5 Lessons from the 2012 City Council Election

Karlo Silbiger

There is no question that the 2012 Culver City Council Election will go down in history as one of the most unique to date. It is the first in modern history to elect 4 of 5 council members and the first to have a mix of full and partial terms (where the order of the candidates really mattered). With a slate of 6 candidates (including 4 who had run previously) competing for 4 seats, there were few in Culver City willing to make predictions about the eventual order at the finish line. But it’s always fun to analyze after the fact! Here, then, are my 5 Lessons from one of the most interesting elections to date.

The Best Campaigning is Sustained Activism in Your Community
What do 79%, 78%, 70%, and 67% have in common? They are the amount of voters that cast ballots for Jim Clarke, Meghan Sahli-Wells, Scott Malsin, and Andy Weissman in the respective neighborhoods in which they live. Each finished first in that precinct, which is not unusual in ours or any community. Those who know us best, who are our neighbors, who conceivably share our local issues and concerns, are most likely to want us representing them in public office. However, for near 80% of voters in some communities to all support the same hometown candidate points to a more interesting phenomenon: voters are looking to elect those who have been active in their neighborhoods. Jim Clarke, Meghan Sahli-Wells, and Scott Malsin all served at one point in the elected leadership of their neighborhood association, potentially a new road to elective office. It will be interesting to see whether more and more candidates come out of this type of neighborhood experience and whether we continue to see such disparate results from precinct to precinct throughout our community.

2nd Time’s the Charm
Of the council members who took their seats on the dais tonight and will serve for the next 2 years, 80% (all but Mr. Clarke) lost their first city council election before winning in their second attempt. Of those who served prior to tonight’s changing of the guard, 100% fell into that same category. In fact, in 5 of the past 7 city council elections, at least 1 (and as many as 3) of the winning candidates were running after a losing effort previously. This has become the norm in our community. It is likely a mix of the added name recognition and fundraising capabilities that come with running a second campaign and a community-wide sense that we want to promote and reward sustained activism. Meghan Sahli-Wells has exemplified that over the past 2 years, becoming more and more active in a variety of civic activities after very narrowly losing the election in 2010, and the community responded by giving her the 2nd most votes (ahead of an incumbent, a former incumbent, and less than 200 votes behind yet a third incumbent).

3rd Time’s Not the Charm
Scott Malsin has been a very popular figure in our community since 2001, when he was appointed to the Planning Commission. He came within a few hundred votes of an incumbent in his first attempt at elective office in 2006, easily winning a seat. 4 years later he beat the field by about 500 votes, a true accomplishment. However, in this election, Mr. Malsin received only 2,370 votes, a reduction of over 20% of those who voted for him just 2 years ago. We at the Culver City Progress Blog have posted numerous stories outlining the concerns that some residents had regarding Mr. Malsin’s retirement in order to secure lifetime health benefits for his family and the game that was being played with the voter-approved term limits. Obviously, these were widely held concerns among the voters and a reminder to all elected officials that we are public servants and need to respect the will and direction of those who send us to the dais.

Culver City Gains in Some Diversity Categories, But Loses in Others There are many ways of thinking about diversity in relation to the leaders of our community. We all know that a diverse group of elected officials provides better representation in decision-making and ensures that all voices are included in the conversation. In some ways we are doing a pretty good job. The 2 new members elected to the council immediately become the youngest and oldest members currently serving (and among the youngest and oldest at the time of their election in history). So, we’re doing well in age diversity (with about a 30 year gap). The 5 council members live in 5 distinct neighborhoods of Culver City (Downtown, Raintree, Rancho-Higuera, Studio Estates, and Vets Park) and all voted in different polling places on April 10th, so we’re doing pretty well in neighborhood diversity. With the election of Meghan Sahli-Wells, we have chosen the 5th elected woman to the council after 4 years of a council composed of all male members. We are still waiting for the first council with more than 1 woman. But with the loss of Christopher Armenta, we are back to an all-Caucasian council. This is not an issue that can be addressed overnight, but we live in a very diverse community and deserve to be led by a group that looks like those they serve.

Voters are Tired
April 10th was just over 5 months after last November’s school board election. It fell less than 2 months before voters will be asked to go to the polls once again to elect candidates to a variety of local, state, and national offices in the June primary election. While I will choose to participate in all 3, over 80% of my fellow registrants in Culver City rebelled earlier this month, they said that this is 1 vote too many. I don’t know what the best fix is for this unfortunate situation. Some suggest dividing the city into districts so that candidates can find the time to talk to more voters. Others suggest consolidating this election with either the primary election in June, the school board election in November, or both as a way of combating voter fatigue. Ultimately, we as a community will have to take a serious look at these and every other potential fixes because I hope we can all agree that this is just not acceptable for a community as engaged as ours.

Karlo Silbiger is the Co-Editor of the Culver City Progress Blog, the President of the Culver City School Board, and the Former President of the Culver City Democratic Club.