Second of two parts
See ‘Zirgulis Issues a Challenge to Rivals in the School Board Race’
[img]626|left|Robert Zirgulis||no_popup[/img]If Robert Zirgulis were a prizefighter, you would not have to turn to your partner and wonder when he finally was going to land punching.
Within sight of the ring, he begins swinging. And he never slows down.
Three days before the final field is known for the School Board election in November, Mr. Zirgulis, almost in a runaway, is shaping up as the most dynamic entry.
“The School Board has lost perspective,” he says. “They are too much into political correctness and indoctrination.”
In the first installment, Mr. Zirgulis expressed his displeasure with School Board member Steve Gourley’s “vehement opposition to oil companies. That kind of talk sets an anti-business tone” to the detriment of the School District.
And he repeated the assertion for emphasis.
At a time when the School District, like virtually all others in the state, is financially strapped, Mr. Zirgulis said because of “the perception of an anti-business climate by the School Board, local businesses are not going to help. I believe this has hurt fundraising.
“Nobody calls out Gourley to say, ‘Hey, aren’t you going too far in your condemnation of businesses?’ He sets a very negative tone.
How He Knows the Landscape
“I plan to have a friendlier attitude toward all businesses in the community. I want to initiate internship programs so that students can work part-time jobs with local businesses and get hands-on experience.”
Not quite as an afterthought, he adds, thumpingly:
“If we had been willing to take oil royalties or if we had been more business friendly, we could have brought millions of dollars to the District.”
A substitute teacher who believes he may be more familiar with the District, its issues and shortcomings and its students than any other contender, he has been mulling a run for office “for quite some time.”
Mr. Zirgulis said he is campaigning “because I have been frustrated with what is going on.”
On that point, he leaves no doubt.
He was in the news last summer as a member of a group that advocated School District acceptance of royalties from an oil drilling company, a much-debated matter.
Succinctly, Mr. Zirgulis’s position is that the money is clean, legal and needed revenue.
“I understand the City Council is spending $700,000 suing the oil company (PXP) so they can’t drill (in the Inglewood Oil Field, also known as the Bald Hills oil field). The School Board endorsed the oil drilling, which is environmentally safe.
“I am in favor of environmentally safe oil drilling. We are talking about drilling from the same field that has been drilled since 1924.
“My perspective is that up to $3 million a year can be realized from oil wells.
“When oil was $140 a barrel, can you imagine how much money could we have had for the School District?”
What Could Have Been
Mr. Zirgulis related an incident from a year ago regarding the controversial Plains, Exploration & Production Co., PXP.
“As a School Board member, I will be approaching different companies to see what they can do to help the school system,” he said. “Last year, I talked to somebody from PXP. They were going to donate $2500 to Linwood Howe School.
“When I approached the PTA at Linwood Howe, we offered $2500. But the PTA said they didn’t want it. They said it was tainted.
“It was like, ‘Oh, we’re a green school. We can’t take oil money. It will taint us.’
“At that point, I said, ‘This is such a bureaucracy.’
“I should point out,” Mr. Zirgulis went on, “I am an environmentalist.
“I also am a pragmatist.
“Actually, in 1970, I formed the first ecology club in Santa Monica High School and the first high school chapter of ZPG, Zero Population Growth, in the country.
“I am saying that my credentials are solid.”
