As the buzz over Mr. Vera’s imminent retirement continued to circulate across the neighborhoods, rays of speculation snaked out in a dozen directions.
Meanwhile, a growing number of people believe that the mayor’s decision was far more intimately linked to his own battered health than any other reason.
Why Silbiger Gains
Perhaps the most insightful answer to the benefits question came from a City Hall insider. She fingered Gary Silbiger, the only incumbent left in the April race for two Council seats.
“Albert’s retirement will take a lot of pressure off of Silbiger,” she said. “Before Albert’s announcement, there was a three-way race for one seat, for Silbiger’s.
“As long as Vera was running, regardless of the opposition, Albert’s seat was Albert’s seat. Nobody was going to take it away.
“Objectively speaking, I think it can be said fairly that Gary has a very mixed voting record during his four years on the Council. I don’t know how important consistency is. But I do know that he believes what he believes. From that he doesn’t budge. He is not trying to move toward the center to please more people. For those reasons, I don’t think he will be the first choice of a lot of people on Election Night.”
By far the most liberal member on a Council with four Democrats and one Republican, no one has ever challenged the characterization of Mr. Silbiger as sui generis.
While opinions among hometown pundits are varied about the strengths of the two other contenders — first-timers Mehaul O’Leary and Scott Malsin — there was near unanimity on the status of the two incumbents.
Silbiger, Vera, Their Differences
Mr. Silbiger was rated as vulnerable in any race with one or more rivals. Widely, he was considered to be hovering in a gray area where he was neither a solid favorite for a second term nor an underdog. .
Mr. Vera was safe in any race with one thousand or fewer rivals.
Saturday morning, Mr. Silbiger asked the mayor for his endorsement.
Another City Hall regular projected that Councilperson Carol Gross would be the most affected of the three remaining Council members.
“Carol and Albert have been a team,” he said. “They vote together most of the time. When two people think alike a lot about city issues, it means that they only need to recruit one more person for a majority.
“Attracting one more person to your side is far different from needing two more.”
Ms. Gross rejected this scenario. “Sometimes vote together,” she said, “but not all of the time. We are both passionate, but in ways that are opposite.
“We think differently,” she said. “We are separate persons. We agree on some matters. But we have different ideas about how things should be accomplished.”
She pointed out that they have sat on the City Council for only four of her six years. “There was life before Albert, and there will be life after Albert,” Ms. Gross said.
Either Mr. Malsin, a modern- style community activist, or Mr. O’Leary, a newlywed and a business owner, will be voted into office on Tuesday, April 11.
Both are young men — forty and early forties —who would substantially lower the average age on the Council.
Strengths of the Candidates
“Convincing arguments can be made for both men,” an unelected City Hall person said. “I think Scott is significantly better known. He has been around longer. He knows how to organize. And, he doesn’t fit people’s traditional picture of an activist. He is much quieter and more refined.
“Mehaul is interesting in a different way. Do you realize that he fits the classic Albert Vera profile? Like Albert, he is an immigrant (from Ireland). Like Albert, he is the owner of a popular business (the Joxer Daly pub). Like Albert, he is very outgoing, easily met.
“What I don’t know is how many of his customers live in Culver City or, more importantly, vote here.”
In the wake of Mr. Vera’s announcement, the reconfigured City Council race may grow a little busier.
Mr. Malsin lauded Mr. Vera for a career well done. “Albert has given so much to the community,” he said. “His commitment has been extraordinary. His generosity is second to none.
“I deeply appreciate all that he has done for Culver City.”
When the conversation turned to the mayor and endorsements, Mr. Malsin said: “All I really want to say is that I am committed to earning every vote.”
Mr. O’Leary told thefrontpagonline.com that he visited Mr. Vera at the Sorrento Italian Market last Saturday, the day after the mayor’s decision became final. “I had been looking forward to working with him,” the candidate said. “I thought that a man of his stature, with his knowledge, could be very helpful to someone like myself.
“We chit-chatted for about three-quarters of an hour.”
No Endorsement
Under the unusual circumstances, Mr. O’Leary said he did not believe it was an appropriate time to ask the mayor for an endorsement. “He doesn’t know me yet,” Mr. O’Leary said. “Besides, I will never win the endorsement battle. The other two guys have lists of endorsements as long as their arms.”
As arguably the least known contender, Mr. O’Leary said he favors an old-fashioned approach to running for office.
“My plan is to meet and greet every voter,” he said.
“I intend to wear out shoe leather in my campaign. This is the only way to win, meeting voters face to face. By the time April comes, they will know me. They will have to make a conscious decision not to vote for me.”
Advance Warning
As Mr. Vera’s closest ally, Ms. Gross said she was neither shocked nor surprised by his decision. “I do appreciate that it was not easy for him to decide,” she said. “Not easy to walk away.
“He has been struggling with whether to run again. For all of us, there are ups and downs. The right thing to do is not always clear.
“I had this experience a couple of years ago. Should I run for a second term? When I made up my mind, I am not sure that I had a hard, clear reason. It isn’t always a clean, logical process.”
Ms. Gross offered several insights into Mr. Vera’s reasoning process. “I can’t say how long he has been struggling with this decision, just that he has,” she said. “He has said, on occasion, ‘It isn’t much fun working with this City Council. They don’t get anything done.’
“What I can’t tell you is exactly how he arrived at his decision. I am not a mind-reader. That never has been one of the talents I have claimed.
“Just that there was a tremendous tug, in the other direction, for him to run again.”
A loyal friend of Mr. Vera’s, Ms. Gross said that off-stage, Mr. Vera does not undergo a personality change.
“He is the same person, in private and in public,” she said. “I don’t think people would be surprised about anything that went on privately with him.”
Weighing the Vera Load
A City Hall fixture was marveling today at the asserted overload in Mr.Vera’s daily life.
“Look at what he has on his plate every day,” the oldtimer said. “His wife is in ill health. His two boys. Look at all he has been through with them the last two years. Legal problems. Death. The big lawsuit against him. He has his ranches in the Central Valley that he drives to every week in his old truck. Then there is running the store. He feels he has nobody he can hand off to. Pretty much fulltime, he is on the City Council. And now he is the mayor.
“How many fulltime jobs can one man have? At his age? Besides all of that, his own health is not good. Hasn’t been for awhile. To me, he looks worn out. Who wouldn’t be? His physical condition is a major, major issue. I know he said he may be back in two years, but I can practically guarantee you he will not.”
For just a moment, the gentleman reflected philosophically. “He made it this way himself. He is living exactly the life that he created.”
