Darleene Barrientos
One local politician Thursday came to Nick Doom's government class
at Clark Magnet High School in part to talk about his lack of hair.
That's not your usual spiel from a political candidate, but Phil
Koebel's not running your typical campaign.
The purpose of the unusual introduction was to set the Green Party
congressional candidate apart from his opponent, incumbent Rep. Adam
Schiff (D-Glendale), who sports a full head of hair. Koebel is
campaigning to win Schiff's seat as a U.S. Representative for the
29th district, which covers nine cities including Glendale and La
Crescenta.
His lack of hair is what most students notice first, Koebel said.
"Do you know some bald politicians? Dwight Eisenhower was bald and
a recent governor from Minnesota [Jesse Ventura] was bald," he said
to the class.
Koebel was invited to the school by one of his campaign
volunteers, Clark Magnet student Sheila Massehian. Koebel's visit was
the second in a series of appearances by local candidates. Lynn
Gabriel, who is running against Assemblywoman Carol Liu (D-La Canada
Flintridge), was the first to visit the class.
Doom, whose classroom is festooned with political memorabilia like
bumper stickers, lawn signs, magazine covers and books, said he tries
to coordinate the political visits in October, when the incumbents
are not in session. Having their challengers come in was a good
beginning, he said.
"It gives students an opportunity to meet a politician and a
candidate in person, not through a TV commercial or some [campaign]
literature," he said.
As part of their study of government, Doom directed his students
to work on a political campaign.
For Koebel, the visit was a chance to coordinate with his student
volunteers, as well as speak to the students who are learning about
the political process. Koebel spoke briefly about the Green Party's
goals for a shift to instant runoff elections -- where voters who
initially vote for a third-party candidate can later pick their
second choice out of the two major parties -- but talked more about
his platform, which is centralized around equal access to education
for everyone and affordable housing.
"Smart kids, not smart bombs," he said. "To me, every school
should be like Clark Magnet."
Many of the students in the class are not old enough to vote Nov.
2, but Koebel's visit left the students with an impression of the
candidate.
"He put forward some good points, especially about affordable
housing," 17-year-old Justin McNeal said.
Illya Williams, 16, said she had understood Koebel's difficulty of
campaigning against a candidate, like Schiff, from a major party.
"I think it was interesting, what he came to say," she said. "I
understand it's hard to run against someone who's already in there,
but I still think he should be given a chance."
