Re “With Whom Do You Agree: Weissman or the ice Mayor?”

Mehaul O’Leary

Through the dozen years I have known him, Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary, much in the news of the community lately, has resembled a political liberal, moderate, but mostly a nudge left of center.

But is he?

A timely question because, as he withdraws from the pub business, he is anticipating, more eagerly than he ever suspected, being elevated to mayor of Culver City in April.

A moderate liberal? He figuratively stroked his chin and supplied a definite indefinite answer.

“I really don’t know how I would be described politically,” Mr. O’Leary said.

“I mean, I am all about the environment. That would make me on the liberal end of things.

“I am about fiscal responsibility, which makes me  more conservative.

“I don’t know. I am all over the place.”

Therefore, he logically concludes, “I don’t like to be placed in a box.”

And furthermore…

No one in Council Chambers was surprised last Monday evening when Mr. O’Leary became the only person on the dais to decline Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells’s invitation to sign City Hall onto an amicus brief accompanying President Obama’s gay marriage case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

A traditionalist in important strata of his life, the vice mayor stands apart from same-sex marriage, a lonely, brave stance for someone who might be labeled liberal.

Like most of us, he is a blend.