When Kimberley Griffin noted in a conversation some months ago that she was stepping away from her job as a private body guard for a Saudi royal to run for city council, there were several things I didn’t ask.
I didn’t ask how, as an American woman of African descent, she had no qualms about working for the Saudis, where women have no legal rights, and slavery is both widespread and legal. Completely legal. Not ethical, but legal.
When people tell you who they are, believe them.
There is a large sign on a little business in Culver City offering the faces of two political candidates. It is a popular restaurant – run, as many restaurants are, by immigrants. After lunch at this restaurant, I asked if they were being nicely paid for the use of their space, they shyly said no, they were not being paid for it at all. (The sign does, in fact, say that it is paid for by the campaign.) Without my asking, they said they did not want it there – they had tried to take it down, but their landlord insisted that it stay.
What do you think about someone using their status as a property owner to force their tenants to promote candidates? Ethical, or not?
When I note the number of campaign signs in front of rental properties and multi-unit residences, I’m thinking that the folks who live there – and vote here – are likely not big fans of the candidates whose names are planted on their yards.
Many those lawn signs might be on property that’s owned by Albert Vera, Jr. His family has been buying up Culver City real estate since the 20th Century.
It’s not a long reach back in Culver City history to remember when Carol Grosse served on the council with Albert Vera, Sr. The fact that Vera, who was married, was romantically involved with Grosse was the kind of open secret that small towns live with and gossip about.
Culver City is no longer a small town – it’s a real city, and one where these kind of ethical questions need full sunlight.
There is nothing immoral or illegal about Griffin’s almost decade-long liaison with Albert Vera, Jr. The relationship is common knowledge. That someone whose partner is on the council should be running for council is simply not ethical.
Municipal government isn’t a family business. If you are the governor, and you set up your son-in-law to run for governor, maybe to replace you, many voters would find that ethically questionable. Maybe you were a senator who died, and now your sister is running for your seat. If it was your girlfriend…
The biggest red flag is that Griffin has no experience in regard to policy or communications; she rarely attends council meetings, and even more seldom comments on the matters being discussed. Her job history is as a Culver City police officer and a private body guard. Even saying she’s a community activist requires a very forgiving imagination.
It’s like Vera describing himself as a small business man. In a city where the median net worth is about $120,000, Vera is said to be worth more than $100 million. Griffin certainly does not need to do the kind of fundraising that other candidates have done. She has private funding.
I’m not saying she’s done anything illegal; as a former cop, I’m sure that’s a line she doesn’t cross. But why not wait two more years until Vera is termed out?
Every fact about this city council campaign would fail ethical questions from even the most basic test.
Judith Martin-Straw
