With Clarke’s Passing, the Valley Loses a Friend and Fighter

For a political reporter--or just about anyone else--seeking to understand the lay of the land in the San Fernando Valley, there was no more important brain to pick than that of Northridge consultant Paul Clarke.

That was as true the day he died last week of lung cancer as it was in the late 1970s, when he directed the campaigns of anti-busing school board candidates, including his future wife, former U.S. Rep. Bobbi Fiedler.

Even though the 50-year-old Clarke was no longer actively involved in political consulting, he remained a font of knowledge, and not just about days gone by.

“Paul was really like a reporter because he kept up on things,” said pollster Arnie Steinberg, a friend of Clarke’s since the days when they agitated against busing. Clarke read constantly, surfed the Internet and, of course, schmoozed.

If Clarke still acted like a reporter it came naturally, since he was a radio newsman before trying to make news. Better still, for political reporters, he remained comfortable with the breed. He willingly--yet discreetly--shared his thoughts with journalists, informing many a story with his perspective.

“He was a very good salesman, without lying, and very good at what later became known as spinmeistering,” Steinberg said.

Hal Dash, president of high-powered Cerrell & Associates, who worked with Clarke in the early ‘70s, said Clarke’s skill running public relations for Fiedler and boosting the San Fernando Valley stemmed from his experience in journalism.

“He was a walking billboard for the Valley Chamber of Commerce,” Dash said. “Valley people were his kind of people.”

Clarke spent endless hours on the busing issue--first as a volunteer, later a pro--making his mark partly with his ability to sell a story to radio, television and newspapers, Steinberg said. He knew that radio needs pithy quotes, that TV demands visuals. And he knew the deadlines of every paper in town.

Clarke was the linchpin of Fiedler’s upset victory over longtime Rep. James Corman in 1979, Steinberg said, and the couple’s sojourn in Washington illustrated a lot about Clarke.

KCBS-TV Political Editor Linda Breakstone recalled that Clarke never lost his bearings, even when hobnobbing inside the Beltway.

“He was a regular Joe Sixpack kind of guy with a smart sense of politics who never got highfalutin’ . . . never got snooty,” said Breakstone, then a political reporter for the now-defunct Herald Examiner.

Breakstone also rated Clarke as “among the funniest” wits in politics. “He had a great sense of humor and was the life of the party.”

Longtime friend Art Pfefferman agreed. “He loved to tweak the stuffed shirts who were overwhelmed with their own importance,” Pfefferman said. “He was a load of fun.”

Consider the opening line of a column Clarke wrote for The Times in February 1995:

“It’s tough to explain California’s local elections to people in most of the rest of the country. They have two political parties. We have none.”

GOP media consultant Don Dornan said Clarke used humor adroitly in his work to “cut through the fog. He could get to the heart of the matter.”

Yet despite his skill with people, Clarke always preferred a behind-the-scenes role. “He always wanted to be in the background, never in the foreground,” said former City Councilman Robert M. Wilkinson, who worked with Clarke in his corporate consulting business.

Wilkinson remembered Clarke’s “keen mind, outstanding memory” and superior writing ability. “He knew how to put things together,” Wilkinson said.

Yet despite all his research and preparation, one of Clarke’s favorite sayings was “Dumb luck is better than well-planned action,” Pfefferman said.

Beneath the veneer of the hard-charging consultant and media maven was a sensitive guy, devoted to friends and family.

“He was a wonderful father and a fabulous husband,” Fiedler said. “No one could ask or expect anyone to give as much as he gave to all of us.”

More Plot Twists The latest act in the City Hall melodrama over reforming the city’s governing charter is expected to unfold today. It’s a story in which Mayor Richard Riordan is the Villain and the City Council is the Good Guy. Or vice versa, depending on your point of view.

The council is expected to decide today whether to place Riordan’s proposal to create an elected reform panel on the April ballot or to continue a legal fight that could delay the measure until the June election.

The city attorney’s office has told the council that it has the discretion to hold the measure up until June, but a federal judge has ruled that the initiative should appear on the strategically important April ballot.

The council has already created its own advisory reform panel and some members have criticized Riordan’s measure, saying they fear he is trying to use the reform process to increase his own power at City Hall.

Councilman Nate Holden has already questioned whether Riordan’s initiative has enough valid signatures to qualify for any ballot--be it April or June--and has said he will recommend that the council appeal the judge’s ruling.

But it appears that other council members will add yet another plot twist to the ongoing battle between the panel and the mayor. The language on the petition originally said that the reform panel was to be elected on a “citywide” basis. In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer said the panel should be elected by districts to ensure that minority voters get fair representation on the panel.

According to City Hall insiders, several council members will make an issue of this today and argue that the entire petition is bogus.

A few council members have already suggested that, to abide by Pfaelzer’s ruling, Riordan must recirculate the petition with new wording that says the elections will be by districts.

Riordan supporters say his lawyers are poised to try to knock down whatever hurdles the council puts up. Stay tuned.

QUOTABLE: “Being mayor of Los Angeles is tough. The office is long on pomp and short on circumstance.”--Paul Clarke, in 1995 Times op-ed article on Riordan at midterm

Times staff writer Hugo Martin contributed to this story.