Part 1
Breakfast with Gary Russell, probably the most unusual, certainly the most fascinating, candidate for the City Council, can cause a visitor to consult his optician. The visitor suspected he was interviewing more than one person, so frequently did Mr. Russell, a quite successful 63-year-old architect, amend, adjust, change his positions on the leather seat across the restaurant booth.
He could turn into a one-man promotion machine for the 9-way Council season that is racing toward the April 8 election for three seats.
Mr. Russell is sui generis, and here is why.
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The first notes recorded from the Russell interview read:
Talks lightning fast, winking at the speed limit.
Dyslexic.
Hyper.
Unconventional.
Four-star iconoclast, and proud of it.
Enthusiastic environmentalist. Everything about his campaign is green-flavored. Deeply invested in greening his section of the world.
I know I offend, he concedes several times, but I don’t mean to.
Seems to take pride in steering a little wide of the highway.
Yes, he is colorful, but is he sufficiently focused?
Ranconteur.
Intense but fun.
If a listener has the staying power, Mr. Russell packs irresistible charm, seductive insight.
Witty and engaging, he is an unreconstructed liberal from the 1960s, which he thoroughly lived and loved.
Anti-war. Hippie. Protestor. Berkeley. Lived for three years in a commune, making him truly Sixties.
A solidly established professional in a family enterprise he started a quarter century ago, he possesses a definite serious side.
Regularly updates his cleverly and confidently named website, culvercitycouncil.com
He will not be outtalked or outlasted during the campaign.
Laughs easily and frequently.
Peripatetic.
Two other points of departure from the mainstream:
Says he will not campaign around the city, that voters can come to him. He can be found on a bench in the Raintree complex.
Finally, he does not seem to address Culver City-specific political matters. His specially designed green business cards, silent about politics in Culver City, modestly promise:
“I plan to be that individual on our City Council who will provide the leadership to make our city the greenest in America.”
Previously unknown, he came to wide attention — or notoriety — two weeks ago when he relentlessly pursued Mayor Alan Corlin during an address to the Democratic Club (See “Mayor Fires Back at Council Candidate After Being Heckled During Talk,” Jan. 10, in the News category).
Of the evening that advanced him from a private to a public figure, Mr. Russell said:
“I don’t know what happened. I do talk up. I am not that shy.”
Once Mr. Russell begins talking, a listener should grip the wheel, close his eyes and hang on. Throw away the map. It won’t help.
“I was born in1944 in City Terrace,” he says, “and my Dad worked for the railroad. My father was Scottish, a little British. Ever watch the British Parliament? They giggle and laugh a lot. That is democracy to me. Right now, we don’t seem to be doing that, even in our Culver City Democratic Club.
“I am a big believer in participatory democracy. I have that little Russell kind of thing. If somebody says something we don’t like, we giggle to show we disagree.”
Question: You are an outgoing person?
“Not really. But now that I am running for the City Council, I am trying to be a little less shy.
“Where do you want to go? Now what do you want to talk about?”
Question: In what kind of home did you grow up?
“I was a middle son. That was tough.”
Question: How did you gain attention?
“My mother and dad were not getting along when I came along. My dad, his father wasn’t the kindest to him, and my dad was not the kindest to me. So, you know. He had his thing. He didn’t want children in the first place. Maybe one child. I don’t know.
“My mother realized, hey, this wasn’t working for her. My dad said we needed more money. She went to school. Beautiful lady, but we did not connect my first two years.
“I was left in the crib for two years. Free at last!
“My mom loved me. But I spent a lot of time in my crib. My dad was working. My mom was working. They weren’t big on child care in those days. And we weren’t that wealthy to have somebody…
“I come, you know, from a middle-class family. My dad built a house in Downey for the family. He was a little loose.”
Question: Maybe you inherited some of your father’s “looseness”? You seem loosey-goosey.
“I do? Cool.”
Question: When did you become politically aware?
“When I went to Berkeley in the late ‘60s. I actually started at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. When I got to college, for some reason I got involved with the Fine Arts Committee. I mean, I’m from L.A., and here were cowboys and horses. I wanted to acculturize the campus.
“First I was in the Marines. Reserve. Before Cal Poly. Okay, so I decided the Marines was not the place I wanted to be. I transferred to the ROTC at Cal Poly.
“I don’t know. After going through three boot camps, my lieutenant that summer said, ‘Gary, you seem out of step with everybody.’ Wait a minute. I’ve been in three boot camps, and I’ve been marching forever. I got a little hurt. But that was okay.
“I guess my hair started to grow that fall. Then somebody said something about my hair. I said ‘Okay, I’m outta here.’
“I threw a pack on my back the next day, and I started traveling north. Stopped in Berkeley, in the hills. I didn’t have a lot of money.
“I actually got a job, for a planning firm. Designing a ski resort up in Vancouver. I didn’t have my degree yet, but I convinced the guy I could do the work.”
Question: Given your home situation, especially after your parents divorced, you seem to have been on your own for a great deal of your early life?
“I had no friends. I wasn’t a popular kid. I didn’t have a lot of friends. And I didn’t have a lot of money. There really wasn’t an adult around to provide guidance, either. The only thing my dad wanted was to make sure I got home at a certain time. Unfortunately, not having a watch, I missed the deadline. He whacked me a number of times.”
(To be continued)
