I see that you have endorsed Pamela Conley Ulich, John Sibert, and Kathy Wisnicki for the City Council in the April 8 election. In making my own choices, I guess I will vote for a second term for Ulich who, after a period of on-the-job training, has more or less gotten the job right and deserves reelection. Her stand on the campgrounds issue showed courage, and she was proved right.
I also intend to support “Zuma Jay” Wagner, a Malibu fixture who has always been a “quick study” in whatever he has tried to do in life, and being on the City Council will be no different for him. Sharon Barovsky was quoted in the recent front page article on Jay in the Los Angeles Times as someone who simply does not understand how government works and “hasn’t been involved in anything other than the pier.” But Jay understands how Malibu works, and he will be a needed addition to the Council, which will be rid of the Barovsky Machine when Sharon and her crony Andy Stern are termed out in two years. I have put up some signs for Jay, some of which Wade Major has indirectly admitted, in a recent letter to the Malibu Times, that he pulled down. I put them back up.
I don’t know at this time who will get my third vote. John Sibert is the most qualified, but he was a Barovsky appointee to he Planning Commission, and may provide a majority vote for the continuance of the Barovsky Machine. (John, tell me you will be an independent voice on the council.) Kathy Wisnicki is also experienced, but I can’t help thinking that she was not an effective advocate for Malibu on the school board although, in fairness, she may have been outvoted. She may also be in the Barovsky camp. Susan Tellem would provide some interesting moments of combat on the council with Sharon Barovsky, but I don’t know if I can forgive her for supporting most of the Coastal Commission’s cramming of the LCP down Malibu’s throat in 2002.
Maybe I will only vote for two candidates.
Ted Vaill