A reader alerted us to a story concerning trustee John Williams. Williams, of course, is also the Orange County Public Administrator-Public Guardian, having been elected for that office in 2002.
According to the Reg, back in 2005, Williams and then-Treasurer John Moorlach promised that they could save the county $300K in three years by combining the public administrator and public guardian offices. Well, it's 2009, and, according to the grand jury, nothing of the kind has happened.
Their report, made available on Wednesday,
takes aim at Williams for doubling salary costs at the agency and engaging in questionable personnel practices. ¶ "The annual base salary of management has increased over 96 percent since 2005," read the grand jury report. ¶ "They have failed to deliver on their promise to save Orange County taxpayers' money." … The Public Administrator is an elected job which pays less than $20,000 a year. But the Public Guardian is an appointed position earning similar wages to other department heads at more than $138,000 annually. Under state law, the public administrator in each county settles the estates of the recently deceased who leave no known heirs....
According to the report, in 2005 there were seven employees who had combined yearly salaries of $529,796. By 2008, the number of employees had risen to 10, a spike of 40 percent. And their wages totaled $1, 042,828 annually.
The spike is not only attributable to extra employees but to numerous questionable promotions. ¶ Grand jurors found that one employee was promoted to a top management position within a year of retirement.
Apparently, that wasn’t the only promotion that was hinky. Several of them were called into question by the county’s human resources people.
Even Moorlach thinks the report is troubling. He was scheduled to meet with Williams (yesterday).
Apart from all that, the grand jury just thinks that the agency does a lousy job.
The report cited one audit by social security administration that found a 30 percent error rate in files handled by the public guardian. ¶ Another example cited was the case of one individual who left behind $7,400 after passing away. The public administrator took four years to bring the case before a court for disbursement and by that time the funds were depleted.
It gets worse:
Grand jurors also criticized the use of internal manuals saying many were not up to date and were "in shambles." ¶ "Four organizational charts were provided to the Grand Jury over a period of four months. These charts were different each time they were produced and the titles of the individuals were constantly changing." ¶ "Out of control personnel practices have created an organization top heavy in management and riddled with unhappy workers required to do much more work than what is considered typical," the report concluded.
Speaking of dope...Matt Coker (OC Weekly) alerts us to a video on YouTube. Conservative OC judge Jim Gray argues for marijuana decriminalization (lengthy):
8
comments:
Anonymous
said...
oh, you were just distracted by all the belly dancers, Chunk, c'mon admit it!
Seriously, nice week on the blog: the Early College Program fiasco, the Scholarship Program, the emergence of belly dancing as a degree program, the arrival of public art on campus - and now this bombshell about Williams - JUST GREAT!
Really, is anyone surprised? He is a "fiscal conservative," after all, and we all know what those folks do, time after time. They fuck the public in favor of their buddies.
I wonder if anyone in the DA's office has examined Williams' questionable expenses at the SOCCCD? Hundreds of dollars per night at hotels in faraway places, etc. Think "Orlando."
Maybe someone ought to investigate the amount of time Mr. Williams actually spends in the office for the amount of money he makes. His time cards undoubtedly state 40hrs per week however his employees know better............ It would be very interesting to follow him and record the day in the life of the PA/PG on the golf course. I know during my employment there (>1yr) he was only visible in the office 1-2xs a week. His cronies did all of the dirty work and were rewarded with promotions they not only don't deserve but have no idea what to do with them. What a shame..... the population we serve deserves much better!!!!!
Yeah, I would be curious if the grand jury has looked at his timesheets too. Especially, after all those times out of the County on OCCCD business (did he take sick days or have his chief deputy falsify his time sheet). Hmmmmm.
SOCCCD BOARD MEETING: June 15, 1998 By Chunk Wheeler (aka Roy Bauer) From the Vine, 6/21/98
I. 6:00
Amid considerable hallway noise, Maryanne Wardlaw of the Irvine World News was interviewing Michael Collins Piper as he awaited the start of the district board meeting. Stealth employee X approached with a tape recorder and preserved the following for posterity:
PIPER: May I see that [one of Roy Bauer’s handouts], please?...I would like to look at it...[Finishing his thought:] --In any case, I thought it would be nice if I would be able to come to the college and say something....
WARDLAW: Why now?
P: Why now? Because it was the first time that was convenient for me to do it, and I just got so tired of hearing all this nonsense, so I thought it would be something that I should do...No particular reason for this date...These things have continued...I thought, ‘Well, I should go out there.’ You know, I get tired of hearing, you know, ...
W: Do you live in the area?
P: No, I live in Washington, D.C.
W: Did you come out here for this?
P: Yes, I did, yeah.
EMPLOYEE X: Who paid your way?
P: Who paid my way? Uh, it was paid for by my employer.
W: Who do you work for?
P: Liberty Lobby.
X: What’s Liberty Lobby?
P: Uh, it’s, uh, it was established in 1955. We call it a “populist” institution.
X: What’s it about?
P: What’s it about? It publishes a weekly newspaper called the Spotlight. We say it’s for America first, for the Constitution. Obviously--may I ask who you are?
X: My name’s (X). I’m an employee of the college.
P: Oh, and what part of the college are you employed by?
X: I’m a (...).
P: And, uh, are you here--In what capacity are you in here with the tape recorder--Dare I ask?
X: (I’m here because) I’m interested.
P: Oh!
X: I’m a citizen. I pay taxes, and I’m interested.
P: OK.
X: My day ends at 4:30 at the college and I have a right like everybody else—
P: OK, I’m just curious. I mean, that’s, yeah...I’m surprised you don’t know the details then; you’re not...
X: I know everything.
P: You know everything.
X: Everything...I’ve been here listening to all this all from the start--from when Mr. Frogue started this.
P: Wait a minute. Mr. Frogue didn’t start this. That’s where the problem comes in...
My opinion is that I wrote a book. I accepted an invitation to speak at this college. I never heard of Saddleback College in my life, and frankly at this point I wish I never had. But the bottom line of it is I was invited to speak here and I accepted this invitation, and the next thing I know all of a sudden it’s in the newspapers. And did I call these newspapers up? I didn’t call those newspapers up. Who called those newspapers up? Your friend Roy Bauer. Did he call the newspapers?
X: I would imagine a lot of people...I don’t know why you’re directing--why Roy Bauer...?
