Malibu Council: 'Change Candidates' In The Lead

Updated 5:32 p.m. Thursday

MALIBU, CA — As of Thursday morning, attorney Bruce Silverstein remains on top in a close race of eight contenders vying for three spots on the Malibu City Council.

In a race in which all but one of the candidates are within 100 votes of one another, Silverstein counts 2,107 votes, Planning Commissioner Steve Uhring counts 2,015, and realtor Paul Grisanti counts 2,007 votes. Grisanti was briefly ahead of Uhring, and on Wednesday fell behind by just two votes. In such a close race, which will not be officially certified by LA County until Nov. 30, according to City Clerk Heather Glaser. (Scroll below for full results.)

Silverstein told Patch he is cautiously optimistic about the results, and expressed support for Steve Uhring and Andy Lyon, two other reformist candidates.

"I am grateful for all of the support I have received from so many of my friends, neighbors and community members. I have learned that I am a winner without regard to the outcome of the election," he said. "Even though I have the highest vote total so far, there are many more votes to be counted, and I am not taking anything for granted. I also am continuing to pull for Steve and Andy."

Grisanti told Patch that he is "fatalistic" waiting for the results. "It is truly weird - I had lots of people telling me I was gonna be a runaway, but it's not anything that's predictable anyway," he said, noting that he hopes businessman Doug Stewart, who's running just behind him at 1826 votes, might pull ahead.

At the same time he expressed wariness about the possibility of serving with Silverstein and Uhring, who have both made City Hall reform central to their campaign. "I'm thinking about what we can accomplish and whether or not they're going to moderate their proclamation a little bit and actually sit down and accomplish some stuff," he said. "I'm confident that when it comes right down to it, they'd rather be remembered for accomplishing something rather than running around and having people go 'Gosh, that was a waste.'"

Silverstein has pledged to fire City Manager Reva Feldman, and Uhring has strongly hinted he might. In a statement to Patch, Uhring didn't sound like he wanted to moderate much."Yesterdays race results were an affirmation that the voters want significant improvements ( two of the three change candidates finished 1 & 2) in the way the city is being run," he wrote to Patch. "The voters also sent a strong message that if the Council does not improve the City's response to resident concerns, including a truthful critique of the City Manager's performance, they will vote us out of office."

He may have a point: the race's only incumbent, Rick Mullen, finished second to last, with 1,393 votes. "Congratulations to the winners," Mullen said in a statement. "I wish them well in their new responsibilities. I thank the residents of Malibu for the honor to have served them for the past four years."

Grisanti said he thinks that Feldman has been made a scapegoat for the city's Woolsey Fire response.

In other news, Measure T, which would raise the Transient Occupancy Tax to 15 percent, is winning the approval of 57 percent of Malibuites of Thursday morning.

SCROLL TO FIND RESULTS for this race in real-time below (They are sorted alphabetically by city.)

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