I was the first member of the Culver City Democratic Club meeting to speak during the open-mic section of the Sept. 9 meeting where Prof. Kelly Kent was endorsed for the Nov. 3 School Board election.
You may recall that I suggested that folks Google “Scott McVarish in Long Beach” because of controversies he was involved with when he was the Executive Director of the Teachers Assn. of Long Beach.
If readers Google it, they will see reports that best exemplify my strong concerns about Scott’s fitness for duty as a School Board member.
As an attorney for the California Teachers Assn., who replaced Scott in our legal department and was familiar with his activities for two other unions after, I would be bringing this information forward because the electorate really should know this information, even if they decide to support and vote for Scott.
Though new to Culver City, I have known this information from the time it became public.
I bring it forth now because even if Scott wins, I believe public knowledge of his past may make him more careful in the future when exercising power.
In addition to this older information, I must point out that Scott’s campaign literature that I have seen — such as that distributed at the Democratic Party meeting — contains falsehoods, the chief being that he claims to have been an employee of CTA for ten years, when he was actually there perhaps less than four years, one of which was as a part-time law clerk.
Scott has a “truthiness” problem. By claiming longer tenure at CTA, he avoids stating that he was actually employed by a different union in Long Beach (Teachers Assn. of Long Beach, TALB) where scandals marred his tenure and resulted in CTA having to place the chapter in trusteeship.
I have been open about putting out this information. There is no “secret” or “back channel” smear, simply my effort, based on my personal experiences of dealing with Scott in the past, that motivate me to get this information out in time for it to be known and discussed by voters.
Mr. Hersh may be contacted at mdhersh@prodigy.net
This article which Mr. Hersh is referring to was from a minor Long Beach paper 7 years ago.
I do not base my support for Scott on this article and it does not deter me in the least for casting my vote of confidence for him.
I have known Scott for about 5 years and I see in him great qualities for serving our community. He is a hard worker, honest, responsible, and extremely intelligent. He was voted last year as one of the top 3 Immigration Lawyers in Los Angeles.
Yes, we did have one disagreement in these 5 years over when the bond should be placed before the voters. We both had a right to agree to disagree and we moved forward.
Yes, Scott is a mover and a shaker and will bring conversations to the dais.
He will carefully look, study and question the issues brought before him before casting his vote. He will not be a rubber stamper.
Yesterday we spent a couple of hours at Crossroads in Santa Monica to take a look at their new state of the art Science Building.
So he and Anne can bring back to our School District, ideas as we move ahead with updating our science department at the High School.
Scott is doing his homework as a prospective, productive School Board Member.
Mr. Hersh, a former friend of mine, does not tell the whole story. This is one man’s opinion of events and does not reflect the truth of the situation. The fact of the matter is this: Mr. McVarish was caught in the middle of a battle between two union factions. Unsurprisingly, as a highly-placed employee, he became a punching bag in their bitter fight.
Mr. Hersh is a very close friend of Gary and Karlo Silbiger and has been part of their “group” for as long as I have known them, which is over 20 years. This same group creates “hit pieces” filled with half truths attacking their opponents in every campaign they enter.
It’s bad enough that an intelligent and hard-working person like Scott has to deal with this sort of low tactic. It’s worse that he is put in a position where he needs to take time away from delivering a positive message to respond to this sort of nonsense.
What’s worst of all, though, is the fact that our city has to endure this sort of despicable campaigning, and that there are people so desperate to win that they are willing to poison the well during each and every election.
Enough is enough, Mr. Hersh. The damage you and your associates have been doing for years reeks to high heaven. Our community deserves better than this.
Three badly stapled folded papers were stuck in my front gate this morning. The person placing it must have been up very late last night, or very early this morning. The substance of the commentary eerily echoes Mr. Hersh’s comments and attacks on Scott McVarish. Similar screeds have appeared shoved under door mats, or dropped on stoops in recent school board and city council elections. If you are going to throw mud, or attack people, why don’t the creators of this arbolicide (tree killing) have the common decency to stand up and sign their names to it?
I suppose I should applaud Mr. Hersh for publishing his comments, and signing them; but I wonder who the other people are who are creeping around in the dead of night leaving political attack literature on our innocent doorsteps. I agree that our community deserve much better than this.
