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Six weeks into their opening terms on the City Council, Chris Armenta, Andy Weissman and Mehaul O’Leary, for dissimilar reasons, have exceeded the expectations of their long-bearded critics.
It never will be clear whether these three trumped a field of nine questionably qualified candidates because the voters were startlingly prescient or because they closed their eyes and threw a ball of gooey wax at their ballots.
Throughout the January-February-March campaign, no one — perhaps including their families — dared suggest that this slow-to-gel field should bypass Council Chambers and walk directly into the Fairly Effective Politicians Hall of Fame.
We Could Have Saved Time and Energy
If we had known last winter Mr. Weissman, Mr. O’Leary and Mr. Armenta were going to perform so early with such polish, we could have diplomatically told the Other Six, as they shall be known hereafter, to take a powder.
Mr. Weissman was the only sure bet in the group because he has been auditioning on every commission in Culver City and any other town with two names for 30 years. Because so much was expected and because he delivers profundity with the ease and discipline of a father kissing his 4-year-old good night, he is bound to become underappreciated during the next four years. Electing him was almost like sending a 30-year-old professional out to play on the neighborhood Pony League team.
The timing of his dryly essayed wry sense of humor reminds me of a wild animal trainer who knows exactly when to pull and when to loosen his grip on the leash. Greenwich Mean Time is linked to Mr. Weissman’s artful sense of timing.
This is Michelangelo striding through his gallery, a master on his home grounds. Grade: A-plus.
Nervous, Promising, but Did He Know Enough?
Mr. Armenta and Mr. O’Leary have been thrilling surprises. They merit raises. They are even better on Monday nights than their optimistic spouses had predicted.
Out on the campaign trail last winter and spring, Mr. O’Leary struck me as a promising but nervous high school football hero who had walked into the Homecoming Dance, eager to dance the night away.
Only he forgot to remove his cleats, and when he tried, they wouldn’t budge. Truly, he would die with his boots on.
His boyish charm and modesty were disarming. But it felt like sending a boy to do a man’s job. This was Huck Finn in the Internet Era. He was honest. He was willing. But he was shaky, and he only seemed to have a tentative grip on community issues. To his credit, he said a number of times when he didn’t know a question’s answer, “I’ll find out.” By golly, he did.
But something that looked like the jitters returned on the night the three new members were installed at the end of April. His eyes widened suddenly in the glare of the lights. He reminded me of a man who had been randomly plucked from the audience and thrust onto the dais. But he closed the gap so fast it blindsided his colleagues. You are going to love his enthusiasm.
Every Monday night since April 28, he has been the best prepared Councilman or tied with the best prepared. He has been bristlingly independent, articulate, thoughtful, out of the box, and he has asked questions that sound as if he will grow into a star. Grade: A.
Armenta Upsets Critics
No one who likes the extremely collegial Mr. Armenta wanted to hear the un-nice things that were muttered, sotto voce, about him — in relation to Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger — throughout the campaign.
He would be a lapdog to Mr. Silbiger.
Silbiger Jr., critics sneered.
He would imitate Mr. Silbiger’s lead every time. He would unswervingly follow the party line. He valued loyalty over reflection.
The faces of those poor-guessing, dead-wrong people are so red this morning that all of them look as if they are wearing warpaint or smeared lipstick all over their several chins.
As handsome as a Madison Avenue dandy, the pooh-poohers quickly figured out that Mr. Armenta is as fashionably handsome inside of his head as externally.
Dashingly smart, flexible, reasonable and blessed with a gift for splendid articulation, the pleasant breeze that Mr. Armenta has stirred inside Council Chambers has blown the dirt dust off of his embarrassed critics. Grade: A.