P: There was this--just all of a sudden there was this great commotion on campus. Students came running out of their classrooms saying, ‘We must stop Mike Piper from speaking!’--is that it?
X: I think there were a lot of students. I think there were classified staff, and I believe there were faculty and...administrators that felt that way [namely, that Piper’s participation in the forum was a problem].
P: Do you think there were people like Chancellor Lombardi who thought there was a problem with it?
X: I never spoke to Chancellor Lombardi. If he didn’t [think there was a problem], I’m sure he should have.
P: I read that he said that he was concerned about--that it was a matter of free speech.
X: You have to speak to Lombardi.
P: That’s what I read in the paper. Now, are you saying that I can’t trust the papers?
X: I never said that. You’re putting words in my mouth. I didn’t put words in your mouth.
P: I know, I asked you...
X: You know what? She’s [i.e., Maryanne’s] the one that’s interviewing you. I’m gonna let (mixed voices)...I heard you talking and I wanted to—
P: You’re standing here with a tape recorder. Could I take your picture?
X: No.
P: Well, then, you can’t tape.
X: Fine. (X abruptly shuts off the recorder.)
II. GOOD LORD, IT’S FROGUETTE!
Early in the meeting, brand spanking new student Trustee Marie HILL addressed the board/audience with rhetoric that managed to combine gooeyness, offensiveness, and cluelessness:
HILL:...As students we look to you...as our mentors...It distresses my fellow students as well as myself the infighting that’s going on between the two factions here...It is analogous to parents fighting...At least [indecipherable] if they cannot resolve their differences...If all else fails, they can get a divorce. But what do the children do?
We, your students, are the same as the children in this relationship as you all hash out [indecipherable]. We are taught, we are protected, by you. We are stuck in the middle, and we don’t have [indecipherable]. We need both of our parents--we need you both, we need you all, and we need you all to come together, to work together for us, the students. It is unfair for any one group to ask us to [indecipherable]. No child could do that.
I’ve had [...?] Saturday morning. Every time I pick up the Orange County Register and I see an article about this district, it is like giving up your morning and seeing your mother on Jerry Springer. And I’m tired of it. I know the students are tired of it, OK? As a matter of fact, I believe that Ms. [Kimberly] Kindy [of the Register] probably (should?) audition for a writer on the Jerry Springer show. The story’s (biased?). It appears to be one-sided. I don’t see the balance. If there is a balance, I would like to see it. Maybe she should be a writer on the Jerry Springer show. [Note: Kindy was sitting only ten feet away.]
The faculty and administrators (ought to?) stop dredging up and rehashing the things they...hash over and over. We understand...that the faculty is unhappy; we understand that the administrators are unhappy. But we need you both. We realize the academic portion needs to have freedom to teach. We also understand the need for accountability from our administrators. But we can’t do it with a broken home. We need you to come together to (?).
If it is so very bad for any one of us, be it faculty or administrator, if you’re that unhappy and you just can’t live with it, perhaps you would be happier somewhere else. (Scattered idiotic applause.) (?)...hurting us, that’s all I can say. Somewhere between one and the other there...has to be a place for you to come together. And if students can help--if I can help--if any of the members of shared governance can help, please let us know. We need and want you both (and all?). …
IV. Public comments (on non-agenda items)
At about 9:30, public comments commenced. The first speaker was an honor student named Julie Abel, who had recently received some sort of commendation that was signed by members of the board, including the four members of the board majority. I was unable to tape the first few seconds of her address:
JULIE ABEL:
...members of this board whose behavior has been an appalling embarrassment to the entire student body at both district campuses. One member, Mr. Steven Frogue, is a high school history teacher who tries to indoctrinate his students against ethnic and religious minorities and who tries to associate my college with the forces of bigotry. Three other members--Mr. Williams, Ms. Lorch, and Ms. Fortune--stand behind this lunatic. Together, they’re willing to swallow any nonsense, [commit] any (infamy?), necessary to preserve this precarious, peculiar, petulant majority--including ambushing a young woman in a restaurant.
Where are your values? Have you forgotten what an education is supposed to provide? An education is supposed to provide students with the knowledge and experience needed to think critically, to make intelligent decisions, and to make a positive contribution to the world. Instead,...you have shown us that every bad idea once proffered must be clutched...and defended at all costs. [...] students are expected meekly to go along with [this?].
So what do you expect me to do with this thing? Do you expect me to place it on my wall with these signatures (staring?) down at me shouting, “the Holocaust never happened!” and whispering “but we didn’t really say that”? To Williams, Lorch, and Fortune [I ask]: please send me a new certificate without your signatures....
To Mr. Frogue [...] of the conspiracies, denials and lies: to him, I have nothing to say.
ROY BAUER:
Hi. I’m Roy Bauer [wild applause--not really] and I just wanted to alert you to two handouts that I distributed tonight. One of them simply discusses the question of who Mr. Michael Collins Piper is--I understand that he is visiting with us tonight--and I’ve done some research and I’ve provided this handout. I hope that you’ll take some time to look at it and see what sort of character he is.
Um, I wanted to alert you to, in particular--what I did is I had about 4 or 5 random Spotlights--he [Piper] works for [the] Spotlight newspaper which is the newspaper for Liberty Lobby--and simply scanned some articles and advertisements, editorials. And as you can see, this is an embarrassment.
I hope you do look very carefully at it. You have ads here for [reads:] “the Caucasian race”; “collectors/historians: Ku Klux Klan memorabilia”; “The Truth about the bombs in Oklahoma.”
Also [we have] an article here by Mr. Michael Collins Piper which apparently suggests that the Oklahoma City bombing, too, can be attributed to the Israeli Mossad!
So this is the kind of man that Mr. Frogue has wanted to invite to this district. I’m ashamed that I’m a part of a district in which something like this can occur.
Also, I wanted to...point out that I have a letter that was sent to me by this so-called “scholar,” which I’d like to read:
“Dear Roy: I just happened to be going through my files and I found this seventeen year old letter to the editor of the George Washington University student newspaper...Note that I came to the defense of a ‘liberal’ professor who was under fire from ‘right wing’ students who wanted to censor her views.”
Mr. Piper goes on to say:
“Isn’t it ironic that fifteen years later a filthy, anti-free speech mother-fucker like you came on the scene and caused such a big commotion in an effort to silence my views?”
I know a lot of scholars, and they almost never say “motherfucker.” [Laughter.]
