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."
