Although I suppose I could be flattered by being attacked by the likes of Anne Hoffman and Doug O’Brien in their published letters, I feel I must clear up a few points. While “paid operative” has a nice ring to it, it does not describe the nature of my involvement with Malibu CAN. I was paid for some services rendered in October during the Measure M campaign, but my decision to remain involved with CAN as a volunteer was made because I have become convinced that Malibu is in dire need of regime change, and I believe that CAN provides a needed voice of loyal opposition and conscience in our city. The ongoing nature of the vituperative and largely untrue attacks on them as a group has been an education to me, as was the willingness of the Pro-M forces to distort the truth during that campaign.
Furthermore, Ms. Hoffman states that I was opposed to the appointment of an independent election monitor. This is not true. My letter was not intended to oppose this appointment, and the fact that I volunteered to collect candidate Jay Liebig’s 20 nomination signatures only indicates that I feel he is a viable candidate with vision and experience, and a far better choice than the incumbents.
As to Ms. Hoffman’s specious argument that Ozzie Silna’s money is somehow dangerous to the political process in Malibu, I would submit that the Malibu Bay Company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to pass Measure M and failed. Perhaps we can hope that at least on the local level, citizens will seek out the truth and vote their conscience as they did on that issue. Finally, I was surprised to find that Mr. O’Brien feels that two individuals at the same address are somehow not entitled to write separate letters about their individual opinions. I wonder how his household functions.
Kathy Sullivan