiden voyage as club president, Mr. Camarella told thefrontpageonline.com that while the voting in favor of Measure V was lopsided, more than three to one, no one should read too much into it.
“Our members are interested in the issues of the day,” he said. “They have studied them. They listened carefully to the two presentations. Then they made up their minds. That’s all.”
