The district’s problem? Why, that would be faculty macromanagement! (AUDIO FILE)

As you know, not long ago, the Accreditors spanked the colleges hard, mostly because of the conduct of the board of trustees and the Chancellor (see yesterday’s blog, which lists the Accred’s recommendations re the district).

Nevertheless, in recent meetings, trustee Fuentes has made remarks that suggest that he rejects the Accreditors' criticisms, especially with regard to its complaint that the board meddles or “micromanages” in district and college affairs. Indeed, based on his various remarks over the months, it seems clear that, in Mr. Fuentes’ mind, the Accreditors’ assessment of the district’s problems is radically misguided. The problem, in his view, isn’t that the board and Mathur misbehave; rather, it is that faculty misbehave.

Given some of his remarks, it is clear, also, that Mr. Fuentes embraces a conspiracy theory according to which the faculty of the district, when they are not attempting to control the colleges, control the Accreditors and their reports.

On Monday night, no doubt in part because of some of Mr. Fuentes’ reckless public remarks, Chancellor Mathur attempted damage control. He recommended to the board that it embrace a resolution, the gist of which is that, just in case there is any doubt,

the board embraces (it agrees with, it does not reject!) the Accreditors’ recommendations and it is committed to “addressing” those recommendations.

Below, I have provided audio of the curious discussion that occurred Monday night regarding that recommendation (item #28).

Here's the draft brought to the meeting:


The audio begins with an introduction by Chancellor Mathur. Next, Trustee Lang asks that the vote regarding 28 be taken.

At that point, that Mr. Fuentes interrupts to object to the resolution’s language. His says that he is unwilling to vote for the resolution unless it is amended to include mention of the “macromanagement” of “others."

In particular, Fuentes focuses on the fourth “whereas” of the resolution:

Whereas, the Board and District are committed to clarifying the respective leadership roles and scopes of authority of College and District constituent groups and governance committees in meaningful, collegial decision making processes; and

Fuentes suggests adding the following phrase at the end:

“to avoid macromanagement on the part of other constituent groups”

Mathur responds: “that would be acceptable to me.”

At that point, Trustee Milchicker expresses bewilderment regarding Fuentes’ suggestion or intent. Fuentes responds in an unhelpful way, but he then seems to drop the ball into Mathur’s lap. Mathur picks it up, and he then reminds everyone that, in his recent comments (see yesterday’s blog), he too indicated that the macromanagement of faculty is a concern. He says that we need to be careful that “people are not overreaching.”

“Precisely,” says Fuentes.


Marcia again complains of unclarity. Fuentes then amends his suggestion. Now, he suggests adding this phrase:

“to avoid macromanagement and overreach by constituent groups.”

The problem, of course, is that the Accreditors made no recommendation concerning “overreach” by other constituent groups since it did not find that other constituent groups overreached. Marcia makes that point.

Eventually, student Trustee Ho expresses concern that this sort of action (he does not say “defiant action,” but his meaning is clear) might not be well received by Accreditors. It could threaten the colleges’ accreditation.

Fuentes responds by saying, “Paul, don’t buy off on [the idea] that we’re under the hammer of pulling your accreditation.”


Mathur eventually offers yet another edit that amounts to the same thing:

Whereas, the Board and District are committed to clarifying the respective leadership roles and scopes of authority of College and District constituent groups and governance committees in meaningful, collegial decision making processes, thereby avoiding macromanagement by constituent groups;

The motion passes: Lang, Williams, Fuentes, and Wagner vote FOR the revised resolution.

(Padberg is absent). Milchiker and Jay vote against it.

