Jim Clarke, the ubiquitous City Council, struck a match and ignited a bonfire at last evening’s endorsement meeting of the Culver City Democratic Club.
Six of the seven questions posed for the four Democrats running for the City Council were meaningless since there was unstunning unanimity in their responses.
The only question worth asking and answering was raised by the keenly attuned Mr. Clarke, who was not born this week:
How long have you been a registered Democrat?
The question was aimed at Daniel Lee just as he appears to be heating up as the potential hottest ticket in the seven-person field.
The first three responses – by Councilperson Meghan Sahli Wells, Scott Wyant and Thomas Small – were less surprising than a 10-months pregnant woman delivering her child.
“I have been a registered Democrat since I was 18 years old,” perkily responded Ms. Sahli Wells. “Before I turned 18, I was registering people to vote (Democratic).
“I am a fully committed Democrat, and I always have been.”
Said Mr. Wyant: “From 18 to 20, I was registered Peace and Freedom. I was also registered Green in my 20s. I am a child of a previous period, shall we say? I have been a registered Democrat for 30 years.”
Mr. Small formally followed:
“I have been a registered Democrat since I was 18.”
Now it was the turn of the main event, Mr. Lee, the resourceful Mr. Lee, the ceaselessly intriguing Mr. Lee.
He did not arrive at the Vets promising Dem Club members a rose garden. But he gave them one anyway.
Every man on earth, the moon and Pluto remembers the moment he fell in love.
Dem Club members will carve this moment into their Book of Treasured Memories.
Mr. Lee’s youthful face surveyed the packed room. Had you been inside his busy head, you could have authored an instant best seller by now.
He fessed up pronto, as he lifted the curtain on the Culver City Address, a justification of his adult political life.
“Interesting question, Jim,” he said while simultaneously elevating euphemism to a rare height.
“I have been a registered Democrat since December of 2015.
“Prior to that, I was a registered decline-to-state voter since I was 18 (18 years ago).
“The things I have done to support the Democratic party are to vote for Democratic candidates, except in some instances where I took my own personal opinions and voted for Greens instead, or independent candidates — and to provide the Democratic party with the type of criticism it needs because a lot of times, specifically in the last decade, the Democratic party has resembled the Republican party.
“My biggest support of the Democratic party is giving them the type of criticism they need to be the type of Democratic party we need in California and in the country.”
The applause that followed was tantamount to a boy and girl sealing their love with a kiss.