“Looks like I’m the good guy, Roy, and you’re the fucking piece of shit that you are. And by the way”—
This is my favorite part of the letter:
“Some of my Black Nationalist supporters in Southern California are watching your activities closely. They believe in Freedom of Speech, motherfucker, but you don’t.”
[Looking directly at Frogue:] This is the scholar that Mr. Frogue sought to invite to his idotic JFK Forum.
Thank you very much.
IRV RUBIN:
My name is Irv Rubin. I represent the Jewish Defense League [JDL], and I just wanted to take a moment of your time to shed the spotlight (on) another supporter of Mr. Frogue who recently left, about an hour ago, a fellow by the name of Joe Fields.
How many people in the room know who Joe Fields is? He’s a self-admitted Hitler-lover. He’s also a convicted sexual morals offender--tries to pick up young girls and put them in his dirty little movies.
And (yet) we have nothing but silence from Mr. Frogue.
Mr. Frogue, your silence speaks a great deal. Maybe you ought to look yourself in the mirror and wonder who you’ve asociated with.
PHIL TRYON:
My name is Phil Tryon. I’m a retired civil engineer and I want to thank the board again for allowing me to say a few words about free speech versus thought control, since there has been so much hatred spewed out against Mr. Frogue by the criminal ADL [...] for inviting Mr. Piper--the author of Final Judgment, a book on the Kennedy assassination--to take part in a seminar on this tragic event.
I suggest to the board that Mr. Piper...be given some extra time to present the facts as brought out in his book. Then I suggest that some extra time be given to a representative of the ADL to refute these facts. [...] This way it will be out in the open and the people can decide for themselves what is true and what is false.
This is the American way. It is the communist way for us to sit back in fear and wait for the thought police and the anti-American ADL to tell us what we can or cannot read or hear.
I say to you trustees tonight that you who oppose [Piper/Frogue]...are tantamount to being intellectual hypocrites.
Thank you.
BARRY KRUGEL (JDL):
...This is ridiculous--allowing 12 people in and having us wait hours on end to get to speak!
[Mr. Krugel’s address hit its apex with that remark; it soon deteriorated.]
After Mr. Krugel completed his remarks, Trustee Fortune questioned Mr. Rubin about his visit to a Saddleback class.
MICHAEL COLLINS PIPER:
I feel like I’m in a really bad John Waters movie here, uh...
KRUGEL: “Your makeup job is pretty bad.”
PIPER: You need some sun, my boy, and get some speech lessons. At any rate, I did write a nasty letter to a--what’s-his-name back here--Roy Bauer--because I was very frustrated. And I do use nasty language in private letters, but I wouldn’t have read that letter out loud to a group of people here like that, so I think that goes to show the kind of caliber this man is.
I’m not the one who started this controversy on this campus, and, in my opinion, neither is Steve Frogue. It was Roy Bauer--this gentleman sitting back there--in collaboration with the Anti-Defamation League. [Someone--Rubin?--laughs.]
When I was invited to speak out here, I just thought I was gonna come out here and I was gonna come before an audience and say a few words about my book along with other people who had other theories on the Kennedy assassination. And what was the result? A major brouhaha that was published in newspapers all over the country. I didn’t contact those newspapers. I didn’t generate that publicity. I didn’t even find out about the conference [being cancelled] until I got a call from the Los Angeles Times, which belies the myth, promulgated by Roy Bauer, that Steve Frogue and I were somehow in collusion.
[NOTE: in collusion to do what? Stevie invited Mikey. That’s all I’m sayin’. That’s all I ever said. How does “collusion” enter the picture?]
I noticed that Mrs. Milchiker isn’t here tonight. I don’t know why. Maybe there’s a personal reason. Maybe it’s because she didn’t wanna give me any credibility by appearing here--I don’t know.
But I listened to what she’s had to say about me in--in--in one of your meetings. I saw this on videotape. I heard her talking about a website in Germany that has something to do with the Holocaust, equating things with me that I know absolutely nothing about.
That’s why I came out here. I didn’t come out here to cause a problem. I came out here to show the members of this board and anyone who wanted to listen to me that I am a human being. I’m offended by some of the things that have been said about me. I feel like I’ve been made into a political football by, uh, by people, uh, Mrs. Milchiker for example--Roy Bauer.
--I understand that there’s a lot of conflict out here at this board that I know nothing about. (I have?) nothing to do with them and yet somehow, uh, it’s...my presence in this whole thing--[it] has been made into a major issue.
You know, I could go on, but let me just say this. I think, uh, this gentleman back here [Phil Tryon] expressed it very very well. If my book is so crazy, why doesn’t the Anti-Defamation League debate me in public about it? Why doesn’t Roy Bauer debate me in public about it?
RUBIN: “Who would give you any credibility? Who would give a nutcase like you any credibility?
PIPER: Ah, I’m gonna ask, could I ask for 10 more seconds--in light of the fact that I’ve been interrupted here several times since I began to speak--so I can conclude?
I’ve been hearing so much about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust and all this kinda stuff...
RUBIN: “You’re an expert on it.”
WILLIAMS: “Please, Mr. Rubin.”
[Piper is discomfited. He pauses.]
PIPER: I, I didn’t interrupt when this unpleasant creature was speaking--who is allied with Marcia Milchiker and Roy Bauer--and I would, I would ask that I be allowed to speak without interruption.
UNIDENTIFIED JDL WOMAN: “But you’re a nutcase. Nobody should ever...
PIPER: Uh, where’s the police? I’d like I--I--I would like the police brought in here, sir [speaking to policeman]. Sir, I’m being harrassed while I’m trying to speak. I didn’t shout out when I was listening to that...(mixed voices are heard)
HARRY PARMER [chief cop]: “Ladies and gentlemen, please!”
PIPER: I think, I think if this could be broadcast to the general public on cable, they would see the caliber of the people who are allied with Marcia Milchiker and the Anti-Defamation League...
(An indecipherable voice interrupts)...
WILLIAMS: “Please be quiet.”
RUBIN: “We’re not allied with the ADL.”
PIPER: You’re not allied with the ADL. Well, you’re allied--OK. You know, I’ll tell you something. I’m really glad I came out here. I’m glad because it makes me good, it makes me feel good to see--’cuz I know, I know that there’s a lot of people in this room, and I know there’s a lot of people in that room down the hall, who do value free speech, who don’t, who don’t, uh, who don’t make personal attacks on people, who don’t try to cause trouble, and, I know who does, and a few of those people are in this room tonight, and, uh--
RUBIN: “Not you, of course.”