PART 1 (about 3 minutes)

PART 2 (about 3 minutes)

"Negative press" caused by faculty? Here's the list

AST NIGHT, Chancellor Mathur did what he does best: he pointed a finger of blame at others, especially faculty. In particular, he asserted that "faculty leaders" somehow cause most of the negative press coverage that the district and the two colleges receive. (See previous blog [below].) Gee, is that true? I did a Lexis/Nexis search concerning the district and colleges going back three years. I did find lots of negative coverage. But the coverage was inspired, not by faculty leaders or faculty, but almost always by the board and the Chancellor. Check it out. This is everything that I found:

[UPDATE: notice that no articles concerning the Academic Senate's successful lawsuit against the district popped up. Not sure why. That the board violated a law and violated the Senate's rights surely counts as an instance of the board generating bad press.]

1. Saddleback rehabilitating 4 ill-constructed buildings The Orange County Register (California) October 9, 2005, Sunday BYLINE: By Amanda Strindberg MISSION VIEJO -- Efforts are under way at Saddleback College to repair four buildings that over the years have been plagued with mold growth, cracking foundations and uneven floors. 2. Bees City News Service August 12, 2005 Friday DATELINE: MISSION VIEJO Call it a case of bad buzz. A 16-show run of "Babes in Arms" that was scheduled through Sunday at Saddleback College's McKinney Theatre has been cut short because of bees, the Los Angeles Times reported. 3. TOM FUENTES, THIS IS YOUR PYRRHIC LIFE OC Weekly April 1, 2005, Friday BYLINE: GUSTAVO ARELLANO This is indeed a “negative” story about our district. It’s negative because it is highly skeptical of Trustee Fuentes’ remarks concerning the Spanish course in Santander, Spain. 4. OC Weekly, letters: “Spanish lessons” OC Weekly March 18, 2005, Friday [3 letters, all negative:] 1. I'm studying Spanish at Saddleback College and was stunned to read that it voted to cancel the Spanish study abroad program due to Spain's withdrawal of troops from Iraq …. 2. I'm a Republican who is pretty conservative, but I don't get the Spain thing. …. 3. I have dedicated my life to Spanish education here and abroad for 33 years, and I am disgusted that valuable linguistic and cultural programs can be jeopardized by neo-con trustees …. 5. DIARY OF A MAD COUNTY OC Weekly March 18, 2005, Friday BYLINE: STEVE LOWERY … March 10 Spaniards observe a moment of silence for the 191 people who died in a terrorist train bombing last year. One of those not observing silence or even on the premises is frequent OC house guest and prime minister at the time of the attacks, Jose Maria Aznar, who was in Mexico at the time, perhaps looking for his soul. Spain eventually pulled its troops out of Iraq, which eventually led the South Orange County Community College District, under the equally soulless thumb of former local Republican jefe Tom Fuentes, to cancel its study abroad program in Spain. While this will have little to no effect on Spain, it is yet another humiliation for Orange County, which seemed to be emerging from the hick/wacko shadow of the likes of Bob Dornan, Bill Dannemeyer, John Schmitz, John Birch and Wally George. …. 6. 'NO ENTIENDO'. (from Arellano’s column) OC Weekly March 11, 2005, Friday BYLINE: GUSTAVO ARELLANO As the chair of Orange County's Republican Party from 1984 until last year, Tom Fuentes distinguished himself by waging vindicative, sometimes bizarre campaigns against enemies real and perceived. As a trustee for the South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD), Fuentes continues his GOP battle plan by launching a campaign against . . . Spain?! 7. Two OC colleges end study-abroad program in Spain The Associated Press State & Local Wire March 6, 2005, Sunday, BC cycle Leaders of two community colleges in Orange County have ended their schools' study-abroad program in Spain, citing the country's troop withdrawal from Iraq. 8. News briefs from Southern California The Associated Press State & Local Wire May 18, 2004, Tuesday, BC cycle IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Professors at Irvine Valley and Saddleback colleges overwhelmingly cast a no-confidence vote against South Orange County Community College District Chancellor Raghu Mathur…More than 93 percent voted in favor of no confidence, and 6 percent were against the union-sponsored measure, the district faculty association said. Out of 318 faculty eligible, 246 voted. 9. WAKE UP, WHITE PEOPLE! OC Weekly April 9, 2004, Friday BYLINE: Nick Schou Mission Viejo's Saddleback College is already infamous as the only California community college that can claim it once had a board president who was a Holocaust-denying high school history teacher--that'd be Steven J. Frogue. So it wasn't entirely unpredictable that students would soon get in on the act, turning an anti-racist teach-in into a forum on Jewish control of the media. 10. A CLOCK WORK ORANGE (Coker’s column) OC Weekly March 14, 2003, Friday BYLINE: matt coker Anyone who has attended meetings of local boards, councils and commissions is used to the superfluous public ass-kissing elected officials give one another. Taking such manufactured passion to new depths is the South Orange County Community College District board of trustees, which governs Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges. At a recent meeting, board president Don Wagner paused at one point to congratulate trustee Tom Fuentes for being re-elected to a 10th term as Orange County Republican Party chairman. Fuentes had earlier toasted fellow trustee John Williams for being sworn in as Orange County's new public administrator--the part-time elected official who oversees conservancies for feeble-minded folks who can't care for themselves and have no next-of-kin. But what Fuentes did next says a lot about Orange County Republicans, county government and that particular school board: he congratulated fellow trustee Nancy Padberg for being appointed to Williams' professional staff. The same board awarded a plum district administrative job to the trustee Padberg replaced--even though her qualifications were questionable. The funny thing--not funny ha-ha, but funny as in ironic--is Williams was first swept into his trustee seat as a reformer who would protect South County taxpayers by ending rampant cronyism on the part of faculty and administrators. Dissident trustee David Lang has long complained of cronyism practiced by Fuentes, Williams, Padberg, Wagner and Dorothy Fortune--Republicans who cast identical votes so often you'd think they trained at the old Soviet Politburo. We would have asked Padberg if she foresees any conflicts, but she was too busy nominating her new boss Williams to a seat on the California Community College Trustees board of directors. 11. Iraq-College City News Service March 31, 2003 Monday DATELINE: LOS ANGELES An Irvine Valley College administrator has warned instructors against discussing the Iraq war in class unless it is directly related to the subject they are teaching, it was reported today. 12. Irvine college bans classroom discussions of Iraq conflict The Associated Press State & Local Wire March 29, 2003, Saturday, BC cycle DATELINE: IRVINE, Calif. Irvine Valley College has banned classroom discussions of the war with Iraq unless they are linked to course work after a sobbing student complained about a professor's anti-war remarks.

