George Laase
"Ethical behavior doesn't require someone to ignore their own self-interests or demand they live a life of self-sacrifice. But it does require them to know the difference between what they want and what they should do."
Michael Josephson
I once wrote that I thought Mr. Malsin could have used a refresher course on Ethics. But in light of seeing what he declared to the Fair Political Practices Commission, it probably would have been a total waste of time and effort.
How dare Mr. Malsin even consider that our small community should have to pay for his healthcare for life! It just exposes what he would do to get what he wanted; even if it took doing the extraordinary action of resigning from his office to accomplish it. By leaving his office early, Mr Malsin made damn sure he was going to get what he thought was his due. Instead of giving back to the community the cost of his healthcare, he decided that it was about time for him to start taking; not just once or twice, but every year, for the rest of his life.
Not only did he do the unprecedented by resigning early from office; he did the unthinkable and used his family as a shield for moral justification for what he did. After looking at the extent of his declared holdings, do you really think his family’s “sake” was at stake?
Was his decision really made out of Need or just plain Greed?
After seeing his declared holdings do you think he really needs the Public’s continued subsidy in providing for his and his family’s healthcare? Do you think he even took into consideration the kind of fiscal yoke he was adding around the neck of our small community?
It doesn’t matter how Mr Malsin acquired his wealth. Whether he received it by inheritance from his grandmother, Lane Bryant, the famous clothier, or whether he “worked his butt off” for it, saved and invested it wisely. It doesn’t matter whether his wealth is Old or New money. It’s a fact that Mr Malsin has a whole lot more money than the “average bear” living in Culver City.
So why would he even think about asking us tax-paying peons to fork over for his and his family’s healthcare benefits for the rest of his life? How much “sake” does a family need? Well, I guess by Mr Malsin’s standards… it’s a whole lot more than the rest of us.
So far I have refrained from calling Mr Malsin “dirty names.” But, in this case, after seeing this part of his declared holdings, I think the term “One-Percenter” aptly fits, don’t you?
If Mr Malsin or any of his supporters think I have been unfair or too harsh in my criticism or was too generous in my estimations, he could always set the record straight by publicly releasing the real figures of his holdings and his State and Federal Tax Returns so all of us can see just how much he really needs the public’s hand-out supporting his life-style for the rest of his life.
D SCOTT MALSIN
STATEMENT of ECONOMIC INTEREST 2012
CALIFORNIA FORM 700
FAIR POLITICAL PRACTICES COMMISSION
A PUBLIC DOCUMENT
NOTE: The information presented below is based on the FPPC Form 700 submitted by D Scott Malsin and is a Public document. All candidates running for office in the state of California must file this Statement of Economic Interest form and it is available in our City Clerk's office. I choose to estimate the catagories shown on the conservative side because the ranges given were too broad to really mean anything. I choose to use the amounts of $5,000 when the $2K-$10K box was checked, $35,000 when the $10K-$100K was choosen, and $450,000 for the $100,000-$1,000,000 box.
As you can see at the bottom, the estimates total a little over $2,000,000.
INVESTMENT, TYPE, PRODUCT
RANGE OF INVESTMENT, ESTIMATED AMOUNT INVESTED
ABBOTT LABORATORIES STOCK Pharmaceuticals
$10K-$100K $35,000
ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES (ADM) STOCK Semiconductors
$10K-$100K $35,000
CITIGROUP STOCK Financial Services
$2K-$10K $5,000
CBL & ASSCOIATES PROPERTY STOCK Real Estate Investmrent Trust
$10K-$100K $35,000
CROWN CASTLE INC STOCK Telecom Towers
$10K-$100K $35,000
COMCAST STOCK Cable TV
$10K-$100K $35,000
DEVELOPERS DIVERSIFIED STOCK Real Estate Investmrent Trust
$10K-$100K $35,000
DUKE WEEKS REALTY STOCK Real Estate Investmrent Trust
$2K-$10K $5,000
GENERAL GROWTH PROPERTIES STOCK Real Estate Investmrent Trust
$10K-$100K $35,000
GOLDMAN SACHS STOCK Financial Services
$2K-$10K $5,000
HOWARD HUGHES CORP STOCK Real Estate
$10K-$100K $35,000
IBM STOCK Computer Technology
$100K-$1M $450,000
KINDER-MORGAN ENERGY PARTNERS STOCK Petrochemical Pipelines
$100K-$1M $450,000
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY STOCK Semiconductors
$10K-$100K $35,000
MILLICON INTER-NATIONAL CELLULAR STOCK International Cell Phone Service
$10K-$100K $35,000
MOTOROLA MOBILITY STOCK Telecom Equipment
$2K-$10K $5,000
MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS STOCK Telecom Equipment
$2K-$10K $5,000
PLAINS ALL-AMERICAN PIPELINES STOCK Pipeline MPL
$100K-$1M $110,000
SAFEWAY STOCK Groceries
$10K-$100K $35,000
TC PIPELINES STOCK Petrochemical Pipelines
$100K-$1M $450,000
TIME-WARNER STOCK Media
$10K-$100K $35,000
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS STOCK Semiconductors
$10K-$100K $35,000
WESTERN UNION STOCK Payment Processing
$10K-$100K $35,000
STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS STOCK Lodging
$10K-$100K $35,000
HOST HOTELS AND RESORTS STOCK Lodging
$2K-$10K $5,000
DEUTSCHE TELEKOM STOCK Telecomunications Provider
$10K-$100K $35,000
CA STATE DEPT of WATER RESOURCES BOND State Revenue Bond
$10K-$100K $10,000
ESTIMATED TOTAL OF PUBLICLY DECLARED HOLDINGS $2,060,000
George Lasse is a Staff Writer for the Culver City Progress Blog and a life-long Culver City resident.