[Again, Piper pauses, as though discombobulated.]
PIPER: I’ll tell you what. I’ll conclude by saying: if ever there was an argument in favor of anti-Semitism, it’s this spokesman--self-appointed spokesman--for the Jewish community right here. You’re a most unpleasant man.
RUBIN: “You’re a creep--and you’re a Hitler-lover...
PARMER: “Please, that’s enough.”
Next, an elementary school teacher speaks on the topic of free speech; then Mr. Jim Scott, who, during a meeting several months ago, shouted, “Keep up the good work, Dr. Frogue! There never was a Holocaust!”
JAMES SCOTT:
Good evening and thank you board members for allowing us to speak like this. This issue has always been free speech, period...
Unfortunately, this thing over here [motions to Rubin], and that thing [motions to Krugel, who says simply, “Screw you”], have tried to distort this whole meeting and turn it into a big long Holocaust shoot-out.
WILLIAMS: “Would the audience please be quiet?”
KRUGEL: “Well, I’m a person [unlike that?] fat pig over there.”
WILLIAMS to Krugel: “Would you please leave? You’re not welcome in here anymore. [To Parmer:] “Would you please remove him?”
SCOTT: Anyway, this whole matter, it’s very important that we get this issue of free speech out where it’s supposed to be in front of everybody....
ANTONIO AGUILAR (STUDENT):
Mr. Aguilar out-JDLed the JDL. After only a minute, he began to scream at Mr. Frogue with remarkable violence.
—DISSENT the BLOG: Roy Bauer, Rebel Girl, and Red Emma, chronicling the South Orange County Community College District saga.
Enough already! I can handle mass protests in the streets of Belgrade and dissent at the university. I can handle attacks on my strange wife and good-for-nothing son. I can deal with NATO missiles and losing Kosovo. I can even endure international sanctions. But I will absolutely, positively not stand for further comparisons of me in the pages of the Dissent newspaper to that wannabe, Raghu P. Mathur!
—President-Slobodon Milosovic
Dear Slo:
At least you understood the comparison. I’m sorry. Really. Nobody deserves what you’ve had to endure. Please, please don’t sue us. By the way, are you aware of the fine Anger Management Counseling programs available through the SOCCCD Employee Assistance Program?
Dear Miss Fortune:
As a God-fearing Christian conservative, I’m writing to explain the difference between “religious” and “religious right.” Easy. If you’re not religious, you’re wrong. If you are religious, you’re right. See? Whenever I’m confused about this, I consult with the local Fine Arts guy who attends our church, which the rest of the week is a community college we’re arranging to buy and rename “Irvine Valley Calvary Chapel (inc.com.edu.)” We’ll have distance learning and corporate sponsors and fun pancake breakfasts and the gym will be perfect for Promisekeeper events. We have big plans for decorating the campus, too. Imagine: Thousands of tiny bright lights strung on all the campus buildings, visible to South County passersby from the 405 freeway. The Fine Arts guy says this is all okay because it’s not political, it’s religious. Right?
—Funda Mental
Dear Mental:
God bless you. It’s quite a vexing problem, isn’t it, balancing one’s theocratic impulse with undermining pluralistic secular public education? Myself, I’ve taken to wearing a small button on my lapel, which, writ in small faux gold letters, reads “WWRD?” Whenever I’m feeling confused about matters spiritual or political, I look at my special pin and wonder to myself: “What would Raghu do?” Just repeating this handy mantra makes me feel positive and upbeat, though, oddly, it causes people standing near me to pick up their phones and call their lawyers. For further amplification on spiritual themes, I call the Vice President of Student Services. Although, come to think of it, I know what he would do.
Hey Miss Fortune, You G*d**n *****!
I’m a guy who likes to make threats. Oh, boy, do I love to threaten people. Frighten. Scare. Intimidate. Gee, I use dirty, filthy, horrible language. Sometimes I use such awful, terrible, extraordinarily offensive filthy language that I can’t even read the stuff I write myself! I type it on the keyboard with one hand and have to cover my eyes with the other just so I don’t offend myself. Yes, that’s how awful it is. I’m so nasty that sometimes I e-mail people, sometimes I use the telephone, sometimes I write letters. There’s no method that I haven’t used to do my nasty, awful things. That’s really how horrible a bad, nasty guy I am. So, I was wondering: How can I get a copy of Dissent, ‘cuz my secretary’s cut off my supply?
—Anonymous
Dear Anonymous:
Just stop by Raghu’s office. I hear he’s got a secret file just full of ‘em.
Dear Miss Fortune:
I’m the illegally-appointed president of a small community college, thinking positively, bringing people together and spreading the One True Light. Lately, my flock seems upset about discovering my secret files on them and a couple of the arranged marriages are falling apart. A few dark panel trucks with “Accreditation Team” painted on them have just pulled up in front of A-100, but since I’ve had all the phones rerouted through PIO Joyce Kirk’s office (“We’re pleased about all the activities going on in the compound”), few of the Chosen Ones will even know. Besides, now that I’ve had my contract renewed, we can stay holed up here for two more years.
—The Appointed One
Dear Wacko:
I’m putting down the phone now. I have Glenn here with me. We’re going to walk, slowly, across the quad and make a swap. You’ll give us the files and the keys to the Greenhouse and we’ll give you Steve. Okay?
DISSENT 46, 3/6/00:
Dear Miss Fortune:
I pulled up the signs and headstones on the lawn. The President ordered me to put them back. Next, I mounted lock boxes on the bulletin boards, then took them down. Finally, I built a $3,000 storage room in the middle of a lobby where I was ordered to hide the photocopy machine, which used to sit in exactly the same place.
I feel oddly like Sisyphus, forced to drag the same stone up a hill, only to have it roll down again, except that I was ordered to mount a plaque on my stone and now I’m supposed to take it off. Will my existential suffering never end?
signed: Maintenance Staff
Dear Staff:
What, you didn’t hear? They’re renaming the library, “The Raghu P. Mathur School Book Depository.” The lawn will now be called the “Grassy Knoll.” I’ll be Jackie, Armando will be Abraham Zapruder. Later, Cedric will be Earl Warren.
