Surprise, surprise! Don Wagner votes against campaign disclosure

Assembly fails to pass campaign disclosure bill (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Wagner: opacity is good

     SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Lawmakers have rejected a campaign disclosure bill that would have required top donors to be identified in television, radio and print advertisements.
     The Assembly on Tuesday failed to pass AB1148, which fell two votes short of the two-thirds needed, 52-26.
     Democratic Assemblywoman Julia Brownley of Santa Monica said her bill would have demanded more transparency as special interests take advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case, which grants political speech rights to corporations.

Giving liberals the stink eye

     Republican Assemblyman Donald Wagner of Irvine said the bill would have taken the state in the wrong direction and driven campaign spending underground.
     The bill would have specified the size and color of printed disclosures, as well as the duration for which they must appear.

Vern’s account is well worth reading

     In today’s OC Blog, our pal Vern Nelson offers the best coverage yet of yesterday’s hearing regarding former OC Public Administrator (and former SOCCCD trustee) John Williams: John Williams Agonistes.
     Here’s a little bit of it:

   …So I walked up and introduced myself, shook his hand. “Ah Vern Nelson” – yes he had read all my stuff lambasting him over the last two years. I wished him good luck with whatever comes next in his life, we kind of agreed that there are different sides to every story, and he eventually told me a couple things he thought I should know (to which there happen to be good counter-arguments by the way) – he says the two famous “scathing grand jury reports” on him had been retracted because of their “faulty methodology” – and he insisted he WANTS the new “Colantuono report” to come out because supposedly it vindicates him. (No it doesn’t.)

Barely one

   But the burning question he refused to answer, … was WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING SO HARD TO KEEP THIS JOB? Why can’t you go out with a little dignity? You’re sixty, you’ve got three pensions to get you through your retirement, your family’s in Florida, you’re obviously out of your depth, EVERYONE says you’ve been doing a horrible job, even your bible-thumping former friends like John Moorlach have turned against you, but you just keep fighting to stay on. Is it just because staying on a little longer might make your pension a little higher? Or is Phil Greer dragging you along for a little more loot?

Richard McCullough

     Earlier today, South Orange County Community College District personnel received word that Richard McCullough has died.
     In a letter from Saddleback College President Tod Burnett to denizens of Saddleback College (forwarded to IVC), we learned that

   Dr. Richard D. McCullough, Saddleback College’s beloved president from 2004 to 2008, passed away this morning after his brave battle with cancer.
   As you know, Dr. McCullough truly loved Saddleback College, and he was greatly loved in return. All who worked with him or were taught by him admired his unmatched intelligence, compassion, and charming sense of humor. He will be tremendously missed by all of us.
   Dr. McCullough started at Saddleback College in 1971 as a professor in the department of biological sciences. During his 37 years at the college, Dr. McCullough served in many capacities, including president, vice president for instruction, and dean of mathematics, science, and engineering. Dr. McCullough designed the college’s electron microscopy laboratory and was instrumental in building our solar observatory. He will be forever remembered for his vision and leadership in building the Saddleback College Veterans Memorial….

Williams’ motives become clear

Williams chose retirement date to boost pension, county says (OC Reg)

     John S. Williams, Orange County’s locked-out public administrator, selected a retirement date that would boost his pension income when he negotiated his departure with the county’s leadership, the county said in court papers Monday.
     The papers were filed hours before Orange County Superior Court Judge William Monroe denied Williams’ emergency petition for immediate reinstatement to his elected office and told the parties to come back to court in March for further hearings.
     Thomas Mauk, the county’s top executive, said in a declaration filed before Monday’s hearing that a confidential review of the Public Administrator/Public Guardian office prepared by outside attorney Michael Colantuono at the county’s request “revealed that actions taken by (Williams) had created significant financial and liability risks for the county.”
     Colantuono’s report also showed that Williams’ attorney, Philip Greer, “had been given access to highly confidential PA/PG case files, including Adult Protective Services referral reports,” in violation of the state’s Welfare and Institutions Code, Mauk’s declaration says.
     Greer didn’t immediately return two phone calls seeking comment on Mauk’s declaration.
     Mauk’s statements, made under penalty of perjury, bolster the county’s argument that Williams agreed to retire from his elected post as part of a deal with the county’s Board of Supervisors, and that Williams is now attempting to renege on that deal.
     Williams contends he never resigned or retired and was merely contemplating retirement when he wrote last March to Bill Campbell, then chairman of the Board of Supervisors, stating “It is my intention to retire as Public Administrator – Public Guardian on Jan. 23, 2012.”
     After Colantuono delivered his confidential report in February 2011, Williams and Greer began negotiations with Mauk and the Board of Supervisors on Williams’ resignation, Mauk said. All parties to the negotiations “understood and agreed that (Williams) would resign to avoid disclosure of the Colantuano report and to minimize the county’s liability exposure,” Mauk said.
     “However, (Williams) wanted to extend the period he received his full county compensation in order to enhance his pension benefit, based on his years of service as a community college district trustee,” Mauk said.
     “Ultimately, (Williams) suggested that he would resign if the county agreed to extend his salary through Jan. 23, 2012, a date (Williams) suggested, apparently because it enabled (Williams) to qualify for a more generous retirement benefit through the Orange County Employees Retirement System,” Mauk said. “To obtain (Williams’) resignation, the county accepted (Williams’) offer to retire effective Jan. 23, 2012.”
. . .
     Leon Page, a deputy county counsel who represented the county at Monday’s hearing, said in an email that Williams’ pension benefit “was apparently tied, in some way,” to Williams’ 18 years on the South Orange County Community College Board of Trustees. Williams resigned from that board in December 2010.
     Page said he didn’t know how much Williams’ agreement with the county boosted his pension benefit. “Over the next few weeks, we hope to conduct discovery that should provide the answers to these and other questions,” he said.
     Williams and the county are due back in Monroe’s courtroom on March 13. In the meantime, the parties will conduct discovery, including taking Williams’ deposition. The Public Administrator/Public Guardian office will continue to be managed by Lucille Lyon, a veteran estate administrator who was appointed by the Board of Supervisors last July.
. . .
     Williams, 60, has served as the county’s elected public administrator since 2003. He had also served as the appointed public guardian until the Board of Supervisors fired him from that role in June.
     As public administrator, Williams earned salary and other pay of $153,558.44 annually.

