Voters Reject Malsin Bid to Return to Dias
Meghan Sahli-Wells and Jim Clarke both won seats on the Culver City Council Tuesday night joining incumbents Andy Weissman and Micheal O’Leary, both of whom were re-elected to second terms.
Scott Malsin lost his bid to return to the council after resigning in December in order to retain his health benefits. City hall watchers were not surprised by his loss as many expressed sympathy with Malsin on his decision to resign but were critical of his decision to run for the seat he had just vacated.
Weissman, Sahli-Wells and O’Leary will all serve full four- year terms while Clarke will complete the unexpired two years of the seat Malsin vacated.
A visibly pleased Clarke kept making his way back and forth from his celebration at The Tavern in downtown to the council chambers Tuesday night, thanking his supporters.
O’Leary, who is completing his stint as Mayor this month, commented “I’m ecstatic, I think this will be a wonderful council.”
Councilman Weissman said, “I am very gratified and pleased to have finished at the top for the second time.” Weissman felt this would be a “good council that will work well together.” While he thought it would take time for the group to get comfortable with each other he said “we all have the same goals, we all want what is best for Culver City.”
Former Councilmember Gary Silbiger was on hand at city hall and expressed his feeling that, “Meghan will be a great councilmember, she really has the interests of the people at heart.”
As the evening wrapped up O’Leary and Clarke joined Weisman at the Weissman celebration at Rush Street. They were joined there by city dignitaries and local residents, including councilmember Jeff Cooper, and former councilmembers Steven Rose, Alan Corlin and Richard Marcus.
Ballots were delivered to the council chambers shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. and with onlookers watching the ballots were counted in full view of the public and could be watched on the city’s website.
The counting went smoothly and by 10 p.m. all the ballots were counted and it was off to the various victory parties. Officials in the clerk’s office were careful not to have repeats of past faux pas in the balloting. Several years ago ballots being transported by poll workers went flying down Culver Boulevard when the trunk the ballots were in was not closed properly. Ted Cooke, the Police Chief at the time was seen scrambling around the shrubbery picking up ballots.
On another occasion poll workers left the ballot box at the polling place inside a car dealership. The management of the dealership had to be located to unlock the doors and retrieve the ballots. Since that time the clerk’s office has tightened procedures and training. While there are still absentee ballots to be counted the 300-vote margin Clarke holds over Malsin for the fourth seat is unlikely to change.
Measure X, which will raise the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from 12% to 14%, was overwhelmingly passed with 82% of the voters supporting the measure. The tax increase was palatable for voters because it will not directly affect the residents or businesses of Culver City and will be added to hotel and motel bills of the guests who stay there.
The new council will be sworn in at the April 23 meeting. The council will also pick a new Mayor and Vice Mayor at that time. Traditionally the Vice Mayor becomes the Mayor, however with the resignation in December of then Vice Mayor Malsin the position was left vacant.
The council has a convoluted policy on the selection process. Councilmember Cooper is the only current member not to have served as either Mayor or Vice Mayor and would be in line for one of those positions.
Reader Comments(0)