Regarding Existentialism, I like to cheer myself up by reminding everybody that, despite the uniqueness and isolation of the individual in a hostile or indifferent universe, you can still get people’s attention by showing them your butt.
Dear Miss Fortune:
I’m flying back to the Fatherland this weekend, where I expect full and speedy recovery from brain damage I suffered while buying a raincoat in London. I understand there may be work for me at IVC.
signed: Augusto
Dear General:
Yes, I think we’ve got a place for you on our winning team. You’ll be a real “feather in our cap.” How does “Director-of-Student-Affairs-For-Life” suit you? With your people skills, talent at stifling dissent, and shiny jackboots, you’ll fit right in. It’ll be like Oktoberfest all year round. Plus, we’ve got one Trustee who’s a really big fan.
Dear Miss Fortune:
It’s me, again, the illegally-appointed president of a small community college, thinking positively, bringing people together and spreading the One True Light.
Meanwhile, the judge threw out my SLAPP suit and now I’ve spent my raise on lawyers’ fees. How can I get the district to cover my losses?
signed: Slapped
Dear Slapped:
I’d ask for another security stipend, but if that doesn’t work, how about this: sue yourself. As President, the district lawyers will be required to defend you. Clever, huh? You lose, you win. I’m sure there’s a down side, but it can’t be any worse than teaching your new pet pit bull “Stipey” how to distinguish the Kate Clark mannequin from the Wendy Phillips one.
Dear Miss Fortune:
I’m responsible for the financial records of the former Faculty Association PAC, which I kept for the longest time in a black box. Now they’re in a pretty red box with balloons and horsies painted on the side. When I wind the little handle, a funny tune plays and, after a while, a happy clown pops up and surprises me with a subpoena. What should I do?
signed: Surprised
Dear Surprised:
I’d put those nasty old records in an old F.A. ballot box, unmarked. That’s the last place anybody’d look.
Dear Miss Fortune:
I recall your brave position opposing “same-sex” marriage in the last trustees election, so maybe you can help me out. Should I vote for Prop 22 because I hate others or just because I hate myself? They’re not like us, are they?
signed: Anonymous
Dear Anonymous:
You sound kinda existential. Some of my best friends are existential. We had one living next door. Once I dated an existentialist, but I’d never let my daughter marry one. When faced with difficult moral choices, I find it best to follow the example of Raghu Mathur. In that spirit, I’m taking down your name, foolishly included in your return address, photocopying this letter, and handing it out to the whole Board. Federal law, my ass!
Dear Miss Fortune:
I’m so scared to join the union. Somebody might find out. I’m scared to write a letter to the editor because somebody might recognize my name. I’m scared to look a certain untenured Biology teacher in the eyes. And, now I’m being asked by colleagues to speak out like the rest of them at a special meeting on March 9. Help!
signed: Xavier Onassis
Dear Save:
Hey, I like your spirit! You tell your small group of disgruntled faculty colleagues to try showing up at that Thursday, March 9, special board meeting. Yeah, just try. You try and attend that meeting. We haven’t said where it is or what time, so you can try, all right. Hah!
—MISS FORTUNE
From Dissent 26, 5/3/99
Dear Miss Fortune:
Remember me? I am the illegally appointed president of a once-esteemed community college whose door is always open. While a teacher and I we were meditating on “divine intervention” and the oneness of all things at a recent IVC Prayer Breakfast, that very teacher (oddly, the only faculty member attending) asked questions of a spiritual nature. When, he wondered, is a faculty breakfast not a faculty breakfast? How can one reconcile with one’s enemies when one’s enemies will not eat flapjacks? And what is the sound of one IVC hand clapping?
—The Amazing Mathurini
Dear Amazing:
The answer to your spiritual questions is, as with all questions, distance learning. Learning from a distance, even of thirty or forty feet, elevates one’s perceptions, tunes one’s consciousness toward peace and away from divisiveness and eliminates anxieties about pesky Accrediting Teams and micromanagement. I therefore suggest you remove yourself to a great distance.
Dear Miss Fortune:
I’ve just chaired my last meeting of the Faculty Association. Whew! All those meetings without ever learning Roberts Rules of Order or the name of that damn orphanage. Now that I’ve got some free time, I had an etiquette question: Which of the union’s credit cards is the correct one to use when the lunch bill at La Ferme totals over a hundred dollars?
—Rather Be Shopping At Nordstrom
Dear Rather:
I am informed that, in an effort to make things easy for everybody, the orphanage’s name has been changed. It will now be called “Sherry and Bob’s Place.” Easy to remember, huh? All residents will, in an ecumenical electronic-virtual-distance-learning ceremony, be rechristened “Sherry” or “Bob” or, in some lucky cases, both. Regarding your use of the SOCCCD F.A. credit card, I think touchy financial matters are best left to the experts, but you might consider holding a community education seminar and invite, say, Charles Keating or Robert Citron.
Dear Miss Fortune:
As editor of the F.A. newsletter, I’m fond of poking fun at people who disagree with my unlikely anti-union positions. Can I be held legally responsible for sending out unauthorized mailings using F.A. letterhead at the expense of union members?
—El Rey Dear El:
Unlike this lousy rag, your newsletter is the official organ of an organized local, authorized to perform collective bargaining. Oddly, the law frowns on poison pen articles and misrepresentations when they stray from the will of the members they putatively represent. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t do something similar: say, send out a mailer exploiting South County voter fear and hatred of homosexuals. Capiche? Dear Miss Fortune:
The Accrediting Committee arrives soon for its follow-up visit. As interim V.P., I’ve instructed everybody to look busy. Unfortunately, some spoilsports are insisting on meeting with the team. I’m wondering if now might be a good time to announce my plan for a week of Spring activities involving organized distraction and obsequiousness. Monday: President Appreciation Day. Tuesday: Distance Learning Up-Close. Wednesday: Geology is All In Your Head. Thursday: Tour of the President’s Poinsettia Garden. Friday: Health Awareness: The IVC Clap is not a Social Disease.
—Shovel Boy
Dear Shovel Boy:
You sure know how to use that thing, dontcha? My only suggestion is that you engage the Trustees in your brilliant Machiavellian plan by adding golf, meditation or pancakes to the program.
—RED EMMA
From Dissent 53, 10/9/00
Dear Miss Fortune: I recently left a high-ranking eleven-year administrative position in Belgrade to spend more time with my family. Little Marko is making new friends here in Moscow and, gosh, Mirjana is already plotting to overthrow the darn government.