Listen to Raghu blame our problems on faculty leadership

Item 26 of last night’s meeting of the board of trustees was a discussion of the recommendations offered not long ago by the Accreditation agency (ACCJC).

At one point, Chancellor Mathur focused on those recommendations that pertain to District operations. They are:

IVC (#6): The board should immediately cease micromanaging.
Saddleback (#5): The board should immediately cease micromanaging.

IVC (#7): all groups should regularly define and evaluate leadership roles and scopes of authority. (A paraphrase.)

Saddleback (#4): Essentially: The board should abandon its objectionable and unprofessional hiring procedure (for college and district executives) and begin giving constituency groups a meaningful say (in the process).

IVC (#8): deal with the hostility, cynicism, despair and fear that plague the college.
Saddleback (#6): deal with the hostility, cyncism, despair and fear that plague the college.

The accreditors' most severe criticisms were directed at our Board and distict leadership (i.e., the Chancellor, the chief cause of fear, distrust, etc.).

Last night, upon having outlined what the colleges and trustees are doing to respond to these recommendations, Chancellor Mathur decided to offer some "thoughts."

I present them in their entirety. They are in two clips, each about 4 minutes long:

PART 1:

1. Negative press coverage is caused chiefly by faculty leaders.
2. Only 1 or 2 trustees have micromanaged (in the past), and only occasionally; yet “the whole board” gets a bad name.
3. The board is trying not to micromanage now. Everyone should appreciate that.
4. Faculty leadership should work more with leadership and the board. They should do so respectfully and reasonably.
5. Faculty concerns about loss of accreditation owing to trustee micromanagement are erroneous and unhelpful.
6. Hostility and fear are spread by this talk by faculty leaders.

