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In the final moments of his seven-month stint as chair of the Honolulu City Council, Nestor Garcia pointed to another man who was ousted from his dream job after a short run.

Garcia rarely let the smile slip from his face — just like in his press conference 12 days ago when he announced he’d step down. He curled his lips, exposed his teeth and instructed reporters to take note of the dimples that accompanied his almost sarcastic grin.

But just like a yearbook quote can reveal the character of a graduating senior, Garcia’s decision to infuse his farewell remarks with the farewell remarks from a very public — and very ugly — ouster of recent years says something about how he feels as he departs.

“I leave you all with one last quote, attributed to a man who served, coincidentally, just seven months at what he considered to be the top tier of his profession,” Garcia said, never mentioning his muse by name.

Garcia’s quote comes from late-night television personality Conan O’Brien’s final night as host of the Tonight Show on NBC in January 2010. O’Brien famously walked away from the show he had long dreamed of hosting after NBC tried to push him back a half hour to give former Tonight Show host Jay Leno a better timeslot.

“At the end of his time, he told the audience assembled, ‘Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. It’s my least favorite quality. If you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen,'” Garcia said, quoting O’Brien. “He went on to say that, quote, ‘I’ve had more good fortune than anyone I know. And if our next gig is a 7-11 parking lot, we will find a way to make it fun,’ unquote.”

Watch Conan’s speech:

The reference is an interesting one for a number of reasons. Like Garcia notes, he and O’Brien each resigned after seven months on the job.

But while Garcia has insisted the choice was his and that he was not forced out, O’Brien made clear he was unhappy with NBC and felt he had no choice but to step down — for the good of the institution. A groundswell of O’Brien supporters known as “Team Coco” helped him quickly land on his feet with a show on TBS, and Leno was vilified in the public eye.

If there are any tinges of the O’Brien-Leno spat in Garcia’s relationship with successor Ernie Martin, they weren’t on display Monday.

After Garcia wrapped his roughly eight-minute remarks, he and Martin embraced to applause. Hearing no objections, Garcia announced the passage of [pdf] to install Martin as chair, Ikaika Anderson as vice chair and Romy Cachola as floor leader. Garcia stepped down from the podium and handed Martin the gavel.

Martin made a point of thanking Garcia for his service and asked everyone assembled to give the outgoing chair another round of applause. Asked by Civil Beat outside if he’d given any thought to the distribution of committee chairs — particularly the Budget Committee that Martin has chaired — Martin said he’d talk to Garcia about his preferences.

“I would hope that he’d be willing to accept one of the more powerful committees, the ones that are more sensitive, that have a lot of delicate issues, being that … he has a high level of expertise,” Martin said of Garcia. “I’m hoping that he’d be willing in his tenure remaining with the council to still share the responsibility of moving us forward.”

Martin said he would confer with Anderson before making committee assignments, but said he’s largely pleased with the way the council is working and didn’t anticipate wholesale changes.