I’ve spent a few thoughtful days lately, considering how the decisions I made affected Serbians and running from angry mobs and two guys who say they’re from something called a War Crimes Tribunal. I understand the IVC Foundation is seeking a Director and I hope that you’ll consider me for the position.
Signed:
—Slobo M.
Dear Slobo: You’ll fit right in here. Some helpful hints toward securing this coveted position: Change your party affiliation. Enroll in classes at a prestige academic institution, say, Nova Southeastern University. Get yourself on the hiring committee. CC your CV to RM at IVC.
Dear Miss Fortune: I was staffing the Army recruitment table outside the Student Services building, talking to the UPS employment fellow and the nice lady from MasterCard, who was handing out free T-shirts to kids who signed up for a credit card.
We waved and threw brochures over to the Ye Olde Crafts Faire booth. There, a crew of tiny elves assembled handsome figurines of schnauzers dressed as clowns, these lovely statuettes made entirely out of Q-tips, yarn and rhinestones. Two nice young men from the Church of the Holy Townhouse Tabernacle came by, handing out Harvest Crusade literature. We were all havin’ such a great time.
Then, suddenly, a group of IVC faculty and students showed up with a card table and a flag. They said they were there to register voters. Well, I knew they were there to scare away all our business, crowd us out of our designated Free Speech area, and generally put a damper on our good time.
I’m trying to be all I can be, but these folks are treading all over my First Amendment rights. Right?
Signed:
—G.I. Joe
Dear Joe: When you’re right, you’re right. I thought Isaw you out there, in those short brown pants. Gosh, I love a man in uniform. Speaking of which, have you ever seen Lee W in his Fife and Dumb Corps costume? It makes Miss F want to march to the beat of his big, bad bass drum. Regarding your particular problem, I’d report all suspicious voter activity directly to the district. They seem to have all kinds of Board Policies, just the thought of which gets Miss F Hot.
Dear Miss Fortune: I’m the Chancellor of a community college district up for his contract renewal. If my bosses win the election, I’m guaranteed employment. If they lose, I’ll have to find a new college. Any ideas?
Signed:
—Chance
Dear Chance:I’d try to do a mailing with a picture on it of Ronald Reagan riding a horse. Get the taxpayers to pay for it. Alternatively, you might hire the Blue Angels to fly overhead during the next trustees meeting, dropping brochures about free golf and homosexual teachers on the adoring crowds. Or they might crash, offering you an opportunity to foist blame on a small group of disgruntled pilots.
Dear Miss Fortune: It’s me again, the illegally-appointed president of a small community college, thinking positively, bringing people together and spreading the One True Light.
I was sitting in my comfy new chair just the other day, noting on the giant wall-sized graph on my office wall the history of ways my actions affected students. Raising my eyes from the floor, I saw a vision. There, on the wall, was Ronald Reagan’s horse. As if in a beautiful dream, I leaped up and mounted the handsome steed and rode off into the sunset.
Signed:
—Visionary
Dear Airy: Reviewing carefully the “Unusual Occurrence” reports forwarded to me by Campus Security, I note one involving a small man seen pushing a leather chair around in the A-100 Building at two in the morning hollering “Giddyup, Evil Empire” and “Whoa, Distance Learning.”
I’m prepared to ignore this episode if you can get another high-level administrator’s secretary to sign off on my recent request to officially rename the Clocktower Quad the “Miss Fortune Urban Park.”
Dear Miss Fortune: I’m confused. What’s all this about “same sex” benefits? I gotta tell you I just don’t see it. My husband and I have been having the same sex for thirty years. You know the problem: It’s all over in less time than it takes the SOCCCD Trustees to violate the Brown Act. I’ve chilled champagne, lit scented candles, put on sexy lingerie, even left copies of Board Policy 8000 lying open on his side of the bed. Nothing seems to work. Help.
Signed:
—Frustrated
Dear Fruss: Do what I do, honey. Send out some really filthy campaign literature. One thing that makes a fellow friskier than dirty pictures is dirty tricks. That and a handful of Dilantin. Well, no, actually, that makes you want to drop a bomb on Korea, but that kinda makes this sexy girl hot too.
Dear Miss Fortune: The Boy Scouts can’t take public money to discriminate. God-loving folk can’t pray at a public high school football game. And homosexuals, Jews, and Communists are taking over the SOCCCD Board of Trustees. I go to my weekly Rush Limbaugh meetings and ask my friends for advice. Everybody shakes their dittoheads and laments the passing of the good old days, when the head of the County GOP could run for a pissy little college district seat and win without having to spend $100,000.
When will things be the way they oughta be?
Signed:
—In Limbo
Dear Limbo:I don’t know what you’re complaining about. After my recent conversion, I’ve had to meet a whole new group of people at GOP meetings. I used to be a Democrat, albeit a Reagan Democrat, so people keep coming up to me looking for the Mark of the Beast. (FYI: I had it removed with laser therapy.)
Sadly, my new board allies aren’t buying it. As a test of my true allegiance, they’ve agreed to let me stay on the slate if I officially change my name on the ballot. Although I’ve spent a great deal of time developing voter trust in the good Fortune name, I’ve agreed. Note to SOCCCD district voters: Don’t ask, just please, please mark the box that now reads Dorothy Harvest Crusade. God bless.
HOW THE SOCCCD'S ACADEMIC SENATES FINALLY KICKED SOME DISTRICTULAR BUTT! (2002-05)
Part 1: From Dissent 66, Oct. 7, 2002
LEGAL STORMS BREWING
Intervention sought: During an August meeting of the IVC Academic Senate, it was suggested that, given the Chancellor & Board’s exclusion of the Academic Senate from governance, there really is no point in continuing. It was suggested, too, that the Senate might better devote its energies to seeking redress in the courts. * * * On September 12, the exec. cabinet of the IVC Academic Senate sent a letter to State Chancellor Nussbaum, seeking his “intervention” “to secure rights granted to local senates under Title 5” of the Ed Code. The letter cited four examples of the Board’s many actions in violation of “law, policy and process.” The first concerned the Board’s action (Fall 2000) to revise BP6120 (academic freedom), despite objections from the senates. Example 2 was the Board’s adoption (12/01) of a revision of BP5604 (eligibility for admission) despite “vehement” senate objections. Example 3 was the Board’s decision (2/02) to unilaterally revise BP 2100.1 (delegation of authority to academic senates), despite the policy’s explicitly prohibiting such action.
