[1] Her father, Paul Ostroot, worked for General Mills; her mother, Ruth (Chapman),[1] was a Phi Beta Kappa "in a time when few women competed for college grades.

"[2] She was educated in Portland and received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Washington, where she was a Phi Beta Kappa and president of the student body.

[4] After her City Council defeat in 1987, Russell organized the Regional Institute of Southern California, a public-private partnership that explored local problems; she worked there "about half time" as the agency head.

Afterward, she said that she was an "independent" and that she considered the problems of noise from Los Angeles Airport and the refurbishing of the Venice canals to be the main issues in her district.

[9] Despite a prediction that she might not be reelected because "She doesn't compromise," voters chose Russell in 1971 over another challenge by Frank Small, and she was elected for the third time in 1975 over light opposition from three candidates and in 1979 over four opponents.

Despite the fact that Russell raised three times as much money as all of her five opponents combined in the primary race, she failed to gain a majority in the April vote, and she had to face Ruth Galanter, an urban planner with backing from environmental groups and people in the entertainment industry, in the final.

In addition, the Los Angeles Times reported, Russell's opposition to Proposition U, "the popular anti-growth initiative that passed overwhelmingly in her district, gave rise to the belief that she had fallen out of step with her constituents."

"[13] A Los Angeles Times reporter noted that during the early part of her career as a councilwoman, she "showed off more in public, when she wore muumuus to work along with earrings shaped like watermelons, when she quoted Chinese philosophers, made no secret of the personal flotation tank she owned, and once missed a council meeting to attend a wilderness retreat sponsored by est," which she later said gave her a sense of "empowerment."

After her election to the City Council presidency, however, she presented "a tailored, stylish appearance and a politely distant manner that has been described as both presidential and imperious."