George, thank you for this. It seems to me that there are some people who NEED GREED so that they can feel superior to the rest of us.
ReplyDelete-Diana Wright
George-
ReplyDeleteThank you for this information. I definitely do not agree with what Malsin did; what bothers me the most is that he is running again and that he seems to have supporters.
Scott Malsin has declared that he owns a business; I assume that his family had insurance prior to his election, but dropped it when he became a councilmember. Malsin is lucky to have a business, let alone the ability to purchase insurance. There are people in Culver City who don't have jobs, let alone health insurance.
I could forgive Malsin for giving up his City Council seat if he didn't run again; afterall, he was aided and abetted by a flawed city program that gave full benefits to part-time City Council members. What I can't forgive is his audacity to run again.
Ms Levy-- The 700 form also shows that Mr Malsin listed himself as sole-proprietor of a small business called Pro-Point: a website design/developer and maintenance provider. He only listed two sources of income from Pro-Point: $500-$1,000 from the CC Chamber of Commerce and over a $1,000 from the non-profit CC High School's AVPA--The Academy of Visual and Performing Arts.
DeleteBoy, that's a pretty small business if you ask me! But,why would Mr Malsin charge the AVPA over a $1,000+ dollars for its its website development when, earlier he setup Faraguat's school website free of charge? I guess he must think our high school is not in that desparate need of funds to educate our kids. George Laase
George--
DeleteI am not defending Malsin, but he has a daugther at Farragut and was probably volunteering his services. I wanted to check out his website, but my "Norton" software indicated the site had not been "tested" yet; I do not usually open sites with that designation.
In any case, I tried to strike up a conversation with Mr. Malsin at a La Ballona Festival and found him to be quite unfriendly.
Susan
Susan, as you point out, Mr. Malsin does claim to be a "Small Business Owner" on his ballot listing. I suppose that would tend to sound better to the average voter than "stock and investments owner."
ReplyDeleteFool me once (first campaign 2006), fool me twice (2010 re-election) BUT NOT the third time (elect me, I want my power back). Not this time, Mr. Malsin, I am not buying it.
- Diana Wright
A lot of folks, including me, are saying that this is an important election on April 10 for four seats on the City Council. The loss of all of the programs, employees and funding from the Redevelopment Agency have put Culver City in a big financial bind. For me to do my civic duty, I should vote for four candidates. After first eliminating two as the most unqualified, I will vote for Mayor Mehaul O’Leary, Jim Clarke, Andy Weissman and Stephen Murray.
ReplyDeleteHere is my reasoning:
Scott Malsin is an absolutely amazing con man. It’s just amazing that he has apparently convinced himself that the citizens of Culver City won’t see past his self-serving actions and will vote him back into power. How can he believe, in these economically troubling times, that Culver City taxpayers should subsidize his multi-millionaire lifestyle with tax-free health benefits? It is really sad that he thinks that we are, collectively, that stupid. We can only hope that even the most gullible will see the light.
Megan Sahli-Wells might well be a viable candidate for City Council some day – just not this election. While Ms. Sahli-Wells is heavily involved with the schools and the environment, her responses during the Candidates’ Forums show how deficient she is in civic, budgetary and real world realities.
I think that at this point, she would be an excellent choice for the School Board in the November 2013 election since the current School Board apparently doesn’t think that listening to parents is all that important.
Vote for four candidates, but please don’t make one of them Mr. Malsin or Ms. Sahli-Wells.
Diana-
ReplyDeleteEveryone is entitled to an opinion and mine is that you are dead wrong about Meghan Sahli-Wells’s credentials. In my interactions with her, I discovered that she is very adept in dealing with civic, budgetary and real world realities. These are not her only strengths, but she has a vision for dealing with these topics that very few candidates have expressed. Culver City needs Ms. Sahli-Wells to help deal with the difficult problems that face us.
In addition to Meghan’s knowledge of and ability to deal with the issues mentioned above, she also has unwavering integrity. Developers have offered to help fund her campaign, but she turned down those offers because she did not want to be beholden to any group. Meghan is an advocate for residents, but she also wants to make it easier for businesses to thrive.
If you or anyone else would like to speak directly with Meghan, please visit her website at www.vote4Meghan.com to obtain her telephone number.
A vote for Meghan Sahli-Wells is a vote for the people who work, inhabit and visit our great city.