BOARD MAJORITY (a.k.a. “the Gang of Four”).

BOARD MAJORITY (a.k.a. “the Gang of Four”).
(From The Dissenter’s Dictionary, 1999)

     In 1997, the term "board majority" (along with the "board four" and the “Gang of Four”) came to be used to refer to the four trustees--Frogue, Fortune, Williams, and Lorch--who commenced block-voting starting in December of '96 and who seemed always to do the bidding of the union Old Guard. These four, three of whom owed their '96 election victories to the faculty union (Lorch wasn’t up for reelection), seemed to share an antipathy to shared governance and, more specifically, a deep distrust of and contempt for faculty, especially the faculty senates, an early and persistent source of criticism of the board. Among early BM targets were: study abroad programs, reassigned time, senate officers, the college foundations, and numerous administrators hated by the Old Guard, including IVC’s Terry Burgess, who had been selected as the state system’s “administrator of the year.” (Starting in 1997, almost all decent administrators have left the district or retreated to the classroom. See ADMINISTRATIVE EXODUS.)

     When Trustee Lorch opted for retirement in 1998, the Old Guard sought a replacement. In the end, they secretly spent tens of thousands of union dollars to elect Nancy Padberg (of San Clemente, Lorch's replacement) and Don Wagner (of Irvine, taking John Hueter's seat), both members of the Education Alliance, an organization with ties to the Christian Coalition and an avowed foe of teachers unions. (See CHRISTIAN RIGHT.) Trustee Williams and his mentor, Assemblyman Bill Morrow, apparently were instrumental in bringing Wagner on board; Lorch may have been instrumental in bringing Padberg on board.
     Since their first meeting in December of '98, Padberg and Wagner, while maintaining a demeanor of independence, have in reality tended to vote with Frogue, Williams, and Fortune (and against Lang and Milchiker) on major decisions, giving rise to the suspicion that the Board Four has been replaced by the Board Five. By late '99, Padberg's voting record—and, increasingly, her public remarks--made clear that she was at least a virtual Board Majoritarian. Wagner, however, despite his largely unfortunate voting record, has revealed intelligence and some independence.