How Much Baloney for You, Sir?
Mr. Rose’s reason for walking out is about two dollars worth of baloney, Mr. Silbiger said in effect. “The City Council and the School Board are not rivals,” he added. “We all live in the same community. Besides, on such an important occasion, if an elected official is present, this is the courteous thing to do. If our County Supervisor had been there, don’t you think I would have asked her to say a few words? It would be insulting not to ask the person to speak.” While Ms. Davis and Mr. Rose were mightily upset during the kerfuffel that followed, Mr. Silbiger remained his regular unruffled self. He generally repeated what he has stated more passionately at other times, that a bridge rather than a wall needs to be constructed between the City Council and the School Board, long considered arch political rivals. “The question really is,” said Mr. Silbiger, “are we going to support education and the School District in our community? If the answer is yes, we should have good relations with the education community and develop a relationship with the School Board. There was nothing wrong with asking the President of the School Board to speak, especially since there were many youths in the crowd. To say Saundra Davis spoke for political reasons has no basis in fact. She is my friend. But I am friends with all the members of the School Board,” said Mr. Silbiger, by far the strongest advocate on the City Council for all matters educational and for more amplified youth activities.
You Scratch My Back
“No matter who the President of the School Board is, I would have invited that person to speak. I expect the School District to treat city officials the same way.” Turning to one of the most sensitive topics in Culver City politics, Mr. Silbiger said that “the City Council is not in competition with the School District.” Not only was he caught off guard when Mr. Rose left his seat on stage, said the Mayor, “I was surprised by the words he blurted out. If he had a problem with what happened, I would have been happy to discuss it then with him. Or now. It doesn’t matter.” As Mayor and School Board President, Mr. Silbiger said it is hardly a departure from the norm for the two of them to speak at the same event. “We did for the Education Foundation,” he said, “and for the Fireworks Display. We will in the future, too. I don’t see this as political. In another city, this kind of courtesy would be a given. I hope that both of us get to speak more at each other’s events.”
Postscript
After further reflection, said Mr. Silbiger, he is puzzled by the political dust that was stirred and the rhetorical heat that was spent on a blurred moment. “People in the community probably are wondering, ‘why a furor over this?’” he said.
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Walkout and Explosion When 3 Political Stars Meet
By Ari L. Noonan
Long-simmering tensions exploded in a furious cluster of angry sparks on Saturday morning when three of Culver City’s best-known political figures unexpectedly met on the same plot of earth at the Opening Ceremonies for the 55th anniversary of Fiesta La Ballona. One of the participants still is exhausted from the volatility. “I am so stressed out by what happened that I am still reeling,” School Board President Saundra Davis said this afternoon. “I can’t get it out of my head.” The three political stars clashed with a thud, eyewitnesses reported. So far, two versions of what took place are on file with this newspaper. The third perspective has been promised to thefrontpageonline.com by Tuesday morning. While it is not possible to gauge the personality temperature when the three intersected, the human heat clearly was much more torrid than the hot weather. This appears to be the way events unfolded: Nearly two dozen Culver City dignitaries of varying prestige and importance were seated on the large Main Entertainment Stage at Vets Park to officially open the Fiesta, which presumably had been rumbling along since Monday. Fiesta Chair Tom Camarella opened the VIP portion of the day. Bill LaPointe, Parks and Recreation Dept. Director, followed by introducing the civic celebrities. Peace, at that point, was about to be defeated. As the Mayor of Culver City, Gary Silbiger, in a burst of not uncharacteristic enthusiasm, invited Ms. Davis to step up and greet the Fiesta crowd. Ms. Davis is a longtime personal friend and political ally of the Mayor. As she was moving toward the microphone, second-term City Councilman Steve Rose, who is the Chair of the Redevelopment Agency, angrily stood up to walk out in protest.
The Loudest Sound Was ‘Bang’
It is here that the accounts become multi-layered. According to Ms. Davis, “I heard Steve Rose say, ‘If she speaks, I am leaving the stage.’ I was shocked. I thought he was kidding. We have never had words. He said, ‘She’s not a member of the City Council. This is not a School District event. She shouldn’t be speaking.’ And then he heckled me the whole time I was speaking.” Mr. Rose issued a double denial to this newspaper, insisting that he was not mad and is not mad at Ms. Davis. Further, he emphatically stated that he did not heckle her, insisting he was not present. “I walked away,” he said. “Besides, my beef is with Gary, not Saundra Davis. What Gary did, once again, was to try and turn this occasion into a political event. He does that every time. It is completely inappropriate.” Ms. Davis told this newspaper that she heard Mr. Rose say, ‘I don’t want to hear anything that woman has to say.’”
He Said, She Said
Routinely, Mr. Rose and Mr. Silbiger, who hold rival political philosophies, oppose each other on high-profile City Council agenda items. Mr. Rose said he stormed off the stage “because this was a city event. It was not a political event, even though Gary tried to make it one. And it certainly was not a School District event. It was not appropriate for Saundra to speak. As Gary continues to make political events out of everything, I am not going to be a part of them. When I left the stage, somebody said to me, ‘Come back.’ But I said ‘I don’t want to be part of this.’” For her part, Ms. Davis said, the fallout may not be over from what was supposed to be a bright and happy moment. Mr. Rose said he heard that the entertainer Ronnie Jayne sang Happy Birthday to him to mark No. 60. But he could not confirm the report, he said, “because I was not there to hear it.”