Nitpickery for a Monday night

Philosophical musitude

     I noticed this evening that the SOCCCD website declares that

Saddleback College and Irvine Valley College are both fully accredited, preparing students for associate degrees, transfer to four-year colleges and universities, workforce development and basic skills training.

     Tsk, tsk. I seem to recall that, according to the Accreds, it just won’t do to assert that one’s college is “fully accredited.” Why? Surprisingly, for a very good reason. You see, it won't do to talk of a "fully accredited" college for the same reason that it won’t do to talk of, say, someone's being fully dead, for, deadwise, one is either dead or not dead; deadery does not admit of degrees.

     I decided to find where this is made official.
     Found it:

ACCREDITATION REFERENCE HANDBOOK
A Publication of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges

Policy on Institutional Advertising, Student Recruitment, and Representation of Accredited Status (Adopted January 2005)

Part C
p. 68:

The phrase “fully accredited” shall be avoided, since no partial accreditation is possible from ACCJC.

Policy on Representation of Accredited Status (Adopted June 1998; Revised January 1999; Edited June 2003, August 2006)

Part C
p. 96

Representations of accredited status should be limited to the following statement. Additional modifiers such as “fully accredited” are not appropriate since no partial accreditation is possible.

     So there you have it. At the SOCCCD, cheesitude prevails, Accred-claim-wise.

IVC's new "Student Success Center"; CAFÉ (Library iteration) opening Wednesday

Pics of IVC "Student Success Center," taken today

     The President of the Irvine Valley College Academic Senate, Lisa Davis Allen, has long dreamed of a special facility for faculty—a center for “excellence.”
     I’m on the Senate. Maybe it’s just me, but it always seemed that one could hear crickets whenever she mentioned this idea at senate meetings.
     But she persevered, and, by late last spring, goshdarnit, her dream of a CAFÉ—i.e., a “Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence”—started gettin’ real. As it turned out, at about that time, administration was playing yet another round of facilities musical chairs—that never seems to end—and, by summer, it appeared that the Media Resource Center (MRC)—inside the fancy new BSTIC building—would be sent packing, to be replaced by, well, the faculty CAFÉ.
     Now, you’ve got to understand that the space then occupied by the MRC was seriously cool. It had (and has) lots of sleek Mac computers, an ultra-modern transparent wall, a wrap-around view, and so on. It is surely the coolest space at the college.

The internal entrance to the "Student Success Center."

     Naturally, the MRC/CAFÉ switcheroo was done very badly. People are never told what’s going on at IVC—they’ve pretty much only got rumors and after-the-fact reports. (Name any issue. Ask people what they know about it. A: nothing.)
     In this informational vacuum, people knew only that the MRC was getting evicted from the super-cool space in BSTIC, and faculty would take its place with something called a “CAFÉ.” Naturally, people took umbrage, aghast at the very idea of replacing student-in-cool-space with faculty-in-cool-space. Some of these employees even seemed to think that the CAFÉ was gonna be, well, a café!

     In the absence of info, people draw those kinds of conclusions. Why wouldn't they?
     To make matters worse, the Senate held a CAFÉ grand (or semi-grand or sub-grand) opening during Fall Flex Week, and the flier for the event made clear that only full-timers were invited! It all sounded kinda elite.
     We at DtB noted all of this, of course. No effort to clarify matters for us was ever made. We heard nothing from anybody.
     Pretty soon, there was yet another reshuffling of the IVC facilities deck. The plan to move the CAFÉ into the BSTIC space was nixed. All the computers remained there, but, for an entire semester, that space remained empty and unused! No explanation was given for any of this.
     Typical.
     When I returned from my sabbatical (early January), I was told that the CAFÉ has at long last found a home, namely, the former Student Learning Center in the IVC Library (see earlier post: CAFÉ BIBLIOTHÈQUE).
     The Grand Opening is Wednesday. (See flier at left)
     Meanwhile, after an entire semester of disuse, that cool space in BSTIC has been given over to something now called the “Student Success Center.”
     Let’s hope that idea sticks.
     I dropped by the SSC today and spoke briefly with the person in charge, namely, Dr. Brooke Choo. I know her; she’s good.
     Looks like the SSC is in good hands.

