Second in a series
Re “Chardiet Creates Sweet Sounds for the Paspalis Campaign”
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Hostess Laura Chardiet, flanked by City Councilman Jim Clarke and special guest Kathy Paspalis. Photo, Ellie Dawson.
Candor is a rare gift in politics, and in Culver City, School Board member Laura Chardiet delivers frank, unstinting opinions.
At her Culver West home last Sunday, she was introducing Kathy Paspalis, her best friend on the Board, who is running hard in an intensely competitive field for re-election.
Besides being mothers of two children of similar ages, they are of about the same height, maybe a tick above five feet.
Taciturnity is not their long suit, and that figured to make Ms. Chardiet’s intro of her pal listenable.
“Working with Kathy on the Board, you know people don’t get to see how much work is actually involved in being on the Board,” said Ms. Chardiet.
“For some Board members, though, I guess not much work is involved.”
“They don’t do anything,” called out a spunky woman from the step-down living room, perhaps recalling last July 1 when Ms. Paspalis and Ms. Chardiet formed a minority of two in trying to save the proposed bond measure for the Nov. 5 ballot.
“For Kathy, especially, it is extra work,” said Ms. Chardiet, “because she brings her expertise as a lawyer to her job as a School Board member. I don’t think you realize we have a lot of contracts we have to look at.
“Every time we have one, or multiple contracts, Kathy is the one who reads every single sentence.
“Having a lawyer on the Board is really critical for us. She catches things the rest of us don’t.
“I think that people don’t realize How incredibly smart she is,” Ms. Chardiet said. “During meetings, she just doesn’t let things go. She is not afraid to ask difficult questions. She is not afraid to be direct with people. She doesn’t let things go.
“She is critical to our success on the Board.”
In her best Ed McMahon, swung her arm and her tongue to the left, where her pal was standing, and rang out with “Heeeere’s Kathy!”
“In a small district like CCUSD,” said Ms. Paspalis, “it is about the kids. What you have to ask the candidates is, ‘What are your priorities?’ Of course they will say, ‘Oh, the kids.’ But you need to ask them the next question, ‘What are you actually doing for our kids?’
“For me, that means supporting the programs already in place that are successful, maybe modifying the ones that aren’t so successful and considering that this is the 21st century, maybe there are things we need to do in a new way.”
(To be continued)
