The Ultimate Outsider in the nine-person City Council race is doing something different again.
He may go to a ball game, take in a movie about the environment or chauffeur his wife to their favorite Downtown restaurant.
While the other eight contestants for the City Council in the April 8 election are filing monthly financial reports on or by Friday at City Hall, Gary Russell will be doing anything else that little duty.
When the campaign began last month, he was the only candidate who took a pledge to keep his spending under $1,000, obviating the need to publicly disclose his donations and expenses.
Why?
“The easiest explanation,” said Mr. Russell, “is to keep the campaign simpler. The less paperwork we have to do, the better.
“Once you go over a thousand dollars, the bookkeeping gets much more elaborate.
“In a small city of 40,000 people, where you only need to reach, maybe, 3,000 people to get elected, you don’t have to spend $30,000 or more. It discourages other people from running if you have to spend a lot of money.”
A Political Flower Show
Like multi-colored spring flowers, yard signs for most candidates have been popping up on green lawns all around Culver City.
None of them, however, promote “Russell for Council.”
“Can’t afford ‘em,” the 63-year-old, environmentally-oriented architect says whimsically.
“Obviously, from my green perspective,” he added, “all those signs are not good.
“My campaign is a (business) card. That is it.”
With the Election Day six weeks from yesterday, Mr. Russell estimates he has blown 60 percent of his budget — largely on those green and white business cards.
He insists that his tightfisted fiscal policy has not forced him into any meaningful concessions.
“One of the great things about running in a small town,” he said, glancing around the room before the next Candidates Forum was to begin, “is that people invite you, like tonight, to these meetings. To talk to people. And I love to talk. This is the way to really reach our small community.
Nationwide Is Different
“In a national campaign, obviously you have to spend a lot of money. But in a small town, you should not have to spend more than $1,000.”
In a further departure from tradition, Mr. Russell is not joining his rivals in knocking on doors throughout Culver City’s residential neighborhoods.
“I don’t mind one-to-one conversations,” he says, “but knocking on doors is not an effective energy system for me.
“I have to watch.
“I have a day job, you know. I still have a family life, a love life that I want to maintain. My own personal time is important. It’s prioritizing.
What About Saturation?
“I believe I can reach enough people (otherwise) to create an imagery about me, who I am, so there is not an unknown element when they go to the polls, that there is some recognition.”
His campaigning seems restricted to the Candidate Forums — including tonight at 7 at Echo Horizon School, adjacent to Syd Kronenthal Park, and Thursday night at 6:30 at the Radisson Hotel.
“It’s through this connectivity to the people that I will reach the voters and, hopefully, make Culver City the greenest city in America,” Mr. Russell said.
On the Other Hand
He is practically phlegmatic about his reaction if he fails to meet his objective.
“If we don’t reach the necessary number of voters, then we don’t,” he says.
By the time the votes are counted in 41 nights, “if I don’t get elected, then I will move on, and that is fine.”