This, of course, is BSTIC. The Student Success Center is on the bottom floor, at left.
Naturally, BSTIC is not used in ways originally intended, owing to program shrinkage
and other fortuities. They should rename it MISC.

SEE ALSO:

• Really? Adjuncts not invited?
• Visiting the MRC
• "This is so f-ed up”
• The MRC, CAFÉ, and IVC Ac. Senate

The unfortunate (i.e., bungled) August "launch" of the CAFE. Redolent of elitism most foul.

Williams' emergency petition denied; final decision in six weeks

• Williams’ bid for immediate reinstatement denied (OC Reg)

OC's "It" boy

     An Orange County judge this morning denied an emergency petition by John Williams, the county’s locked-out public administrator, for immediate reinstatement to his office.
     Instead, Superior Court Judge William Monroe ordered further hearings on the issue.
     Williams was locked out of his office last week, after he failed to step down on the day he had said he intended to retire.
     Facing accusations that he had mismanaged his department and the estates of some deceased people, Williams last March wrote to Bill Campbell, then chairman of the county’s Board of Supervisors, saying he intended to retire on Jan. 23, 2012, which was last Monday.
     However, Williams recently informed county officials that he’d changed his mind about retiring. He showed up for work on Tuesday, Jan. 24, staying at his Santa Ana office until about 2 p.m. After he left, county workers swooped in to change the locks. John Moorlach, current chairman of the Board of Supervisors, said he approved the lockout and Williams’ removal from the county payroll.
. . .

John Moorlach

     Judge Monroe this morning heard arguments from Williams’ attorney, Phil Greer, as well as from Leon Page representing the county. Monroe then denied Williams’ request to be reinstated immediately. The judge suggested he wants more information and testimony on the issue, ordering both sides to agree to a schedule for hearings.
. . .
     The parties will return to court on March 13.
. . .
     Williams, 60, has served as the county’s elected public administrator since 2003. He had also served as the appointed public guardian until the Board of Supervisors fired him from that role in June. He continued to receive annual salary and other pay totaling $153,448.44 for the two positions.
. . .
     In exchange for Williams’ agreement last March to retire, the Board of Supervisors agreed not to cut his pay during his remaining 10 months in office and not to release a “highly critical” report on his performance prepared for the board by an outside lawyer, according to a letter sent to Williams last week by County Counsel Nick Chrisos.

Cousin It

• For Now, County Can Keep the Locks on Williams' Door (Voice of OC)

     ...The county's filings argued that Williams' action is "essentially a thinly veiled attempt to remain on county payroll -- and boost his pension entitlement -- even though he had been previously stripped of virtually all of his official duties."....

• John Williams Told to Stay Away (Navel Gazing)

   ...Williams' own attorney testifies to his client's incompetence, confirming that he did send the board a letter of resignation. Williams later changed his mind, according to the mouthpiece....

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

Red Emma has posted his second review in his new column over at the O.C. Weekly.

This week, OC Bookly's bibliofella reviews Chapman professor Tom Zoellner's new book, A Supermarket in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells us about the Grand Canyon State and Life in America.


The title, of course, tells you what you need to know but Red manages to connect the dots between that tragic day last year and Warren Zevon, the Costa Concordia and Jean Luc Godard and more. Go figure.

One day Red will return to write for us but until then we'll enjoy his rants on all thing literary and orange.

excerpt:

What famous American asked: "What is government if words have no meaning?"

​Multiple choice: a) Warren Zevon b) Situationist philosopher Guy Debord c) Newt Gingrich d) Stephane Hessel e) Jared Lee Loughner.

Okay, only three are even Americans. And if you chose everything but "e" you're forgiven. But as journalist Tom Zoellner, lately teaching at Chapman University points on in his newest book, A Safeway in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells us about the Grand Canyon State and Life in America, the mentally ill Arizona assassin himself offered this actual interrogative at, yes, a public forum years before he arrived at the now-iconic supermarket parking lot to shoot Giffords in the brain with his Glock 19.

To read the rest, click here.

*

25 year pin

I got a pin in the mail recently—the one you get if you manage twenty-five years employment in the South Orange County Community College District. (It was the Saddleback CCD when they hired me.)

Lego Man in space

The John Williams "ANGRY TURD" game

Based, of course, on the popular Angry Birds game
—only with a turd instead of a bird. Yeah, and Supes
instead of green pigs. —Extra points if you blow up everybody,
including that awful brown turd. —Especially that awful brown turd
CLICK ON GRAPHIC TO ENLARGE

In the mid to late 90s, Williams specialized in Brown Act
violations. Gawd, what an asshole. We called 'im "Brown Boy"

• Dana Rohrabacher Gets Lectured For Lying on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher (Navel Gazing)

• Dana Rohrabacher Blames "Rude" Female for His Gaffes on Bill Maher's HBO show