PART 2:

1. Some issues, e.g., institutional memberships, should be dealt with at the staff level.
2. The trust problem is perhaps a carryover from previous boards. (I.e., Dorothy Fortune did it, not these guys.)
3. This board has spent money to recruit students and to repair buildings. The board has been generous with salaries.
4. Yet there’s no balance and fair play on the part of faculty and staff, who never come to thank the board.
5. Let’s not use inflammatory language in discussing issues.
6. It is everyone’s responsibility, not just the board’s, to improve our reputation.
7. Just now, some faculty leaders left. See? We listen to them, but they don’t listen to us.
8. Faculty, staff, trustees: talk to me first about problematic agenda items. Don’t “grandstand.”
9. We need to commend each other more.
10. Faculty should cease “inviting” board micromanagement by going directly to the board with issues.
11. The board must be treated with utmost respect.
12. “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”

DEFIANCE: A brief report on tonight's wild board meeting

This’ll have to be fast. Gotta get some sleep. More tomorrow.

It was quite a meeting tonight. It was a horror movie, and Raghu and trustee Tom were the monsters. More on that in a moment.

During public comments, IVC Academic Senate Prez Wendy, on behalf of senators, noted that the district planning process is illegitimate, given that it was developed without Academic Senate input. She explained that failure to include faculty violated Title V and BP 2100.1. Hence the Academic Senate decided to pursue a “minimum conditions” complaint with the State Chancellor’s Office.

During trustee reports, Lang used his time to express his “disappointment” in Wendy’s remarks, which he rejected as erroneous. No, he said patronizingly, the district gets to pursue planning. Planning is not just the faculty’s purview.

Of course, she (i.e., the IVC senate) never said that. Rather, the point was that, according to Title V and 2100.1, the district is to rely primarily on the academic Senates regarding the development of a planning process.

Nancy Padberg indicated that she would have to leave early for some reason, and this got me to worryin’, since she was the 4th vote for “reinstatement” of the American Library Association to the approved district membership list. Sheesh.

During her report, Nancy expressed gratitude for last month’s staff report on trustee traveling expenses in the last year. I’m told that the report makes John Williams look pretty bad.

Well, on this night, Nancy requested that the report now be extended to “five years” in order to see whether the pattern of the last year was just an aberration.

Guess what? Williams, Fuentes, Wagner, and (I think) Lang voted that down!

Luckily, the public has a right to this info, so we’ll work on getting it for you.

There was some carping about item 31, “budget development discussion,” which requested the authorization of two guidelines. Trustee Fuentes used the occasion to complain that, in effect, the board was failing to follow its chosen policy according to which “basic aid” money would not be used for “ongoing expenses,” but, rather, only for “one-time expenses.” But, asserted Tom, each year, we permit these “one-time expenses.”

Near as I can tell, Mr. Poertner responded by saying that the colleges are $15 million in the hole, and they can’t operate without some help, so you better help them. I think he prevailed.

Mathur and the college presidents gave a slide show concerning responses to the Accred’s recommendations. That went on for a while. It seemed clear that Mathur and Co. are stuffing "Accreditation" items into board meetings because that leaves an impressions that they're serious about the Accred's recommendations, which, plainly, they are not.

At some point, Raghu stopped the whole show to read a lengthy statement regarding the Accreditation issue. In his mind, evidently, he was stepping up to the plate to provide some “leadership.”

I’ll have lots more, including audio files, maybe tomorrow. I'll just say for now that Raghu’s “leadership” took the particular form of his asserting that certain people are trying to tear down the district’s reputation, and that the real problem in the district is that a few faculty leaders are trying to run the whole show. Naturally, this message presupposes that the Accreds' recommendations are crap.

Plus, said Raghu, some of these people who want to control the district are indecorous and disrespectful (I think that last one was about me, though I’m not a “leader.”)

