It took Jim Clarke 35 years to decide that he wanted to be a member of Culver City’s governing body.
A resident since 1977, he threw his hat in the ring two years ago and unlike any local candidates for City Council won his first excursion into city politics.
Clarke is running for reelection after a truncated term of two years; a unique situation that occurred in 2012.
His first term on the council was only two years because of former councilman Scott Malsin’s decision to resign from office in December 2011 in order to keep his family’s healthcare benefits intact and subsequently run again the next year, leaving a temporary vacancy on the council and putting four seats up for grabs.
Municipal election rules dictated that the fourth-place finisher-which happened to be Clarke- would run to serve out Malsin’s original term, which expires this year.
“I gained a lot of experience in the two years on the council,” Clarke began. “I’m amazed that you can learn so much in that amount of time. I can say that I now have a deep appreciation for members of the California State Assembly and members of Congress who have to run every two years.”
Clarke says he is retracing many of the steps he took on the way to winning in the last election, reviewing the copious notes that he accumulated on the campaign trail and visiting many of the same constituents.
“A lot of the same issues that were on folks minds two years ago are still around today and still on people’s minds,” he said.
Clarke continues to keep a record of what he learned campaigning in 2012 that he uses as a reference for has transpired in two years time. At city council meetings, he says he continues to be a prolific note taker.
“When we have public comment, I take a lot of notes about what people say and that refreshes me for later discussions,” Clarke explained. “It also helps me understand their positions.”
A former director of federal relations under ex-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa until last year, Clarke is now in “semi-retirement” from government work. He is currently working as a part-time consultant for the Annenberg Foundation, a philanthropic nonprofit. Because he no longer works full time, Clarke has been able to do much of his precinct walking during the week as well as on the weekends, allowing him to cover as much ground as possible until election day and even spend more time visiting with constituents.
The incumbent councilman has learned an important lesson during these walks to ask voters for a second chance on the city’s governing body.
“The interesting thing is very often you find out issues that are very different than what we might consider to be important at the council level,” Clarke said.
Upon gaining a reputation for appearing at several public events throughout his short tenure on council, Clarke was given the nickname of “Mr. Everywhere,” by his council colleague Andrew Weismann.
“I think he really enjoys being out meeting people,” Weissman said in an earlier interview.
As he did in 2012, Clarke has drawn support from a wide array of political and business organizations, residents and former as well as current elected leaders. Unlike the majority of candidates for public office in Culver City, the councilman has been able to not only cobble together organizations that typically are not politically aligned with each other, but also from the various local political factions, which more often than not are less than kind to each other publicly and privately.
The incumbent is also backed by the League of Conservation Voters and the Culver City Employees Association, according to his candidate website.
Culver City Chamber of Commerce Chairman Bill Reider said Clarke has shown “leadership, fiscal responsibility and an understanding of economic development” during his time in office. He also said the councilman had worked closely with local businesses and the Culver City community “to create new opportunities for our city and to address the critical issue of business attraction and retention.”
The State Department of Finance notified the city that they will be able to proceed with some of the redevelopment projects that were pending, including two crucial and potential future large revenue generators: a transit-oriented development near the Expo Line station as well as the centerpiece of Culver City project, Parcel B in the downtown area. Clarke says continuing to shepherd these projects to fruition should be one of the council’s top priorities.
“It was a great win for us,” he said. “We were anticipating a long drawn out battle but it worked out well for us.”
Other pressing matters that the council will face will be an increase to CALPERS funding, which he class “a significant hit” in terms if finances. Also, storm water runoff and how to pay for these environmental measures must be confronted.
Clarke offered solutions that others, including Culver City Public Works Director Charles Herbertson have proposed in the past: creating rain gardens to absorb storm water runoff, rain barrel collections and additional storm water catch basin.
“It’s been estimated by the Los Angeles Water Control Board that the cost will be $1. 2 million over seven years and Culver City’s contribution would be approximately $50 million,” Clarke said. “And right now, we don’t know how we would go about paying that amount of money. Clearly, we’re going to need state and federal help ad my connections at the state and federal level will be helpful.”
Clarke would also like to pursue an idea that he first told the News about nearly a year ago that pertains to the Brown Act, California’s landmark law that governs public meetings.
“I’m proposing that we be able to conduct what’s called a ‘serial meeting,’ where I could meet with another person and then meet with another person and so on,” he explained. “By the very nature of it, I could talk to all the members of the council and right now you’re not allowed to do that.”
Clarke has been reappointed to a League of California Cities Administrative Services Policy Committee.
“I would still like to look into it. It’s a very tough issue,” Clarke acknowledged. “I’m not trying to do more things in secret. I’m trying to do things that would add more transparency to government.
“Right now, I can talk to only one other member about a particular issue. But the staff can talk to all members of the city council and meet together for hours and figure out what they want to do and they can lobby each member individually,” the councilman continued. “And then I go into a council meeting and I haven’t had a chance to talk to one of my colleagues who may have a good idea on an issue.”
The term “serial communication” is described as a communication that results in a meeting of the members, although the members are not present at a publicly posted and Brown Act meeting, according to Los Angeles City Attorney’s office.
Clarke is against the controversial practice of oil extraction called hydraulic fracturing or fracking and notes that there are conflicting reports regarding whether it cause earthquakes. He opposes a municipal ban, as many local anti-fracking opponents have advocated.
Working on Culver City’s centennial in 2017 is an event that Clarke has previously stated would be another of his top priorities if he won a second term on the council. If he is successful in his reelection bid later this month, Clarke plans to make the city’s 100 birthday a civic event that could also serve as a marketing venture for the “Heart of Screenland.”
“I think we have a great story to tell and I want to make sure that we have full citizen involvement,” he said.
Very soon, the electorate will decide whether they want “Mr. Everywhere” to continue help lead Culver City toward that significant milestone.
Election day is Tuesday, April. 8.