Where's the representation?

Thirtyfive percent of the registered voters in Westlake Village voted in the City Council election on Nov. 6. As a result, here is the representation we now have on our City Council: three councilmembers- Davis, Rutherford, and Slavin- are residents of The Trails, and two- Klessig and McSweeney- are from Three Springs.

We have no representation on our council from Canyon Oaks, Renaissance, First Neighborhood, The Colony, Westpark, The Ridge, Lakeshore, Watergate, Oak Forest, Vista Pointe, The Cove, the Island, Parkwood, Southshore or Windward Shores.

Moreover, many voters say that they want people in government office, whether city, county, state or federal, to have limited terms. No "career" politicians, they intone.

Here are some additional facts about our city government. Klessig will be starting her second four-year term, Slavin and McSweeney are both heading into the seventh year of their second four-year term, and Rutherford is in his 10th year on the council, with two more to go in his third term.

Ned Davis, the "new" councilmember, served with Rutherford and Slavin on the Westlake Trails Homeowners Association for years, all three having been the Trails HOA president at one time or another. It would appear the Trails is a council "boot camp," the first step in making connections necessary to be accepted and chosen by the old guard to follow in their welltrodden path.

We've seen this past year what happens when truly new blood manages to find its way onto the council and we saw during this current campaign some of the same. Newcomers are not welcomed, but rather are isolated. "Teams" of the "old guard" are formed. Whispers and rumors begin, spreading like wildfire, and sometimes slanderous comments are made, and though apologized for later, the damage is done.

Is this representative government? Barbara Erickson Westlake Village