Many people were surprised that Scott Zeidman lost his re-election bid last week for the Culver City School Board because he appeared to have a vast majority of endorsements.
I have publicly stated before that Mr. Zeidman’s support could be likened to the Platte River: “It’s a mile wide and an inch deep.”
In fact, one commissioner emailed me to tell me that although he supported me, he was pressured into publicly endorsing Mr. Zeidman!
I think what caused Mr. Zeidman’s massive defection of supporters was partly due to fellow candidate Mr. Gary Abrams and myself exposing Mr. Zeidman’s shortcomings during the campaign.
Mr. Zeidman also antagonized the Teachers Union ams the Assn. of Classified Employees by saying he didn’t need their support.
Mr. Zeidman did not attempt to restrain his fellow Board member Steve Gourley from calling the head of the Teachers Union a “liar.” Nor did he admonish Mr. Gourley for calling me a “moron” and “village idiot” at a Board meeting.
During the campaign Mr. Abrams and I often talked about how too many lawyers on the Board, making an obvious reference toward Mr. Zeidman.
Lawyerly Waste
We pointed out the waste of money spent on lawyers and consultant fees.
Mr. Zeidman even publicly admitted that in just one case $120,000 was spent in a year on lawyer fees and litigation. Out of a budget of $53 million, about $6 million is being spent on lawyers, consultants and other expenses.
Mr. Zeidman’s so-called “student volunteers” were given class credits and “bribed” with “free Denny’s” if they would appear in support of him during the League of Women Voters forum. Some students didn’t even know who Mr. Zeidman was when they came to the League forum.
Perhaps the most egregious character flaw of Mr. Ziedman was his underlying vindictiveness and shallowness that was hidden by his outwardly pleasant, authoritative and confident persona.
Those negative feelings came out when I asked Mr. Zeidman if he would endorse a statewide initiative for an oil extraction tax that would bring $3 billion to all of California’s schools.
Mr. Gourley and Mr. Ziedman both said they would not support the initiative because they did not like me, and they would not support something that I was behind. In other words, they were willing to not endorse a measure that would bring $3 billion to all California schools out of personal spite toward me.
It is ironic that two years ago, despite my personal differences toward Mr. Zeidman, I chose what was better for our schools by supporting Measure EE when Mr. Zeidman asked me to.
It’s no secret that Mr. Abrams and I urged our supporters to vote for the other candidates as their second choice in this election. In fact, Mr. Abrams openly wore a Nancy Goldberg sticker during a PTA forum at La Ballona School.
If I had not run for School Board, I would not have been given the platform or opportunity to act as a muckraker and expose Mr. Zeidman’s shortcomings. I guess you could say I was like the kid who cried, “Look, the emperor is wearing no clothes.”
Mr. Zirgulis, who placed fourth in last week’s School Board election, may be contacted at zirgulisr@yahoo.com
Mr. Z