This went on and on and it was so obnoxious that the faculty union president and the two senate presidents got up and left in protest. Later in the evening, Mathur referred to that exodus as evidence that the problem is with faculty.

I think it was item 28—a resolution to affirm board and district commitment to address the Accreditation Teams’ recommendations—when Mr. Fuentes insisted that he wasn’t about to affirm any such thing. No, he would only affirm a statement that included mention of faculty “macromanagement.”

More than once, Fuentes asserted that the problem with the district isn’t board “micromanagement.” OK, maybe two trustees engaged in some micromanagement, but so what? Somebody’s gotta control these pesky over-reaching faculty leaders! There’s your problem!

Student Trustee Ho tried to mediate. He expressed the worry that Fuentes’ defiance might lead to our Accreditation ticket bein’ pulled. Fuentes then advised Ho not to buy into the nonsense that trustee actions threaten accreditation. Paul backed off immediately.

At some point, Nancy disappeared, and then item 29, “reinstatement of ALA to approved district membership list” came up. For some reason (graciousness? Nah), Fuentes moved to table the item, but that failed. (I think Marcia and Bill need to talk. They need to find a clue.)

And so the inevitable occurred: the vote was 3 to 3, and thus the reinstatement of ALA failed. It seems unlikely that the board will again agendize this issue.

Within minutes of that vote, Nancy returned to the meeting. D’oh!!!! Too late!

I noticed just after I got home that union president Lewis L sent faculty an email responding to Mathur’s obnoxious remarks. Check it out.

More later.

Heads up: tonight’s board meeting

DEAR GABACHO:

Is anything interesting liable to happen at tonight's meeting of the Board of Trustees? Inquiring minds wanna know. And so do I. --Inquiring Mind

Dear INQUIRING MIND:

As usual, the closed session items are potentially interesting, what with discussion of, e.g., the Mora v. Mathur (aka Raghu v. women) litigation. That should be going to trial soon. Will the district settle?

But these items seldom live up to their potential.

During board reports, maybe John Williams will describe his expensive and wasteful trip to Orlando. Yeah, that should be good. Nancy will smile slyly.


The open session items are another story. There are bound to be some sparks aflyin’.

Item 26 is for “information/discussion,” not action: SC/IVC ACCRED TEAM REC’S. There’s a chance that Trustee Tom will turn red and pop. Or Wagner will at long last peeve himself into a tiny dot on the floor. But seriously, folks, Tom’s liable to say something memorable, like “let’s put out a contract on those pesky unelected Accreds.”

Item 27 is, I believe, the “proposed” follow-up (4/24/06) to the February technical assistance meeting, involving the Academic Senate of CA and that silly trustees organization. (See the series of three blogs starting with Hammering out differences.)

You remember. No? Anyway, I think the board is supposed to say, “Yeah, let’s show up for that.” If they’re smart, they’ll tell Trustee Fuentes to stay home. Last time, he yammered about love while shooting wicked looks.

Item 28 is a “resolution” re the Accred rec’s. Evidently, Raghu is recommending that the board affirm its commitment to addressing the Accred’s rec’s. Maybe the Accreds heard about Trustee Tom’s mad sputterings and so this is damage-control. Could be. Don’t know.

Item 29 is the American Library Association issue. Last I heard, we’ve got four votes for reversing the January decision to discontinue the college libraries’ memberships in ALA. Still, Fuentes and Wagner will want to bloviate against the ALA, cuz it keeps the right-wingers happy.

Let’s hope some Librarians actually show up to speak up this time. If they don’t, then it’s open season on ‘em, satire-wise.

I do hope that Glenn will correct item 46, which is erroneous. (Left out one of the Teachers of the Year.)

During public remarks, IVC Academic Prez Wendy will make a few nasty remarks about Raghu and the Board on behalf of the IVC Academic Senate. She didn’t want to, but the Senators insisted.

St. Thomas Akimbo

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Tom and his pals are featured in the new Universal Studios motion picture "Slither."

