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If mistakes were wallpaper, we could cover Culver City this afternoon, something we endeavor to do 5 days week anyway. Ring up one more gaffe.
After receiving an email from Susan Deen, I realize that Marianne Kim will succeed Jeanette James on the Parks and Recreation Commission, not her husband Charles, as somebody at this newspaper reported yesterday.
In June, Ms. Deen kindly points out, Rick Hudson was appointed to succeed her husband. This week’s vacancy was for the seat previously occupied by Jeanette James.
But this affords an opportunity to call up what may turn out to be a prescient observation by former City Councilman Alan Corlin.
He predicted, with the certitude of a man in a hurricane forecasting a spike in umbrella sales, that the 35-year-old Ms. Kim, who made a socko presentation to the Council on Monday night, eventually will ascend to the dais as a Lady of the Council…
An Applicant to Keep an Eye on
Another commission applicant, East Side resident James Alamillo, was just as impressive in his delivery as Ms. Kim. She was more polished, but not one freckle more authentic or deserving than Ms. Kim.
Historically, commission appointments have rested on who you know, which is a natural qualification. I believe Chris Armenta was the only Councilmen who knew of Mr. Alamillo going into the process, meaning that young Mr. Alamillo was no better or worse off than Tom Camarella and Karlo Silbiger.
Since women seem to be vanishing into the shadows of City Hall, Michelle Vogel gave a no-nonsense talk about why she merited the vacancy on Parks and Rec.
Perhaps she and Mr. Alamillo should take a cue from freshman Councilman Mehaul O’Leary in the run-up to his winning campaign this past spring. He turned himself into a ubiquity.
Around the edges of City Hall over the weekend, there was talk that some applicants for commission seats should be blockaded. It was feared they would convert their appointments into a springboard for elective office. Now I realize some of us are purer than others of us, but, boys, what is wrong with that?
To say it differently, when the Council selects members for the various city commissions, the process is a beauty contest — obviously, or they would have voted Mr. Camarella onto Civil Service and Mr. Silbiger onto Parks and Rec.
Commission Experience Not Necessary
You still can help run the city even if the Council keeps turning up its nose or its thumb to you. Mr. Armenta notes that he and two other Councilmen, Mr. O’Leary and Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger, all were shut out of commission appointments when they tried to become better known and more involved.
Or you could tread the Barack Obama route, directly from soda jerk to President of the United States without worrying about truth or honesty because you always will be covered by your pals in the media.
Obama Kicked Truth in Its Teeth
powerlineblog.com, the Ft. Knox of reliable websites, reported this afternoon on an Obama interview minutes earlier in Sderot, Israel, one of the most tense communities on earth. Sderot is where the Arab terrorists in Gaza aim their Qassam rockets every day of the week, frightening children, old people and all Jews in between.
Mr. Obama’s integrity has been under fire all summer, “refining” his positions and then denying that he had moved.
This afternoon, however, Mr. Obama told an outright whopper. According to powerline, he said:
“Now, in terms of knowing my commitments, you don't have to just look at my words, you can look at my deeds. Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon.”
For the punchline, this was powerline’s reaction:
“But Obama is not a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Obama just made that up so he could count the committee’s action as one of “my deeds.” If committed by a Republican, this would be a gaffe of historic proportions. Even a Senator as inattentive to his duties as Obama certainly knows what committees he serves on. For him to fabricate the claim, out of whole cloth, that the Senate Banking Committee is “[his] committee,” strikes me as another sign of Obama’s megalomania. That, plus more evidence that he is totally at sea without a teleprompter.”
Will it be reported on the evening news or in the morning newspapers? Not likely. Wrong party.
