Dear Editor – Private Life or Public Service?

Dear Editor:

I have had the privilege of participating in Culver City elections for the last 45 years as a candidate and supporter of candidates. Culver City residents have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to support qualified men and women who have been willing to make personal and business sacrifices in order to serve our City. Until now, I cannot remember an election in which a decision relating to the private life of a candidate became for some, more important than his/her qualifications.

Scott Malsin made a choice to resign from the Council rather than loose certain medical benefits. He is now a candidate for City Council. The wisdom or reasons for his choice to resign are irrelevant. Whether I would or would not have done the same thing is also irrelevant.

There is one standard that I will measure him and every other candidate by : WHAT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF CULVER CITY? Scott has served more years on the Council than any other candidate and therefore it is much easier to measure his performance and service to Culver City. I rate it as A+. If you think I am being too generous ask yourself one question: Do you like the quality of life we enjoy in Culver City? Scott had a significant part in designing neighborhood guidelines intended to preserve the city’s character; developing standards for commercial-residential developments that would be compatible with what we want the city to be; and obtaining grants that maintain and improve our parks.

It is dangerous and unproductive to measure the qualification of candidates by the personal choices they have made in their private lives. If that standard was applied to Congress, we would have difficulty filling half the seats. I hope that Culver City will continue to elect candidates that are well qualified and reject the negativity that has been unfairly directed to Scott.

Paul A. Jacobs
Former Mayor and City Council Member (1976-1992)
Co-Chair Scott Malsin Campaign

The Actors' Gang

1 Comment

  1. I haven’t made up my mind about any of the six candidates, although I do have some leanings at this point. But it’s really quite disingenuous to claim that Mr. Malsin’s decision to resign his City Council post to preserve lifetime health insurance for himself and his family is a personal choice in his private life.

    We Culver City taxpayers will be paying the bills for this for many years to come, so it’s a reasonable thing for it to influence our opinions of Mr. Malsin.

    A number of people whose politics I respect have come out in support of Mr. Malsin, and I am considering his record because of this. But a position like yours, that Mr. Malsin’s resignation for insurance benefits is none of my business, doesn’t help his case one bit.

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