[img]9|left||remove link|no_popup[/img]Hours after covering the bizarre ending to last Thursday night’s School Board Candidates Forum, sponsored by the Culver City Homeowners Assn., Diane and I left on a six-hour journey to the Bay Area.
I had to scoot over in my seat to make room for my mind where a large question mark loomed.
Through Santa Barbara, Los Olivos, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, Atascadero, Salinas, Castroville and Santa Cruz, I wondered what fallout there would be back home from the candidate Steve Gourley’s brash performance the night before.
Which Way Will They Tilt?
Would his candor help or hurt his campaign?
From the forum inside the Vets Auditorium, it was impossible to tell.
There was detectable, but not strong, reaction to two of Mr. Gourley’s unorthodox actions. Therefore, I wondered what the eyewitnesses would tell friends who were not in the audience that was head-counted at 120?
Heard a buzz around the community on Friday morning, and I fielded several telephone calls. But the sampling was too small, even for Culver City where 80 percent of voters stay home rather than risk writer’s cramp in School Board elections.
An Unscheduled Ending
In my experience, I never had seen a candidate commit either action.
As all concerned parties around town know by now, Mr. Gourley unilaterally ended what had been a formful evening long before the scheduled conclusion.
At 9 o’clock, he stood up and asked the moderator what remained on the program. Armed with her answer, Mr. Gourley promptly announced that it was late, he had had enough and he was leaving for home, whether anyone else was going or not.
Earlier, Mr. Gourley had made one other unorthodox contribution.
Language and Discourse
In several of his answers, especially when he was upset, he included what could be considered salty language. Not every person would agree with the assessment of salty, but many would.
I snapped up my head during those three or four responses, but I do not recall more than a trace of reaction from the audience. Perhaps I am a prude.
After weeks of talk about how closely bunched the five fairly similar candidates were, Mr. Gourley, the former Mayor and the only challenger who has served at City Hall, did not just step apart from the field, last Thursday.
He lunged with a vengeance.
The First to be Counted
Comes now a Letter to the Editor from Charles Deen, who did, indeed, take umbrage. Mr. Deen stressed in his message that he was writing as a private individual, not as a member of the sponsoring organization.
Instead of referring to Mr. Gourley by name, Mr. Deen, by now a well-known activist, branded the candidate “That Rude, Crude Political Dude.”
Here is what Mr. Deen wrote:
“As one of the organizers of Thursday night’s School Board Forum at Veterans Auditorium, I was offended by your poor choice of crude, uneducated
diction — on a school night no less.
“And then at the 9 o’clock hour, which is apparently ‘way past your bedtime, you
ever so rudely and summarily dismissed four highly-dedicated candidates, the remaining audience of about 60 parents, and the entire volunteer leadership of the sponsoring organization.
“You were well aware that the pre-arranged, announced forum agenda provided for another 30 minutes to cover more audience-submitted questions.
“It would appear that you were either flat out of answers or did not want to listen to other candidates talk during their humble share of remaining time.
“A polite, caring person would have asked the audience whether they were ready to go home. The contradiction in you is clear. You are seeking public office so that you will have the means, once again, to summarily dismiss the public at your whim.”
