He’s the Old Kid Not the New Kid
Last week when he was fulfilling the preliminary rituals expected of all new City Council members, making the rounds of everyone significant at City Hall, it was more like getting together with longtime neighbors. They knew each other, by name and by habit. Newness in this case, Mr. Malsin suggested, was more of a technical than a practical concept. He shrugged at the notion that he had to make a major adaptation in adjusting to the dynamics of all new teammates. “I have known the four Councilpeople for quite a long time,” he said. “They were very familiar to me. It is always interesting to get used to new dynamics when you are in a situation like this. The dynamics were much as I expected. I’m sure it will take some getting used to, for them as much as for me, to relate to each other.” To anyone who judged that he was more active than expected in his opening minutes on the Council, Mr. Malsin replied that “I was just acting out of my convictions. I spoke up to request assignments on the committees I was interested in, the ones I thought I could bring something to. I felt that was what I needed to communicate.”
Being deferential was not on his mind, Mr. Malsin said. “It’s a matter of getting support of the majority, developing a consensus.” Rejecting the assertions by Ms. Gross and Ms. Polokoff regarding the uniter-divider concept, Mr. Malsin said he never used such phrasing. He said he told voters he would be a “consensus builder.” Mayor Gary Silbiger’s campaign literature, Mr. Malsin said, “referred to him as unifying all of Culver City. Being a uniter not a divider is a phrase that George Bush used, not I. I see myself as a consensus builder. I am certain I will be on the losing end of some votes as well as the winning end sometimes.”
Opening Night was “an energetic evening,” the West Culver City Councilman said. “I look forward to getting a lot accomplished in the next couple of years.”