Mr. Hersh has written this: “Though new to Culver City, I have known this information from the time it became public.”
Well, I am not new to Culver City. I moved here in 1986. While I cannot recall the first time I met Mr. Hersh, it wasn’t yesterday. Nor did I first meet or become aware of Mr. Hersh in the context of local elections in our city, which is undoubtedly a good thing.
Mr. Hersh is no babe in the woods with respect to launching his opinions and innuendoes at whichever candidates are not in his favor. Nothing new here at all.
But to suggest he’s new to Culver City? Patently untrue. So readers may wonder whether anything else in his writings come within shouting distance of being accurate. I suggest not. Just like the political animal he is, he takes up the paint brush of falsehoods and attempts to smear candidates. And we wonder why good people don’t want to stomach the process of campaigning to serve as our elected representatives on the School Board or City Council.
Since I am a full disclosure kind of person, please note that I am the campaign treasurer for both Scott McVarish and Anne Burke. I do not take up that important task unless I am in solid support of a candidate.
Crystal, when I wrote “new to Culver City,” I was referring to the information about Scott’s work in Long Beach, not my tenure in Culver City. You and I have in fact known each other for a long time, and I find it hard to believe that you actually thought I was claiming to be new to Culver City myself. What would be the purpose of me saying that or lying about it? You are free to disregard the information I have helped bring to light, just as Dan is free to disbelieve all of the news articles from Long Beach. I just hope that the voters demonstrate more wisdom than you seem to be able to bring to bear on the subject.
I took Mr. Hersh’s advice and did a quick Google search, with the key words “Scott McVarish CTA”. The fourth entry brought me to an article in which his criticisms are completely shut down. http://www.lbreport.com/news/feb08/talbaud.htm
I also took the time to ask Scott his side of the story in greater detail, and I have absolutely no doubt in Scott’s good character and truthfulness. He’s a tireless worker, extremely diligent in his pursuits, and as the teachers came to know in his tenure with the CTA, he his fiercely supportive of their cause.
I look forward to each of the campaigns moving forward in a positive direction, hearing more about the candidates’ vision for our schools, and ultimately cheering for our new school board in their quest to continue the upward ascention of CCUSD to new heights.
Dan, it is rare that anyone follows my advice, so I am quite honored. I don’t think you actually read the link that you posted, however. The post states about the audit of TALB when Scott was its Executive Director, that it “DIDN’T find intentional misconduct or criminal acts by TALB Executive Dir. Scott McVarish.” Do you think not finding intentional misconduct or criminal activity is an endorsement of Scott’s performance as Executive Director? I know that Scott is a great political organizer and many teachers in Long Beach appreciated Scott’s efforts. Scott has many positive qualities that I admire, but his track record does not speak well of the qualities needed to be on a school board. The elected teacher leadership of TALB decided to terminate Scott, and if that does not cause you any concern, that’s speaks highly for your own loyalty. However, just as Scott says that the main job of a School Board is to select a Superintendent, that is also the main job of the Executive Board of a Union. Scott’s Executive Board terminated him, and for the first time in 25 years, the California Teachers Association (also elected teacher leaders) was forced to place TALB in trusteeship to straighten out the mess when Scott was running the show. Doesn’t leadership mean taking responsibility for one’s actions?
It’s pretty sad that the individuals who replied to Michael Hersh’s letter are such staunch supporters of Scott McVarish that they are totally unwilling to look at the truth and prefer to vilify a well-meaning individual who has shared critical information with the public.
Michael Hersh was the attorney hired to take McVarish’s place after McVarish left in disgrace. Hersh knows the ins and outs of the situation from first-hand experience.
Newspapers articles such as this one published in the Long Beach Press Telegram document Scott McVarish’s misdeeds and the misdeeds of others he was charged with supervising.
http://www.presstelegram.com/technology/20080809/120000-in-talb-charges-undocumented
Come on people–wake up! Is McVarish really the type of person we want on the school board? If he behaved this badly in his former position, how would he handle issues connected to the bond?
Rebecca, thanks, but I have a correction to make. Scott resigned from his position with the California Teachers Association in 2001. I was hired to take his place, and I started in 2002. I do not know why Scott resigned but I would not say he was disgraced. He then was hired by the South Bay Teachers United, where he was the Executive Director there for a few years, and I had the opportunity to work with Scott on a few matters, in my capacity as a CTA Attorney. Then Scott went to the Teachers Association of Long Beach where his activities are best learned from the Long Beach Telegram articiles.
