Down to the last week and a half before Election Day, Steve Gourley, who surprised everybody but his family by announcing a run for the School Board, has lived up to his dynamite resume.
For weeks, the community did not know what to make of this hard-driving, ebullient politician with a fireworks personality and a matching reputation that some thought might be a liability.
Cynics had a field day last summer when they found out Mr. Gourley was entering what became a five-way race for two seats.
He is different from us, they said.
Not at all quietly, Mr. Gourley, an accomplished lawyer, grew into political maturity in a different universe, in the rougher terrain over at City Hall where two turns on the City Council became a stepping stone to statewide office in Sacramento, state director of the Dept. of Motor Vehicles.
Initially viewed skeptically — as in, “What does he know about schools? He never has driven within 10 miles of the School District” — Mr. Gourley has turned his critics on their critical heads.
Intimate With the Issues
Mr. Gourley, an inveterate practical joker, has shown, conclusively, that Johnny didn’t come late after all.
His four opponents may not have met
anyone this formidable.
He boasts of being a quick study, but he also is a comprehensive study. He has thoroughly and vividly assimilated a volume of data and broad information, general and specific, insights — and perhaps most importantly of all, has formed richly textured opinions.
Plug that into his accumulated savvy from upwards of three decades in politics, and you have a sophisticated, stoutly qualified challenger.
Another Side
One week ago tonight, at the most recent Candidates Forum, he flashed his well-established saltily seasoned side for the first time during colorfully worded descriptions of school problems, and then by abruptly announcing his part of the forum over when the 9 o’clock hour arrived.
For the Gourley watchers, this merely builds the anticipated drama for tonight’s Candidates Forum at the Raintree Condo Complex Clubhouse at 7:30.
What will happen when 9 o’clock arrives?
13 Years Later
Mr. Gourley recently sat down sat down with the newspaper to ruminate about his first campaign in 13 years.
“The only difference between 1994 and today,” he said, “is that new people have moved in. They don’t have any memory or knowledge of me or what Culver City was like 20 years ago. However, many do remember me, and it is great to see them again.
“Campaigning really is like riding a bicycle because it is always people. When I ran for judge, there weren’t any local issues where people could ask, ‘What is going up on the corner?’ or ‘Why don’t the police do something about this?’
“What I like about this campaign is that there are more questions in a School Board election. There are more constituencies and more issues when people’s children are involved.”
Why, They Want to Know
Mr. Gourley said the most frequent question he has encountered in knocking on Culver City doors is, Why are you running for the School Board?
“On the humorous said, I say ‘I am crazy.’ On the other side, I say‘This District has very serious problems. For the last almost 20 years, I have seen these issues come home with my wife from her school district (in La Mirada).
“I am talking issues of budget, issues of resources, issues of vision, issues of blind loyalty in the administration and the failure to plan ahead — those seem endemic to every school district I have encountered.”
All in the Same Town
Returning to the question of why he is running for the Board, Mr. Gourley dipped into California history to recall the late Jesse Unruh who said, “All politics is local.”
Running for the School Board, Mr. Gourley said, “is not politics with a capital “p,” but politics with a small “p.”
“This is about how a small town interacts with one another, and all of the people who want to keep it that way, people who moved here for that reason, people who have lived here from one year to 60 years.”
Rocky Relationship
One of Mr. Gourley’s main hammering
points in candidate forums has been the chilly non-relationship between City Hall/City Council and the School Board because, he leaves no doubt, that is the way the School Board wants it.
“First of all,” he said, “it is wrong to separate the School Board from the City Council in that the most commonly asked question of anyone running for the Council is, ‘What are you going to do for the schools?’ And,‘what are you going to do about the schools?’
“You nicely point out they are separate jurisdictional groups.
Getting to Know Each Other
“But you also point out that I was on the City Council when the city agreed, through the Redevelopment Agency, to provide $2 million to $3 million a year in cash and services. When you multiply it from the year we put it into effect, 17 years, it totals $51 million, which is more than one full year’s school budget that the city of Culver City has contributed to Culver City schools.
“When you look at the Dog Park, that helps the schools. Look at the Skateboard Park, that helps the schools. Look at the security we have on the streets, and that helps the schools.”
They Go Together
With that, Mr. Gourley asserted that the two elected panels could be considered interlocking.
“I don’t think you could run for the School Board without recognizing the contributions of the city as a political entity and the city as a small town, ethical environment. Similarly, you could not run for the City Council without knowing that you need to preserve the unique identity of Culver City, its government, its schools.
“So the question is, why run for this Board when there is a big City Council election (for three seats) coming up in the spring?
Counting the Ways
“The answer is, I have worked for the City Council, I have led the City Council (as Mayor), I have accomplished, I think, incredible things for this city,” which he proceeded to enumerate:
“Preserving the small town atmosphere; being a very responsive City Council when I was there; you would not have a new Senior Center; you would not have a transforming Teen Center; you would not have a revived Ivy Substation; you would not have a preserved, earthquake-protected Culver Hotel; you would still have a disaster if the old Washington X (crossing streets) at the Culver Hotel existed; you wouldn’t have the sidewalk cafes; you wouldn’t have the parking for the sidewalk cafes; you wouldn’t have Circuit City, Office Depot or the G.M. dealership, if it had not been for my efforts on the City Council.
Petrelli’s Was Crucial
“We also helped the Culver Center, and we insisted on the modernization of the Fox Hills Mall.
“One of the things I am proudest of is that when we created this great fusion of funds through the new businesses I just mentioned, it was my idea to preserve Petrelli’s (restaurant), to work out the deal for them to move across the street without ever closing. Losing that goodwill would have been a disaster.
Dealing With the Giants
“I am the one who put together the pipeline deal with MobilExxon that brought $950,000 to the city years after I left the post. I put the deal together with Sony that is now creating a huge new gathering of their businesses at one site so those people can help support the finances of the city. We struck hard bargains with them, and we have now succeeded beyond expectations.”
(To be continued)
