Always Giving Back

Noon at the Newsroom just outside Beverly Hills. Amid the lunchtime din, CNN blares on an overhead TV, but only one diner is riveted: Lindsay Conner. The politician is transfixed, waiting for the crucial announcement regarding the then-never-ending Florida recount saga.

Politics — from international on down — has always been Conner’s passion. Appointed in 1981 to a seat on the L.A. Community College Board at age 25, he was the youngest person ever to win a citywide election in Los Angeles. Two decades have not diminished his interest in working for the community. As chair of the Government Relations Committee of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles since 1988, Conner works with the municipal and state government.

A young-looking 44-year-old, Conner said people can’t believe he’s been involved in local politics since the early 1980s. Their reaction, he said, usually is something like, “You’re joking! When did you start? 15?”

What sets Conner apart from others is “his persistent dedication,” said Michael Hirschfeld, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Committee (JCRC), the organization that started the Government Relations Committee.

Born in New York City, Conner’s dedication to his community began at the early age of eight, after a move to the West Coast that also brought a long-time affiliation with Wilshire Boulevard Temple. He had his bar mitzvah there and years later served on the board that installed Rabbi Harvey Fields. “My parents were always proud to be Jewish,” said Conner, whose mother’s side traces its lineage to Chassidic rabbis from Russia and the Ukraine. “They certainly instilled that in me.”

With a father who worked in the music industry and a brother in entertainment law, Conner soon followed suit, working as an entertainment lawyer following his 1980 graduation from Harvard Law School (where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review). A former Coro Fellow and Wexner Fellow, Conner spent 13 years practicing. From 1986-93, he was head of entertainment at Hill, Wynne, Troop and Meisinger.

“It was a great experience for a long time,” Conner said of his now-dormant law career. But it was not enough for Conner, who needed to channel his interest in public service. Hence, his years on the community college board: Conner said that working within the world’s largest two-year college system which counts more than 100,000 students in nine colleges, was a “wonderful opportunity to give something back to the community and to L.A.” Conner served on the board for 16 years, stepping down in 1997.

Conner said he is proud of his accomplishments of that period, which included helping to implement writing across the school curriculum, battling to keep open Mission College in the North Valley and working to secure more education funding from Sacramento. “There were a lot of tough decisions to make, particularly when funding was cut in the mid-’80s. It was hard to choose the lesser of evils, but that’s what trustees were forced to do,” Conner said.

His dedication came with a price. The unmarried politician admitted that he worked so hard as a lawyer and community board member that “my social life really suffered.”

Last February, Conner joined forces with Steve Cheslow to create I-Drop, an Internet file-hosting company. As an e-entrepreneur, Conner now has the time to cultivate that elusive social life. While he has put entertainment law behind him, he has not lost the desire to give back to the community. As chair of the Government Relations Committee, Conner said he has met many young people active in JCRC who are knowledgeable and passionate.

“There ought to be a lot more of them. I’m afraid that too many bright and passionate young people in the Jewish community have either ignored or pulled away from political and community involvement,” he said.

“There are certainly a lot of people who don’t get involved. We’re all struggling on how to make the Jewish Federation relevant to a younger generation, to show them that there is value within the organized Jewish community.”

Conner is upbeat about the future, even as his mission to motivate others proves daunting. “My concern is that people may be turning inward toward their own lives and away from the larger community,” Conner said. “If we do, overall community life will suffer sooner than later. Part of the job of community leaders is to find a way to energize. It’s not an easy job. We’re in a cynical age where it has become common, even trendy, to say that what you do doesn’t count.”

Then Conner turned his attention back to the presidential election, a race that underscored, more than anything, the notion that every vote does count.

For more information on I-Drop, contact Lindsay Conner at lindsay@idropstreamnet.com