[Editor’s Note: More than two months ago, on Aug. 28, just as the School Board race was getting under way, we published a School District insider’s notion of how the six little-known candidates would fare in their pursuit of three open seats. The lady has been studying the District since 1995. With Election Day here —the polls are open until 8 o’clock tonight — we re-visited our mystery lady for a final perspective on a rather unruly campaign in which mud played a significant role.]
In the closing hours, here are the odds from the insider, in her own words:
Karlo Silbiger — Karlo was my original No. 1 choice, and I’m sticking to it. Karlo has excelled at all of the forums, has financing and an election machine behind him. He has been the hardest working candidate by a country mile. I’d be shocked if he didn’t finish first or second. I would be even more surprised if he didn’t eclipse the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers by more than 500 votes each. The question isn’t whether he will beat Robert Zirgulis, Patricia Siever and Gary Abrams, but instead will Karlo beat the Zirgulis- Siever-Abrams cumulative vote.
Kathy Paspalis — Kathy didn’t do as well at the forums as I expected. She was short and to the point. As a reesult, she did not connect with the audience at any of the three I attended. She has great support and a who’s who of endorsers who obviously must know more about her than she has shown in the forums. She’s my second choice, still, but only a bit ahead of third. She’s miles ahead of fourth, which is really all that matters.
Alan Elmont — Elmont is like gum at the bottom of your shoe, you just can’t get rid of it, or him. In Elmont’s case, he chose the right election this time. Compared to the remaining three, Elmont looks to be as good as they come. He was a distant fifth two years ago, but the field then was more formidable with a former Mayor (Steve Gourley), two-term former Board member (Michael Eskridge), a former contender who lost a tie election (Roger Maxwell), and a relative unknown (Scott Zeidman). Elmont has forgotten more about the School District than most of the contenders will know. This makes him a safe, if not sexy, choice. Elmont will fight Paspalis for second, but it doesn’t really matter, as both will be in the top three, and will govern for the next four years.
Robert Zirgulis — Zirgulis started as the longshot in the field, at 50 to 1. However, since starting the campaign as a true believer in environmentally safe oil drilling, Zirgulis has zigged and zagged, and has pretty much abandoned that claim. Now Zirgulis is focusing on leasing or selling the Natatorium, bringing in therapy dogs and contacting Rosetta Stone for free language classes. Zirgulis is apparently attempting the “toss the spaghetti on the wall, and see what sticks” approach, providing various ideas, hoping to capture enough voters to make the top three. He was convincing enough to get the endorsement of the Assn. of Classified Employees, but not much more. His recent attacks on other candidates may demonstrate that he knows he is sailing a sinking ship.
Patricia Siever — The biggest conundrum of all the candidates. She has relatively strong credentials that some might consider the best of all six candidates. Yet, she belly flopped in each of the forums. She has seemed intent on speaking to Culver City voters as “you,” and referring to herself and community colleagues as “we,” not a solid strategy to garner votes among the “you’s.” Her list of supporters seemingly includes more from outside Culver City than from inside, perhaps explaining the you-we situation. She still doesn’t seem to have a grasp on the Culver City Unified School District, which is a concern seeing that she has had weeks to gain a better understanding. She is a very nice lady, with imprtessive credentials, but is not nearly ready to tackle the issues facing our schools.
Gary Abrams — Gary picked up the Teachers Union endorsement, which was surprising for two reasons. It was a foregone conclusion that Elmont wouldn’t get that endorsement, but Zirgulis (a substitute teacher in the district) and Siever (a professor) would have seemed to be the preferred choices before the interviews. One might think that the Abrams endorsement says as much good about Gary as it does bad about Zirgulis and Siever. Abrams hasn’t done much campaigning, other than through thefrontpageonline.com, but he seems to have his heart in the right place. He won’t win, and he won’t likely beat any other competitor (other than perhaps the withdrawn Roger Maxwell), but Abrams has opened up some eyes. I expect that he will positively contribute to the new Board.
