Broad Denies Gift Offer Was Improper

For billionaire financier Eli Broad, it was just an off-hand remark -- but it would change the course of the nation’s second-largest school district.

Three years ago, he and former Colorado governor and Democratic Party leader Roy Romer were having a working dinner to plan the party’s Los Angeles national convention.

“And Eli said, ‘We’re looking for a new superintendent. You ever think about that?’ ” Romer recalled.

A few months later, Romer was looking for an apartment in Venice and, after an evaluation process by the school board, became head of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Such is the suggestive power of one of the city’s richest men on the school district. Already active in other cultural and political causes, Broad -- with his long-time friend, former Mayor Richard Riordan -- has exerted unusual influence in recent years by funding pet educational programs around the country through foundations and by selecting and financing school board candidates in Southern California.

This week, Broad’s efforts to persuade Theodore R. Mitchell, president of Occidental College, to run against L.A. Unified school board incumbent David Tokofsky next April show that he is continuing his controversial work in education .

Several people present at a special meeting of the Occidental Board of Trustees on Wednesday reported that Mitchell had said Broad would give the college $10 million for a charter school leadership institute if he would agree to run. Broad said discussions about the possible gift had not been related to the challenge to Tokofsky.

“I regret the fact [Mitchell is] not running for the school board. There was no linkage between the two,” Broad said in an interview Friday.

Mitchell, who ultimately decided not to run, agreed that Broad had not presented the two issues as a quid pro quo. Mitchell has repeatedly declined to say what he told Occidental trustees in a confidential phone conference call on Wednesday.

On Thursday, he suggested that the donation had been unrelated to his seeking a school board position; he repeated that in a campus e-mail on Friday.

In an interview with The Times late Friday, however, Mitchell said he had considered the two proposals “as a package.”

“I’m at work every day trying to bring resources to the college to support our core work,” Mitchell said. “In addition to hoping that I would be able to serve the children of Los Angeles, which was, of course, my primary concern, I hoped that a run for school board, if undertaken, would have signaled to funders around the country that Occidental is committed from the very top to school reform.”

Mitchell said those potential donors included the Broad Foundation.

Broad said he involved himself in education because he was dismayed at the lack of progress in public schools during the last two decades.

“People think I’m nuts” and they ask: “ ‘Why don’t you go and play golf? Buy a place in Aspen?’ ” Broad said in an interview Friday. “I think K-12 education is the biggest problem America has today.”

Some educators and civic leaders welcome Broad’s efforts to reform a school district viewed as stifled by bureaucracy, mismanaged and harming the welfare of 730,000 children.

But the influence of Broad and Riordan has triggered concern about the district’s autonomy, even among some of the school board members supported by them, such as Genethia Hudley Hayes.

“I don’t ever think it’s a good thing for anybody to have control of institutions that are supposed to be public,” said Hayes. “Not Eli, not Riordan, not ... labor.”

But Hayes, who said she has not been influenced by either man, said she is glad that Broad has become such a passionate advocate for public education.

“I think Eli gets a bad rap because he’s wealthy,” she said. “I think people are suspicious of rich folk.”

Broad recently has become involved in other school districts around the state as well, including San Diego, where he contributed money to two candidates in Tuesday’s school board election. Broad’s foundation has also worked with Supt. Alan Bersin in San Diego to set up a principal training academy.

The foundation also has established dozens of other programs promoting corporate-style school management in cities from Seattle to Atlanta. They include training for superintendents and board members, support for charter school development and demonstration projects such as a merit pay plan in Denver.

And Broad’s foundation has established a program that awards cash prizes to urban school districts that it considers the best in the nation. Last month it gave $500,000 to Houston’s schools and $125,000 to four other districts, including Long Beach and Garden Grove.

Broad, 69, a Brentwood resident, made his initial fortune as a home builder and dramatically expanded his wealth in the 1990s with the financial services company, SunAmerica. He has sold SunAmerica but remains its chairman. He has been a powerful force in the cultural life of the city for years, supporting museum renovations and advocating for redevelopment of Grand Avenue, among other projects.

Riordan shared his concerns about education, and the two formed an alliance.

Broad gave $250,000 to the Coalition for Kids, which Riordan helped found to support newcomer reform candidates like Hayes and Caprice Young, who helped create a new majority on the board.

Broad was eventually appointed to the superintendent review committee that short-listed Romer.

Romer said he is grateful for Broad’s involvement and said that, in their monthly discussions, Broad and Riordan never try to dictate policy.

“Obviously, Eli has strong opinions, and we’ve had some very testy times with both the mayor and Eli, but I respect them,” Romer said. “That’s what happens when strong people get involved in solving problems.”

Young, the school board president, says she talks to Broad about once every two months to seek his counsel, mainly on school building matters. “I try to steal as much of his time as I can. He’s smart and gives good advice.”

Young said she asked for Broad’s help to promote her agenda during a redistricting campaign last year. The Coalition for Kids donated $30,000 to hire a lobbying firm, Rose & Kindel, to push the electoral map Young favored and won.

For a time, Broad assigned an employee of his foundation to work in Hayes’ office when she was president of the school board. Broad said Hayes had asked him for help and he provided it.

In San Diego, when the California Teachers Assn. backed two school board candidates Broad perceives as hostile to Supt. Bersin, Broad spent $60,000 on opposition fliers for next week’s election.

Broad’s intervention has rankled board member Frances O’Neill Zimmerman, who is not up for reelection this year.

“He’s dabbling in social policy with all his money, and affecting change with it, but it’s not necessarily good change, and it’s not really school reform,” Zimmerman said. “It’s basically a business agenda for reshaping the public school system.”

Broad said his efforts in public education have nothing to do with making money.

“I have always been a political giver,” Broad said. “Once I became involved in education, I had a proclivity for people who were interested in education.”

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Times staff writers Peter Y. Hong, Mitchell Landsberg and Stuart Silverstein contributed to this report.