The Anatomy of an Election

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

• Complete Election Results (below)

   The first or second most beguiling question on the morning after the City Council election was:
   Did Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger and Scott Malsin prevail because they were judged superior candidates or did Mehaul O’Leary lose it?
      That answer will be sorted out, argued and assessed in the coming days, but the preponderance of opening evidence weighs in favor of Mr. Silbiger and Mr. Malsin.
   They rolled, and hardly anyone or anything got in their dissimilar paths.

From a wandering journalist’s diary

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

From a wandering journalist’s diary as he wended his way through Culver City on Election Night:
 
Silbiger Headquarters
 
   New Mom Amy Cherness of the Democratic Club was spotted walking into Club Tropical, the Gary Silbiger headquarters, with new Papa Darrell Cherness:

   Mrs. C was beaming about Isabell Gabrielle, who turns two months old on Thursday, April 20. She behaves nearly perfectly, her objective Mom testified, as all infant Democrats traditionally do.

Silbiger, Malsin and V Win Big

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

   With the gracefulness of  swans and the unrelenting determination of bulldogs, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger and Planning Commissioner Scott Malsin — stylistic opposites — handily won the two available City Council seats in last night’s election.
   They were favored in January, and while they didn’t lose any ground during a pretty low-key campaign, they may not have gained much, either.
   No one could have been very surprised by the results, although the margins were defined more clearly than had been forecast.

Sounds on Election Nght

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

      The most closely watched dynamic on the reconstituted City Council will be the tone of rhetoric between Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger and newcomer Scott Malsin.
   While the nature of future skirmishing is debated, the contrasts between the two already have been pounded into the ground.
   At Mr. Malsin’s headquarters last night, Pacifico’s restaurant, Downtown, the crowd of professionals and City Hall workers reacted the same way their candidate did — in an understated manner.

Albania Forever

Ari L. NoonanSports

   If you will forgive me, I shall bid adieu for a short while, only in part because the holiday of Passover begins tonight.
   I shall be traveling, practically incognito, to Albania. Following Passover, it is my intention to spend a number of days touring the fascinating hill country bordering – how I love that word – the Adriatic Sea.
   Taking my cue from an extraordinary thinker named Juana Sosa, my plan calls for bicycling through the mountainous terrain of Albania for at least two weeks. Owing to aching anxiety,unattractive red welts have broken out inside my body in anticipation of the coming excursion.

‘Boring’ Campaign Is Blamed on Vera

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

      An election campaign that is not likely to be long remembered skidded to an official halt this morning when the polls opened across Culver City.
      Will Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger, Planning Commissioner Scott Malsin or newcomer Mehaul O’Leary be smiling brightest tonight at the end of the vote  count?
      While residents are deciding which two of the three City Council contenders deserve their support, and whether the City Charter warrants changing, pundits were recovering their voices.
      “Boring campaign,” one oldtimer said.

Tell Me, Is It March or April?

Ari L. NoonanSports

       On the inerrant scales of honesty, yesterday’s mischaracterized “pro-immigration” rallies that soiled the streets of Los Angeles and other cities, dutifully billed as “spontaneous” by news organizations, ranked just below the latest television wrestling for calculated spontaneity.
       The off-stage orchestrations by political movements with international agendas —including the diminution of America — was the news of yesterday that will not be told except in small pockets of media.
       Instead, today’s storylines have been crafted to resemble a Sunday School picnic benignly overseen by that elderly spinster in the corner, the one with the rimless glasses, an unflatteringly undersized hat and a blue-polka dot dress that only a maiden lady would buy.

Silbiger Has the Answers

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

[Editor’s Note: In the interest of gaining deeper insights into the reasoning processes of the three candidates for the two City Council seats in Tuesday’s election, thefrontpageonline.com posed a list of probing questions to each contender. The questions required detailed, thoughtful answers. As you will see in this edition of The Page, every candidate took his responsibility seriously, reflecting at length. Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger not only is the lone incumbent in the race, he may hold a second perceived advantage: As a Progressive, during the past four years, he has attracted a standing army of loyalists who make him the strongest favorite on Election Day. With the end of the race at hand, Mr. Silbiger and his wife say they feel “exhilerated.”]

Is Ground Shaking Under Fulwood?

Ari L. NoonanOP-ED

      Is the status of Jerry Fulwood, the Chief Administrative Officer of the city, in jeopardy if Charter Reform, Measure V, passes next week?
      Could City Hall be shopping for a replacement for Mr. Fulwood, a supporter of Measure V, if V wins?
      The answer is not clear, according to City Councilperson Carol Gross.
      That struck some city fathers — two City Council members and the chair of the Charter Review Committee — as an amazing assertion on the eve of the election.
Ninety-six hours before Culver City voters go to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether they want to change to a city manager-style of government, Ms. Gross said no contingency plan is in place if the voters answer yes.

Case of a Man Born Wrong

Ari L. NoonanSports

      Some people were just born to be sub-fortunate.
      Take me. Middle class, solvent, employed and white. Drat the luck.
      Had I been born in Mexico, I could have crossed the border into America any day I wanted. At a San Ysidro deli, I would have been welcomed as this country’s newest instant citizen hero by Mayor Wrong and Cardinal Wrong. No questions asked.
      Even better news arrived this week.
      Lost my job. Lost my family. Lost my home. No problem. All I have to do is hang out a little longer.
      The County Board of Supervisors voted four to one to activate a ten-year plan to end homelessness.