The fourth and most recent example concerned “revisions to District hiring policies,” including revisions to the Full-Time Academic Employees Hiring Policy, developed over the summer by Chancellor Mathur. These revisions, said the letter, “are rife with numerous individual violations of law, policy and good practice.” Despite Title 5, “At no time were any of the governance groups on either campus invited to participate, or even alerted to the existence of the committee.” Further, governance groups were given only 8 days to provide “input.” * * * The Senate’s letter yielded a response—a letter discovered belatedly, and already opened, in the senate president’s mail box! Dated Sept. 16, the letter, from Ralph Black, attorney for the State Chancellor’s Office, requested further info to determine whether his involvement “would be warranted.” Black offers a jurisdictional point: “Unless faculty hiring is listed as an ‘academic and professional matter’ under the SOCCCD shared governance policy..., faculty hiring does not fall under the jurisdiction of [the Board of Governors’] regulations.” (More on this later.)
On Sept. 25th, Mathur emailed the Saddleback Academic Senate, suggesting that he is under no obligation to consult the Academic Senates regarding modifications of the hiring policy. To support this odd view, he cited Black’s letter and its point about jurisdiction, but he ignored Black’s remark, in the same letter, that Faculty hiring procedures are covered by [the] Education Code..., which requires that “hiring criteria, policies, and procedures for new faculty members shall be developed and agreed upon jointly by representatives of the governing board, and the academic senate….” (Ralph Black)
Late in 1993, the Board approved a “Full Time Academic Employees Hiring Policy” that makes clear that the hiring policy can be changed only upon mutual agreement between the district and the faculty senates. This, of course, is the crucial “further information” that Ralph Black needs and will soon receive. * * * Budget development, of course, is plainly listed among the academic and professional matters of the district’s “shared governance” policy (2100.1). Hence, a failure to consult with the academic senate regarding budget development would be a violation of “shared governance”—one that clearly does fall under Black’s jurisdiction. Mr. Black will be interested to learn that, at IVC, the senate has been excluded from the budget development process for years.
Part 2: From Dissent 67, April 14, 2003
According to a statute, faculty hiring policies are to be “mutually” agreed upon by the district (i.e., the board) and the faculty (i.e., the academic senates).
During the Summer of 2002, Chancellor Mathur established a committee, including no faculty, that developed a new hiring policy. The faculty were not even informed of this committee’s work. The product of the committee—a truly appalling and incompetent policy—was then adopted by the board.
Thus, at long last, the faculty senate sued the district. (It was about time!) Below describes the serving of papers and its immediate aftermath.
Saddleback and Irvine Valley Colleges' Academic Senates Sue the District
April 8:
Santa Ana, 1:15 p.m.: Wendy files the much anticipated “faculty hiring policy” lawsuit against the SOCCCD Board of Trustees and Chancellor RAGHU P. MATHUR. She’s well-prepared, and so she breezes through the paperwork. Soon, she’s out the door, headin’ south!
2:10: Wendy’s back at IVC. She and I decide to head down south together to serve Mathur with the writ and the attached documents—a big stack. It’s good to bring an observer, cuz some people get way squirrelly when you try to serve ‘em with a lawsuit, and Mathur’s definitely the type.
I briefly search for one of those neon green “legal observer” caps like they wear at the big protests in L.A., but I can’t find one. Dang!
Mission Viejo, 2:40: we’re up on the 3rd floor of the Library, closin’ in on Chancellor Mathur’s office. I catch a glimpse of Mathur exiting his office, movin’ towards Robina Husting’s desk. He hasn’t spotted us yet.
Wendy closes in, holdin’ the thick stack of legal papers in front of her. As it turns out, Mathur is holding a similar stack of papers in front of him. The two meet in the small space in front of Robina’s desk. Mathur just stands there. So Wendy places her stack on top of Mathur’s stack, sayin’, “You’re served.”
Mathur’s horrified. The indecorous fellow now jostles and squirms to avoid holding the papers, but it’s too late—he’s got ‘em.
I’m thinkin’: “Does he actually suppose that the lawsuit won’t happen if he avoids holdin’ this stuff?”
Finally, in a desperate attempt to avoid being served, Raghu shoves the legal papers forward and they fall to the floor. Fwap!
Legally speaking, such fwappage is irrelevant; he’d been served and, once again, he’d attained the title “Respondent Mathur.” Besides, leaving the lawsuit on his secretary’s desk counts, too, so Wendy now picks up the papers and places ‘em there.
Meanwhile, I size up the Chancellor’s unseemly conduct. “How rude,” I proclaim. We exit.
Respondent Mathur struggles to think of a comeback, but Attorney Wendy (and her cap-less Boswell) are already out the door.
Finally, he’s got one. He shouts:
“How rude are YOU!” * * * * * April [9]: The next day, the district issues a peevish press release. It says:
SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur…commented on a lawsuit filed by the IVC and Saddleback College Academic Senates that disputes a new SOCCCD faculty hiring policy, stating, “The district is following the guidelines established under Title 5 that defines the ‘Delegation of Authority to the Academic Senates.’ There are 11 areas within the scope of academic and professional matters for which the academic senates have primary responsibility.
“The State Chancellor’s office has confirmed our view,” Mathur said, “that our hiring policies do not fall within the primary responsibility of the faculty….”
This is classic Mathur. The State Chancellor’s office does indeed hold that hiring policies are not among the 10 + 1 areas in which faculty are assigned primary responsibility by Title 5, a state regulation.
The problem is that the lawsuit does not mention Title 5 and it does not allege that Title 5 has been violated. Rather, it alleges that the new policies, and the manner in which they were developed and approved, violate an Ed Code statute (EC87360) and utterly defeat the intentions of legislators.
Ed Code statutes, of course, are more than regulations; they’re laws. They count bigtime.
In other words, with regard to the issue of faculty “hiring” policies, we don’t need no stinkin’ Title 5.
Respondent Mathur is ignoring—or failing to understand—that, in reality, the State Chancellor’s office takes the following view:
Education Code section 87360 requires governing board and academic senate representatives to agree on hiring criteria, policies and procedures to be adopted by the board. (Letter from California Community College Chancellor’s Office, Ralph Black, General Counsel, January 29, 2002).
