As much as I had hoped to put the city council race into the past, disappear into the woodwork and let the new council go about the business of healing and running the city, post-election matters have not allowed me to do so. In particular, some very pointed accusations have appeared in the local papers this past week, which demand clarification and rebuttal. Several weeks ago Judge Terry Friedman-the same who previously ruled against me in my original suit to restrain Ozzie Silna from independent expenditures -ruled against Ozzie’s motion to collect attorney’s fees. The fact that I switched attorneys during the interim prompted both Ozzie and his attorney, Abraham Rudy, to question whether or not the City Council has been covertly involved on my behalf. I want to take this opportunity to categorically assure them that such suspicions are completely unfounded. Once Ozzie’s motion for attorney’s fees had been filed, Lloyd Ahern suggested that I switch to a firm with a more specialized focus in election law and referred me to a firm which had done work for him in an unrelated matter some years prior. It was this firm which I subsequently retained and which represented me in the most recent court action. No one associated with the City or the City Council was in any way involved. It is my sincere hope that this latest ruling can signal the end of the 2004 election and the beginning of some long overdue reconciliation. Malibu is far too small a community to sustain any kind of serious political fissures. If anything positive is to happen in this community over the course of the next two years, it will have to emerge from a spirit of cooperation and compromise. If called upon, I am more than willing to do my part and would welcome the chance to work with Ozzie in that regard. The sooner we all stop butting heads, the faster our collective headaches will disappear.
Wade Major