I am appalled, but not shocked, at the events that took place at the City Council meeting on 4/30/2018. Goran Eriksson was elected to serve on the Council by the people of this city and for this new Council who are trying to claim “unity” to start off the new term by doing the exact opposite is disgusting.
The “rumor,” which hit before the meeting lets us know that this was in fact decided beforehand and that no matter who spoke, no matter what was said, and no matter what the feelings of the people may have been, the Council had a plan to alienate a fellow Council Member and the 2,000+ people who voted for him and that is simply appalling and probably illegal, but I will leave that for the appropriate people to decide.
Maybe this is why Meghan Sahli-Wells couldn’t stand to look people in the face when they were speaking.
Goran is a wonderful person, a great Councilman, and would have made a great Mayor but that won’t happen as Thomas Small said they are going to, “make history by making sure that Meghan is the first woman to have served as Mayor twice.” Meaning, there seems to be no hope for Goran.
Although, without a policy in place, maybe this will change since the order of mayoral rotation no longer needs to be followed? I’m not going to hold my breath on that though since the Council has made it clear that their quid-pro-quo dealings are more important than the opinions of the people they serve and will apparently continue to marginalize.
The only shocking revelation to come out of that night was that Daniel Lee LIED to his constituents about being in favor of the established policy of Mayoral Rotation when he spoke in favor of it on 2/27/2017 merely to secure votes, citing his “politics.” It just makes me wonder what else he has or is currently doing that is simply untrue and for his own political gain.
I ALWAYS try to give new council members and any elected officials the benefit of the doubt, even those whom I don’t agree with, as they start out but knowing that Daniel is a proven liar who has violated the trust of many, does not bode well for him or for our city. What else has he promised or said that was simply a lie to ensure a vote?
The dismissal of established policy only benefited two people Monday night, Thomas Small and Meghan Sahli-Wells. Alex Fisch was quick to point out that the title of Mayor and Vice-Mayor are “simply honorary” and while that is true per the city charter, if any of them had actually believed this, Goran would be Vice-Mayor right now.
So, here’s to seeing where the lies, deceit, and an overall lack of ethics gets our city for the next few years. I hope this will encourage more people to get out and vote in the next election because this is what happens when over 70% of the registered voters do not.
— Heather Wollin
Culver City