While the article itself doesn’t go into detail, it gave me enough to google and I did bring this up on the conversations we were having on Facebook. Trying to decide between Anne and Scott, I wanted to do my research. I have to admit, I find this very worrisome. I do ignore the opinion pieces as I can create my own opinions based on fact. I do think this is a conversation that needs to be had because we are talking about accusations of mismanaged funds and electing an official to oversee the bond money. Now, I fully admit, I don’t know how a school board works or what the process is, but give me time to google it and I will figure out. For the time being, I don’t really know and most voters don’t know as well. So we are left wondering, what happened in Long Beach?
This isn’t dirt throwing on a candidate, this is called accountability.
Let’s all say that together, accountability. I believe strongly in honesty and accountability. People who meet me know that. I have nothing to hide. So when I ask questions, it’s not to put anyone down, it’s to give them a chance to own up to their mistakes or explain the misunderstanding.
Scott hasn’t said a word. Or has he? Can someone link me to it? It seems he’s relied on his supporters to do the talking for him. I’m sorry, but if I was running for office and one of you found something potentially damaging to me, if it were true, I would own it. I would say, “Yeah, I made a mistake and this is what I learned.” Because I believe in being authentic and putting it all out there for people to decide if they want to vote for me or not. People make mistakes and that’s okay.
So let’s say for a moment he did get caught up in the middle of a mess. Why not say that up front? When deciding to run, did he not think this would come up? Why didn’t he plan a response for when it did? Copy/paste is so easy these days. He doesn’t have to take time away from his day, just tell the truth. That’s easy to do.
I work with money. I am the treasurer both for Culver City Council PTA and the Kelly Kent campaign so I take it seriously where money is concerned. No one can ever accuse me of any wrongdoing because I can back up everything. Now, I can make mistakes. That’s always a possibility. I would own them. Someone could try and accuse me of wrongdoing or mismanaging funds, but I have the paper trail to back up every transaction, every authorization. It would be a pretty hard charge to make on me. So did Scott not keep good records? It sounds like at worst he mismanaged funds, at best, he sucked at keeping good records that would exonerate him. Either scenario makes it very worrisome for me to trust him with millions in bond money.
I wonder if Mr McVarish would care to address these issues surrounding his trustworthiness. Maybe if he did, this whole ‘kerfuffle’ could be put to rest. But so far he has chosen not to address the concerns that many voters have and yet he is still asking for our support. It’s bewildering and quite frankly verging on arrogant.
The election is tomorrow. For those who have wanted to dismiss the information I have attempted to share with the community about Scott, please read the investigative report in the current issue of the Culver City News.
http://www.culvercitynews.org/latest-news/political-campaign-works-prepares-ccusd-candidate/
I have tried to avoid demonizing Scott, because I believe that he is well-intentioned and we don’t have enough progressive well-intentioned people in this town to be fighting among ourselves. (The bigger issue is why we have only three candidates to fill two positions.) Nonetheless, voters should know about the controversies that marred Scott’s previous involvement with School Board and union politics in Long Beach and the South Bay Teachers United. Voters also need to assess Scott’s honesty about how he has presented his past in this campaign (prior to and after my circulating newspaper articles about his past in Culver City) and the degree he has shown that he has learned from his past so that the public can have confidence that he will handle his fiscal and oversight duties on the school board properly. My goal from the get go has been to inform voters about relevant information, not to spread rumors or “dirt.” I am proud of my involvement in Culver City politics for twenty some years, encouraged by Albert Vera, and I am happy to count Gary and Karlo Silbiger as friends, along with many others with whom I have worked over the years on school and city issues. As I have repeatedly said, I was following Scott’s adventures in Long Beach at the time they were occurring because I am a staff attorney with the California Teachers Association (which placed our Long Beach chapter in Trusteeship when Scott was the executive director of TALB). It is only because Scott is running for office that I decided to bring this relevant information to light during the campaign. I am proud of my efforts, only partially successful, to share public information about Scott with the public, and I will be happy to work with whomever the voters elect tomorrow for the benefit of our community. The results of any election are best when voters are informed.