The City Council is now set after a somewhat extended and contentious campaign: Mayor Craig Corman, Vice Mayor Mary Wells, Sharona Nazarian, Lester Friedman and Rebecca Pynoos. The net result is substantial stability as the only new face is Rebecca Pynoos as a replacement for John Mirisch who has been termed out. Our voters have chosen an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” path rather than a “move fast and break things” path. It is my perception and belief that while the government of the Beverly Hills bubble is not perfect, it is far better than most and a glass that is 90% full should not be mindlessly shattered. The voters agreed. Before we get to the City Council race, it is important to note that the highest vote getter was City Treasurer Howard Fisher who was re-elected to a third term. As Treasurer Fisher was unopposed, he was able to score almost at will. So let’s take stock of the Council race. The gold medal performance was that of Sharona. Her support was astonishingly and deservedly twice that of her closest rival. Sharona had just completed a very successful and high profile term as Mayor. And as the rotation of the job of Mayor currently stands, Sharona will be Mayor again during the 2028-9 year when Greater Los Angeles will be hosting the Olympic Games. Sharona is the perfect person who combines charisma and an important personal history as a refuge from religious prosecution to welcome the world to our City.

Lester, who embodies steadfast calm under fire, ran a somewhat reserved campaign under the guidance of Tiffany Davis, and deserved to be re-elected for a final term. Pynoos, a longtime commissioner who has maintained a low profile as she has steeped herself with knowledge of the myriad nooks and crannies of our City government, was the surprise of the campaign. It appears as of this writing that she will win the third seat. Simply put, Rebecca worked the hardest to get to know as many people as possible and managed to impress everyone that she met. As a newcomer to our City’s hardball local politics, Rebecca will have to develop a thick skin and learn that personal attacks, often nasty and defamatory, must be ignored. Interestingly, with Rebecca serving with Nazarian and Mary Wells, this may be the first time that we have had three elected female City Council Members serving together. I am told that when Kathy Reims was appointed to finish the remaining months in Willie Brien’s term, she served for a time with Lili Bosse and Nancy Krasne. But this may be the first time that we have elected three members of the Council. Andy Licht made a very strong run for the third available seat. Andy has lived in the City most of his life, raised three children here and is devoted to the City. Andy is now serving on his third commission, Cultural Heritage, after Traffic and Parking and Planning, and was making his second try for a City Council in an effort to continue to serve the City. No one wanted the City Coun-

cil seat more than Andy and this campaign was truly a family affair. Andy’s accomplished wife Lisa Licht played a central role in his campaign. Andy and Lisa ran a strong campaign with the help from a multitude of friends and really did nothing wrong. His desire to serve remains strong and I am hopeful that he can find a role with the City so that we do not lose the benefit of his knowledge and many talents. The distant fifth place and sixth place finishers were Russell Stuart and Ariel Rofeim. I have explained in detail the reasons that I could not support or recommend Mr. Stuart for City Council. Now I will comment only on the very unusual campaign that he ran. He relied heavily on social media posts using artificial intelligence (which is no substitute for the real thing) to the exclusion of efforts to actually meet and engage with other candidates or, more importantly, the voters. His postings suggested that he was supported by the extraordinarily popular Nazarian. Sharona told me on more than one occasion that she did not support or endorse any other candidate. Beyond this, Stuart’s approach was a corollary of the saying “you can run but you can’t hide”. If you run for office, you cannot hide. But Mr. Stuart attempted to run virtually and otherwise hide. Nevertheless, voters had observed enough to conclude that he would not be a good choice. It was particularly gratifying to observe that one strident social media poster who supported Mr. Stuart and viciously attacked one of his opponents not only was ineffective but also likely backfired in her efforts to help him. I have been informed that Mr. Stuart has posted on social media that since he was not elected to the City Council, he will remain committed to the rest of his term on the school board. Whether or not he remains, I am hopeful that Mr. Stuart will learn from this experience. Two younger candidates, Ariel Ro-

feim, who finished closely behind Stuart, and Roger Tanenbaum made positive contributions during the campaign. Both would benefit from more active formal involvement with the City through Team Beverly Hills and/or service on one of the Commissions and then try again to be involved in the future. Other candidates brought forth good subjects for consideration including the proposal from Jonathan Mariande that we explore the possibility of becoming a charter city.

*** There were interesting results in other elections that affected us. Our state senator Ben Allen who is termed out, made the runoff in his race for California Insurance Commissioner. He finished second in the primary to Jane Kim, a former San Francisco Supervisor and progressive activist. Kim is endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders and Ben Allen will be facing a challenging campaign in the November general election. My sense is that Senator Allen will attract sufficient moderate voters to win this important office. Brian Goldsmith, running to succeed Senator Allen in District 24, finished second in this strongly Democratic District. John Erickson of West Hollywood, a YIMBY who, inexplicably to me, had the backing of former Mayor Julian Gold, came in first. Two other local Democrats, Jake Levine and Zach Sokoloff, did not fare well in their first attempts at public office. Mr. Levine finished third in his effort to defeat long-time U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman. Mr. Sokoloff lost in his effort to defeat Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia. Finally, I was pleased to see that “controversial” Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto appears to have gone down to defeat. Progressive Marissa Roy and Deputy District Attorney John McKinney finished first and second in this race. I much prefer Mr. McKinney, a moderate and well thought of prosecutor for this job.