In the District’s press release, Board President Don “So sue me” Wagner offers his own spin, expressing “disappointment” that the senates have decided to force the district to “spend money on attorneys, rather than students.”
* * * * *
On the 10th, the Register reports that
In an unprecedented move, the faculty senates of both Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges have voted to sue their district chancellor and trustees over a new hiring policy that gives more power to college administrators at the expense of traditional academic hiring committees.
The lawsuit … asks a judge to set aside the new hiring policy because it was not approved by each college’s Academic Senate.
When the new rules were approved by a 4-3 vote by the …trustees in January, faculty representatives unsuccessfully pleaded with the board for more time to discuss them.
The state’s Education Code requires that hiring criteria and policies for new faculty members must be developed “and agreed upon jointly” by board members and the Academic Senate….
…Typically, new college instructors are selected by hiring committees made up of faculty members who are experts in the field and the head of the department. Their selection is usually ratified by the college president, the district’s board of trustees or both.
According to Wendy Gabriella, an IVC instructor and attorney who filed the lawsuit, faculty members were particularly unhappy with new rules that allow the district’s human resources director to change the scores awarded by committee members if she deems them too far off the norm and to unilaterally change interview questions.
Professors were also displeased with a new ethics and confidentiality section of the hiring policy that allows the human resources director to investigate and punish any member of a hiring committee who is accused of violating confidentiality.
“The policy allows the human resources department to accuse hiring committee members of bias, change their scores and discipline them without any due process or opportunity for appeal,” [said the] Irvine Valley Academic Senate President….
* * * * *
Also on the 10th, the President of the IVC Academic Senate, Greg Bishopp, sends a memo to IVC faculty. (The Saddleback Senate Prez later spams it to Saddleback faculty.) It says:
The Academic Senates of IVC and Saddleback College have filed suit in California Superior Court to block the implementation of a faculty hiring policy, which they believe to violate … the California Education Code. While the trustees and the administration of the SOCCCD maintain that their new policy, and the process used to develop this policy, does not violate the law, the Academic Senates claim that they do. In violation of the law, the Senates maintain, district administration has failed to allow faculty involvement in developing the procedures for hiring new faculty members. As a result, the adopted policy is fraught with violations of law, policy, and accepted practice.
Prez Bishopp also notes that the senates have “exhausted all internal means of appeal” and that, in January, Wagner “invited the Senates to sue the district to resolve the legality of the Board of Trustees’ alteration of board policy.”
That Wagner is quite a guy!
Bishopp closes by noting that the record
shows who has been responsible for wasting the district’s money in the past. Board President Don Wagner has stated that, “our district will again prevail on this misguided litigation.” However, in the seven legal actions brought by members of the faculty against the Board of Trustees, the courts have sided with the faculty and against the Board every single time, demonstrating that the Board, by violating the law, has been responsible for the suits, not the litigiousness of the plaintiffs. If the Board of Trustees does not wish to spend money on litigation, it should avoid breaking the law.
* * * * *
The district’s new faculty hiring policies (BP4011, 4011.1, 4011.2) are available online at the Saddleback College Academic Senate website.
To read a review of the statute and its relation to the historic AB1725 legislation, one might start by reading the local senates “handbook” on the State Academic Senate’s website:
Judge Clay Smith ruled that the district had indeed failed to include the faculty in the development of the faculty hiring policy, contrary to law. He thus ordered the district and senates to get together to develop a faculty hiring policy. But, in the end, the district’s representatives and the senates’ representatives did not see eye to eye on major issues, and so the district unilaterally pushed through the version of the policy that it liked, and it pronounced that policy the product of the committee. That policy was almost as appalling as the one that was neutralized by Smith.
Surprisingly, despite the vociferous objections of the Academic Senates to the new policy, Judge Smith ruled that the policy was indeed the product of “mutual agreement.”
It was an absurd judgment.
The Academic Senates appealed.
By summer 2005, the appellate justices unanimously acted to overturn and vacate Smith’s absurd judgment. The board tried one or two last ditch efforts to have the court reconsider, but to no avail. The academic senates had won, and that was that.
The senates had prevailed, period. That meant that the only valid policy was the one developed at the end of 1993 (that one was mutually agreed to). It was good from the faculty’s perspective.
The appellate justices urged the parties to work out their differences, and so, in the Fall of 2005, district representatives (namely, Mathur, the instigator of the original unilaterally imposed policy, and Lang, now the board president) and Academic Senate reps (namely, the two senate Presidents and the union president) mutually developed a policy that both sides could agree on.
That work was completed by late October, 2005. This mutually ageed to policy is a vast improvement.
At the time of writing, it only remains for the board to approve the new policy, and there is every indication that they will do just that. If they fail to do so, then the decidedly faculty-friendly 1993/4 policy will apply.
Looks like we missed one.
8 comments:
oh, you were just distracted by all the belly dancers, Chunk, c'mon admit it!
Seriously, nice week on the blog: the Early College Program fiasco, the Scholarship Program, the emergence of belly dancing as a degree program, the arrival of public art on campus - and now this bombshell about Williams - JUST GREAT!
Can the Grand Jury investigate our board? I love that last para you quoted Chunk.
Really, is anyone surprised? He is a "fiscal conservative," after all, and we all know what those folks do, time after time. They fuck the public in favor of their buddies.
I wonder if anyone in the DA's office has examined Williams' questionable expenses at the SOCCCD? Hundreds of dollars per night at hotels in faraway places, etc. Think "Orlando."
Boy,
Our union can pick the good ones
Our union didn't pick him as much as they used him.
Maybe the Reg will look into his SOCCCD expense account now...
Maybe someone ought to investigate the amount of time Mr. Williams actually spends in the office for the amount of money he makes. His time cards undoubtedly state 40hrs per week however his employees know better............ It would be very interesting to follow him and record the day in the life of the PA/PG on the golf course. I know during my employment there (>1yr) he was only visible in the office 1-2xs a week. His cronies did all of the dirty work and were rewarded with promotions they not only don't deserve but have no idea what to do with them. What a shame..... the population we serve deserves much better!!!!!
Yeah, I would be curious if the grand jury has looked at his timesheets too. Especially, after all those times out of the County on OCCCD business (did he take sick days or have his chief deputy falsify his time sheet). Hmmmmm.
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