Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger, Planning Commissioner Scott Malsin and businessman Mehaul O’Leary plainly were caught flatfooted. There was nowhere to hide.
Who Wants to Go First?
None looked eager to respond first, but the microphone seemed to glide to Mr. O’Leary.
Boyish and frank, as usual, he dived in. He didn’t have a solution but he sounded as if he intended to try. Typically, he personalized his answer by saying he only had qualified to vote two and a half years ago. After saying, “I look at the individual right to vote as the most important one you have,” he said he “imagined” the city would do “whatever it takes to make it work for you.”
Mr. O’Leary seemed eager to pass the baton, although no one was scrapping to seize it.
“I would imagine my colleagues might want to comment,” he said.
Throughout the campaign, Mr. Silbiger’s answers have been from an insider’s point of view, demonstrating intimate knowledge of the internal workings of City Hall.
A Favorite Silbiger Theme
Invariably, the Vice Mayor’s response wends its way toward one of his pet themes, populism, how important it is to bring multitudes into the process.
“Our Clerk’s office takes care of the actual voting process,” he said. “What I would be willing to do with you would be to talk to (City Clerk) Chris Armenta to make sure everybody has an equal opportunity to vote.
“We can talk later today, if you want, and see how we can implement that. The right to vote is so important. People have died for the right to vote. Many people could not vote for decades and centuries. Now that we can, only twenty-five percent (of eligible voters in Culver City) come out to vote. We have to increase accessibility in all elections.”
The highly personal Mr. Malsin’s preferred style is the Hi, Neighbor approach. He seeks to make the interrogator feel special by elevating the question to a lofty plateau. Always surehanded, Mr. Malsin addressed each questioner by name in his answer.
Perhaps more than the other candidates, with each question he tries to immediately convert it to his singular advantage.
On accessible voting, he said:
“Abby, thank you so much for bringing up this issue. I think it really is important. Possibly not that many years ago, it would have been difficult for people with physical disabilities to get into some of our voting places. Thankfully, we have come a long way since then.
“This is a great question because it allows me to explain to you how I want to work for you if and when you elect me. Abby, do me a favor. Call me on April 12. I’m serious. 945-5499. The number is on all of my literature. You are all welcome to call me.
“This is important because now, more than ever, people are concerned about the sanctity and security of their vote.
“If we can borrow the County’s electronic voting machines, or find some other way to make you feel very comfortable that your vote is being recorded properly, let’s do it.”
By this final Candidates Forum of the spring, Mr. O’Leary, Mr. Silbiger and Mr. Malsin appeared to have grown in confidence.
Whether the differences in style and substance are more than cosmetic is something voters will figure out by the time the polls open on Tuesday morning.
Mr. O’Leary is the unpredictable factor in the field. Mr. Malsin is Mr. Congenial and also Mr. Cautious.
Mr. Silbiger has been there before, and the contents of his answers show that.
Postscript
Good naturedly, Mayor Albert Vera and City Councilman Alan Corlin debated the Charter Reform proposition, Measure V.
When the ardently opposed mayor criticized the failure to separate the Charter changes into individual ballot items, Mr. Corlin explained why all were brought into a single grouping. In recent elections, he said, voters have complained they were confused by long lists of ballot items that were isolated instead of being collected into one package.
