Culver City voters will head to the polls in five days to select their city council representatives after a campaign season that has been unremarkable in many aspects, says a local political strategist.
Jewett Walker Jr., who has managed campaigns locally as well as statewide, says there are no pressing concerns for Culver City residents and hence he sees a level of complacency on the part of the voters, which he believes tends to favors incumbents and contenders with name recognition.
“Most voters feel that there is nothing controversial going on in the city, so why not stay with the same people who are in office,” Walker told theNews. “And when voters are complacent, challengers have to work a lot harder to make their case to the voters why they should change course.”
Incumbents Andrew Weissman and Micheál O’Leary, former city councilman Scott Malsin, community activist Meghan Salhi-Wells, energy consultant Stephen Murray and Los Angeles director of grants James Clarke are bracing for the last weekend of campaigning, with election day looming over the horizon.
Walker argues that there have been opportunities for newcomers Clarke and Murray due to Malsin’s December decision to leave the council to preserve his lifetime healthcare benefits for his family and subsequently join the race for council again. “But no one has decided to take him on over that,” the political consultant noted.
Walker also noted that most of the candidates have sent very few campaign mailers to the voters, which he says is very unusual in local races. Asked what he thinks the reason is for the dearth of political mail, Walker responded, “It appears that some of the candidates don’t feel that there is a lot of competition.”
The political consultant is surprised that Sahli-Wells, who ran for office in 2010 and sent out several mailers, did not replicate that same effort for this campaign. “This election was tailor-made for her,” he said. “I’m surprised that she’s run this kind of campaign.
“For her to put out only one mailer says a lot.”
One advertisement that caught the political consultant’s eye was a Malsin mailer that shows him in the center of the ad, flanked by his supporters. Walker pointed out that everyone on the mailer is Caucasian and feels that it belies what many in Culver City often claim: that it is a racially diverse city.
“To me, it says, ‘Scott Malsin’s team is not inclusive of the fabric of Culver City,’” Walker said. “It’s also too manufactured.
“Whoever was advising him on that (idea),” Walker continued, “make a tactical error.”
Malsin said a call went out to his supporters on Thursday, March 28 and the advertisement was shot two days later.
Three African-American community leaders who support Malsin, Mary Anne Greene, Willie Turner and Leslie Brazile, were unable to attend, he said.
Virtually all of the candidates have mentioned the importance of generating more revenue for the city’s coffers and have proffered the possibility of creating special districts or assessment districts to address that dilemma.
According to the state’s Senate Local Government Committee, special districts provide services such as fire protection, sewage services, water and insect abatement. They may also raise revenue through taxes to fund these services.
Special districts typically generate revenue through tax benefit assessments and service charges. They are considered limited purpose governments and can only provide the services that are allowed by state law and that are supported by their residents.
Culver City Chamber of Commerce Chair Goran Eriksson thinks considering the possibility of special districts is a sound idea. “I believe that you have to explore many different avenues,” said Eriksson, the owner of ESI Techtrans, a business building services company in Culver City. “Special districts have value because they are earmarked for a specific purpose.
“I don’t see anything inherently wrong with them.”
Walker thinks the mailer in question as well as Malsin’s controversial decision to resign from the council and seek office again a month later might have cost him votes in another campaign.
“If it was more competitive election, it might have hurt him,” he said.
The fourth place finisher on election day will serve out the remainder of Malsin’s term, which expires in 2014, said Culver City Assistant City Manager Martin Cole.
“If there is an election to fill one or more full terms and one or more unexpired terms, then the candidates who receive the highest number of votes shall serve the full terms, and of the candidates remaining, those who receive the next highest number of votes shall serve the unexpired terms,” Cole said, quoting from the section of the city charter that governs elections. “The person elected to the partial term would serve until the expiration of that term which is until April, 2014.
“That person could then seek reelection if they so choose,” he added.
Malsin resigned his seat prior to serving “a partial term in excess of two years,” so the partial term is not considered a full term. Section 602 of the charter, which pertains to term limits states: “No person shall serve more than two consecutive full terms.”
“Since Mr. Malsin shall not have served more than two consecutive full terms, he would be eligible to run for City Council in the April 2016 election,” Cole, the city’s elections officer, explained.
Walker feels that Clarke has run a solid grassroots campaign, but due to his lack of presence via campaign mailers, he and others missed the opportunity to introduce themselves to voters in neighborhoods like Fox Hills, where there are many condominiums and apartment complexes. That makes it a difficult area for a candidate to campaign in, due to the buildings’ limited access.
“That type of campaign may work in some parts of the city, but not there,” he said. “That’s why mail is so important.”
Voters will also have the opportunity to move the city’s transient occupancy tax in line with other Westside municipalities on election day. Measure X, known as the hotel bed tax, it is charged in California when occupying a room or rooms or other living space in a hotel, inn, tourist home or house, motel or other lodging) for a period of 30 days or more.
Camping sites and recreational vehicle parks can also be subjected to the levy.
Measure X seeks to raise the city’s current rate of 12% to 14%.
There is no official opposition to the ballot measure, making it somewhat unique in the sense that past ballot inititaives have had at least a few opponents.
The 2009 parcel tax initiative, Measure EE, also faced very little resistance.
Walker does not foresee any potential pitfalls for Measure X. “It’s going to be a yawner, a slam-dunk,” he predicted.
Cole said the estimated revenue that Measure X would generate if approved is approximately $510,000.
Election day is Tuesday, April 10.