Malsin Camp Responds to Open Letter

The following letter was sent to Patch in response to 'An Open Letter to Scott Malsin'. This letter was read out during the public comment session at the March 12 City Council meeting. It is reprinted here in its entirety.

Good evening. I am Laura Stuart, and I am here tonight in my capacity as the campaign manager for Scott Malsin. Normally, I wouldn’t come to council to correct the record, but I feel I must tonight.

On March 8, an inflammatory and patently untrue e-mail was sent out by Deborah Weinrauch in her capacity as the director of the Friends of Culver City Animals. I want to publicly clarify the record on Scott Malsin's position on the animal control officer.   

The email accused Scott Malsin of being opposed to an animal service officer. It then went on to encourage residents to support Animal Services by taking the lawn signs for three of the other
candidates. When we received a copy of her e-mail I immediately responded as follows:

There appears to be a bit of confusion as to Scott's position.  I am not sure of the source of the confusion, but if it originated from us please accept our apology. Allow me to make Scott's position as clear as I possibly can. Scott has been very impressed by the pilot program for the animal control officer. As he has stated publicly, it is doing even better than he expected.

Although the City's financial situation is very challenging, Scott does not foresee a situation where the council would have to cut this position. As a councilman and candidate he has been focused on containing costs and increasing revenue to support all the services important to the Culver City community.

I would appreciate you forwarding this email to your members and friends so there can be no question that Scott is 100 percent in favor of the animal control officer. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention and response.

Scott affirmed his support for this program in answer to a questionnaire Weinrauch sent to all candidates. He has reiterated his position in all public forums.

At the most recent candidate forum at the mosque, Ms. Weinrauch asked her question specifically in the form of asking for a promise. Again, Scott reiterated his 100 percent support for the program. However, he explained that he takes words very seriously and doesn't make promises lightly. Since Culver City’s financial position is so dire that we could be in municipal bankruptcy in three or four years, Scott feels that anyone making promises of this nature is pandering to the voters.

During the course of Scott’s service to Culver City he has consistently answered such questions in this way. Ms. Weinrauch knows that. It seems quite clear she was counting on Scott answering in accordance with his sense of integrity. She knew she would be able to twist his words.

As of today, Weinrach has not sent out a clarifying email despite our polite and respectful request. Considering her political alliances, I'm not surprised. This is not about the animals. Ms. Weinrach's email was sent out to advance a political agenda and her statement about Scott was not the truth. Even tonight she told me, “We have to do what we have to do.” A clear statement this was political and not for the animals and a clear refusal to correct the record.

So, I come here tonight when there are animal supporters in the chambers to set the record straight. Let there be no doubt that Scott is pleased with, proud of and supportive of our animal control program.

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