While some of the nation’s attention is turned to the increasingly competitive races in the Republican and Democratic campaigns for president, Culver City voters will soon have to divide their time between the presidential campaign, the advent of the major league baseball season and their own municipal elections.
Incumbent City Councilwoman Meghan-Sahli-Wells, software designer and analyst Scott Wyant, corporate security consultant Jay Garacochea, Culver City Martin Luther King Jr. Committee member Daniel Lee, attorney Marcus Tiggs, businessman Göran Eriksson and architectural writer and consultant Thomas Small are vying for three seats in this spring’s election and only two of the seven have prior electoral campaign experience.
Jewett Walker Jr., a Culver City political strategist who has run dozens of statewide and municipal campaigns, says except for the incumbent Sahli-Wells, all of the other candidates are unproven and will have to make their cases in a forceful way to the electorate in order to win.
Walker does think Eriksson, Small and Tiggs have an opportunity to distinguish themselves, each for different reasons.
“Eriksson has done what you have to do (to become a viable candidate). He got off to an early start and he has made himself well-known to the business community,” Walker said.
On his website, Eriksson discusses that part of his resumé but also touches on a topic that Sahli-Wells and others have pushed for in Culver City. “I know that making our city truly sustainable is an enormous task, but one that we can achieve. As both a small business owner and a resident, I understand the critical importance of balancing a strong and vibrant business community that also maintains the small-town charm that has made Culver City such an attractive place to live,” his website states.
Small, a city cultural affairs commissioner, mentions unifying the various community sectors in Culver City as one of his campaign planks.
“Our city is made up of vibrant, but often fragmented communities: our schools, our traditional business community, our vibrant downtown, new media and technology businesses, cultural entities, residents, government, artists,” he wrote on his campaign site. “These communities don’t communicate well with each other. But for Culver City to thrive, really thrive, they must.”
Walker thinks Small’s association with Sahli-Wells could bode well for him in the election as well as his resumé. “He’s worked with a lot of architects and considering where the city is going in terms of planning, infrastructure and new types of building construction, I think his background could very well be beneficial ( in this race),” he said.
Lee, one of two African –American candidates in the race, is a relative newcomer to local politics and Walker thinks that places him at a disadvantage to candidates such as Eriksson and Tiggs, who are more well-known.
On his campaign website, Lee talks about his work on the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, his efforts to implement a civil rights curriculum to the Culver City Teen Center and his volunteer work at El Rincòn Elementary School.
“I would relish the opportunity to form deeper relationships with the citizens of Culver City and to collaboratively work to make the city more open, responsive and sustainable for its residents,” Lee’s website states.
Walker said unlike Small, Lee’s background did not stand out to him as one that voters might identify with as someone that they would like to see on the council. He offered the same observation about Wyant, even though he acknowledged that Wyant’s position on the planning commission could be an asset.
“You don’t look to these types of people to weigh in on the things that people care about,” the political strategist said. “I’m concerned that [Lee’s] background does not seem city council- worthy. I don’t see anything is his background that shows that he’s ready to lead.”
Regarding Wyant, who has worked on local campaigns, Walker said,” He doesn’t look like he has the gravitas to be one the council, unlike someone like [ former Culver City] Albert Vera or [Councilman] Andy Weismann.”
Tiggs, the other black candidate in the race, is a former planning commissioner and a member of the city’s Fiesta LaBallona Committee. He ran for city council is 2004 and gained valuable name recognition after his election loss. But Walker thinks timing might play a large role in Tiggs’ campaign this time, as he has not sought public office in 12 years.
“When a candidate starts to build a base and become more well-known to the electorate, you have to strike when the iron’s hot,” Walker pointed out. “Because of the fluidity of the city’s electorate, his base might be gone. [Tiggs] probably should have run an election cycle ago.”
Garacochea, a former Culver City police detective, could make a play for one of the three seats by emphasizing his time in law enforcement, Walker said.
“Together we can continue to make Culver City one of greatest cities to live, work, play and ultimately, achieve our collective dream of community,” Garacochea’s website states.
Lee has the endorsement of Culver City Unified School District Board Member Kelly Kent, which could motivate some voters to take a second look at him as the popular Kent is still riding the wave of her resounding November election win.
Sahli-Wells will be a “shoo-in” Walker says, because of her incumbency, her popularity and her record on the council.
“A lot of good things have happened that she can take credit for. Also, she’s the only woman in the race and that helps her,” he said.
Walker thinks the Eriksson’s endorsement by the Culver City Chamber of Commerce could help him in the election, and to an extent could help Wyant and Tiggs, who were also endorsed by the business organization.
“It’s a significant endorsement because it gives them a fundraising base and an air of legitimacy. And in the school board election, the chamber had a political action committee that ran a mailer for their candidates and I think that benefited them,” he noted.
But in order to win, all candidates must do what all winning contenders do.
“You still have to run a good campaign,” he said. “You can have all the mailers in the world and all of the endorsements, but in the end you have to run a good campaign.
“Elections are won by the people who run the best campaigns.”
Gary Walker contributed to this story.
