“It will be a complete embarrassment to Culver City if Gary Russell is elected,” said an eyewitness to the City Council candidate’s latest quirky performance, a raw, tense showdown with City Manager Jerry Fulwood last night at City Hall.
Before a roomful of stunned City Hall department heads and the full field of Council candidates, Mr. Russell challenged the City Manager after his extended series of questions was short-circuited.
The tirade’s temper temperature quickly shot from zero to 60.
While eyewitnesses gulped and wondered what would happen next, Mr. Russell asked the reserved Mr. Fulwood if he wanted to take their disagreement outside.
The most seasoned people at the meeting could not recall ever having seen such a high-level confrontation.
Democracy Now
When Mr. Russell refused to curtail his bantering questions and distracting interruptions of answers to queries he had made, it became the City Manager’s turn.
Mr. Fulwood said the meeting was on a schedule it needed to follow and that Mr. Russell had exceeded the number of permissible questions.
“You can’t stop me,” the candidate called back.
“This is a democracy. I can ask all the questions I want.”
That was pretty much the text of a similar riposte involving Mr. Russell at the Jan. 10 meeting of the Culver City Democratic Club, of which he is a member. That evening he heckled Mayor Alan Corlin throughout a 50-minute speech to the club.
Can It Get Worse?
“My hope,” one wary candidate said, “is that his behavior does not spill over into the candidate forums next month. Rules should be made clear at the outset of each forum, and if they are violated, the person should be asked to leave.”
When Mr. Fulwood told the candidate that because of time constraints, there was a limit of two questions, Mr. Russell snapped, “No rules are posted.”
Still in a calm voice, the City Manager returned the candidate’s fire. “I am in charge,” Mr. Fulwood said, “and these are the rules.”
Peers Are Critical
“Russell behaved like a 2-year-old,” said one disgusted participant in the invitation-only Candidates Orientation meeting in the Dan Patacchia Room.
This is at least the third time in less than two weeks that Mr. Russell’s haranguing-type outbursts in organized public settings have triggered accusations of “bizarre behavior.”
Witnesses said that after one sizzling exchange with the low-key, always understated Mr. Fulwood, the candidate sought to escalate the confrontation, swiveling his head to his left, where Police Chief Don Pedersen was seated.
Chief Is Targeted
Accusatorily, Mr. Russell called out, “Did you hear that? He threatened me.”
Whereupon, two participants said, the Police Chief reached for his cellphone and discreetly signaled for backup.
“I don’t know if the Chief did,” Mr. Fulwood told the newspaper this afternoon. “But it certainly would have been appropriate.”
The Police Chief was not available to comment. Like Mr. Fulwood, he is exceedingly calm of demeanor, which helped to contain what several feared could have blown into an ugly faceoff if not worse.
Throwing Down a Gauntlet
Returning his gaze to the City Manager, Mr. Russell, infuriated, barked out menacingly, “Do you want to take this outside?”
Mr. Fulwood, never elevating his voice, said it was time to move the nearly derailed meeting on. It did.
“Jerry immediately regained control,” one candidate said.
Mr. Fulwood still seemed aghast this afternoon that the unscheduled drama could have played out as it did. “I never have seen anything like this, not here or anywhere else I have worked.
“His conduct was totally unbecoming of Culver City, which is a very professional city. I am accustomed to dealing with professionals.”
Favorite and Underdog
Physically, “and perhaps sartorially,” speaking, the 63-year-old Mr. Russell, attired in his regular dress of sport coat, sport shirt and jeans, would have been an underdog in any duel to the husky, muscular and popular 61-year-old City Manager, probably the most dapper dresser at City Hall, a participant said.
The potential combatants remained a few feet apart. Mr. Fulwood said it never occurred to him, though, that the scene could turn physical “because I know myself.”
But that was not the only reason.
“With a room full of professionals, nothing was going to happen.”
The Lineup
Besides the nine City Council candidates running for three open seats in the April 8 election, about a Baker’s dozen of department heads participated in the meeting, which was intended to acquaint the unfamiliar candidates with the faces, responsibilities and inside workings of City Hall’s key personnel.
The orientation meeting started at 6 o’clock and was scheduled for 90 minutes. The Russell hijinks helped extend the session past 8 ‘clock, which led to grumbling from some candidates.
“It is unbelievable,” said a candidate, “that Russell even thinks he is qualified for a leadership role in the city after this kind of rude behavior.”
Happier Ending
The last 85 percent of the supposedly routine, off-the-record meeting went as planned. “The main reason for that,” one participant said, admiringly, “is because Jerry, by his steady demeanor, is well-equipped to handle this kind of almost-emergency.”
