By design, at 6:50, a very comfortable 40 minutes before the start of the monthly Democratic Club meeting, the 4-member Roger Maxwell family, armed, filed into the Vets Auditorium. Once inside the Garden Room, they carefully placed a colorful 3 1/2 x 8 1/2 brochure of their father and husband on each folding chair and anywhere else a highly curious member of the public might sit.
Making an Entrance
By contrast, candidate Steve Gourley, sans personal literature, casual, smiling and out of a very different background, stepped through the doorway with his wife fashionably late, 4 minutes after Club President Greg Valtierra opened the meeting.
During the next hour and a half, as the 46 voting club members closely eyed them, contrasts as broad as the San Diego Freeway constantly were being drawn between Mr. Gourley and Mr. Maxwell.
The gulf may not be as wide as that between a Republican and a Democrat. But no one should confuse them.
Count the Distinctions
By image, by instinct, by appearance, by personality, by philosophy and by background, they offer voters separate perspectives on what ails and what is reasonably correctable on the School Board where 2 seats will be open.
Family man Mr. Maxwell, large, casual and rumpled beneath his trademark Afro, has a penchant for details, research and technology. Rarely has he been seen anywhere in Culver City in the last dozen years without one or both of his school-age daughters in tow. He comes closer than almost any School Board member to being a regular, and a full-throated participating parent, at Board meetings every other Tuesday night.
Not the Same
More suave, decidedly more button-down than anyone in the field, equally at home addressing large crowds or going 1-to-1, Mr. Gourley is better connected politically than any of his rivals. When Mr. Maxwell is widely touted as a family man a phrase that seems intended as a euphemism for expert Mr. Gourley wittily counters that his wife, an educator, has home-schooled him for the past 12 years.
Intentionally or not, the confident Mr. Gourley played old pro to Mr. Maxwells fastidious devotion to detail, a sign of his determination to win the second time around after finishing in a tie 4 years ago, then suffering a heartbreaking loss in a childs game playoff to determine the School Board seat-holder.
Any Winners?
Would there be one Cinderella on this night or two or none?
Neither candidate committed a detectable gaffe nor made any memorable new impressions.
Generally, the two are alike in what they are for and what they are against.
The talkoff between Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Gourley, a former club president, produced a Culver City galaxy of political personalities who wandered in during the evening 2 members of the School Board, Saundra Davis and Jessica Beagles-Roos (both with their spouses), City Councilman Gary Silbiger (in the company of his spouse and son), announced City Council candidate Christopher Armenta and unannounced-but-rumored Council candidate Loni Anderson.
Choosing Sides
Ms. Davis advocated endorsement of Mr. Maxwell. Surprisingly, Mr. Silbiger, known as the most liberal Democrat on the City Council, eschewed automatic endorsement votes for the 2 Democrats. We have not heard the other three, he said. You cant just look at party affiliation.
Club stalwart Lee Welinsky said its a no-brainer to endorse both because we are outnumbered in the field by Republican candidates, 3 to 2.
In seeking to characterize a difference between two personal friends whom he will be supporting this autumn, former club president Darryl Cherness came closer than anyone to establishing a connection between hammer and nail in Mr. Gourleys case.
First elected to public office at City Hall two decades ago, friends and critics of Mr. Gourley were taken aback 2 months ago when he announced for the School Board. No one had known him to be interested in School District doings.
From the Inside
(An unavoidable comparison: In his two main presentations and in responding to 10 different written questions from the audience, Mr. Maxwell, without exerting himself, seemed to impart a huge bank of pertinent data and views on daily life in the School District.)
Happily, quipped a woman nearby, it is not a choice of either/or.
After implying but not articulating that his friend had some catching up to accomplish, Mr. Cherness said of Mr. Gourley: He may not be up to date on School Board issues, but he is a fast learner.
Two Winners
A little after 9 oclock, both gentlemen claimed their prizes, the ultimate County Fair blue ribbons, Democratic Club endorsements that reflected a range of enthusiasm from barely to yippee by club members.
Employing slightly different measures of unmistakable unease, both contenders shakily assured the scrutinizing audience they were not truly running against each other.
Non-Partisan, It Is Said
Even though the race is technically, and only technically, non-partisan, the gentlemen insisted they are brother Democrats under the skin. However, philosophically, they are cousins rather than immediate family.
Voting by secret ballot after both candidates had left the room, it can fairly be said Dem Club voters liked Mr. Maxwell better, though when the wash comes out, the clubs support is equally weighted for each.
Voting That Counts
With 60 percent the threshold, Mr. Maxwell, a retired juvenile probation officer, attracted 37 votes, a whopping 80 percent of the ballots cast.
Mr. Gourley, the dapper, funloving, wisecracking lawyer who is a former City Councilman and state official, was named on 29 ballots, 63 percent, one more vote than the minimum needed.