No vulture

Check out Peggy Lowe's interview of Sheriff Mike Carona in this morning's OC Register (Carona responds to his doubters).

Here's my favorite part:

Carona: I've never defined myself politically. So when all this stuff came up, we'd sit down and talk about it, but I've just never defined myself as political. My job is political. To be able to become sheriff I had to run and become political. But once I've gotten over that hurdle, what I do is operational. What I love about this job, what I studied for, what I've trained for is the operational side. The politics – I'm not so sure I could sit in a room and be one of 40 votes or 50 votes.

It's why God didn't make me a vulture. I have to kill something. I got to go out and hunt it down. I can't wait around for it to die.

The dead and the pious

1. GOOD-BYE BUCKEROO. Buck Owens has died. He was 76. I hated “Hee Haw” but I loved this man’s best songs. Check 'em out.

2. RELIGIOUS RADICALS’ FINANCIERS. About a year ago (Feb., 2005), Time Magazine ran a front-page story on the 25 most influential Evangelicals in the country (Most influential evangelicals).

Number 1 on the list was Rick Warren, “America’s New People’s Pastor.” Warren pastors a little church down the street from my house. Saddleback Church has 22,000 members, and it’s hard for me not to think that those people are confusing religion with football. I wonder if they show up wearin’ that stupid make-up and doin’ the Wave.

Number 2 is—you guessed it!—Orange County’s own Howard and Roberta Ahmanson. Near as I can tell, Howard is one of Tom Fuentes’ pals. (Also: he provided the seed money for the organization that brought us Don Wagner and Nancy Padberg.)

Here’s what Time had to say about the Ahmansons:

The Financiers: Money makes the Word go round, and this wealthy, conservative Republican couple takes a dizzyingly ecclectic approach to funding evangelism. The projects that savings-and-loan multimillionaires Howard and Roberta Ahmanson have paid for over the years through Fieldstead & Co., a private philanthropy in Irvine, Calif., form a cornucopia of faith-based activism, including an institute linked to the antievolution intelligent-design movement and a study of social endeavors by Third World Pentecostal churches. The couple have been accused over the years of having an extremist agenda, mostly because a onetime pet charity, the Chalcedon Foundation, advocates the Christian reconstructionist branch of theology that says gays and other biblical lawbreakers should be stoned. Howard distanced himself from those views and resigned from the foundation board years ago.

The couple, both 55, now are warning powerful conservative Christians about the pitfalls of hubris in the aftermath of their victories over liberals last November. Says Roberta: "Christlike humility and [improving] the lives of human beings should be the goals."

OK, so Howard and Roberta have backed off of the “stoning” idea. Maybe. But saying that somebody used to be on the board of Chalcedon is a bit like saying that they used to be Devil Worshippers. Check out Chalcedon and the rest of the Ahmansons’ “Christian Reconstructionist” crowd. It’ll curl your hair.

While you’re at it, check out the Claremont Institute (one of Fuentes’ haunts), the Discovery Institute (the Earth is 6,000 years old!), and other organizations that the Ahmansons still fund.

And don’t be thinkin’ that Howard gave up his wild talk long ago. According to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in 1992, Howard explained that “My purpose is total integration of biblical law into our lives.”

Thank you, Howard, for the marvelously succinct statement of the Chalcedon project, aka Christian Reconstructionism.

This guy scares the shit out o' me. One of these days, I'll wake up and find out that I'm in deep doo-doo cuz I didn't go to the stupid church-mall down the road.

3. JARAMILLO POINTS TO CARONA. Did you see Peggy Lowe’s article in today’s Register about “Hometown Hero” and Fuentes star Mike Carona’s former assistant, George Jaramillo? Check it out. As I’m sure you know, Mike Carona is a devout Christian—you know, like Tom Fuentes.

Jaramillo says ex-boss Carona should be facing same charges
Outside court, fired assistant says sheriff misused department's copter.

SANTA ANA – Waving a manila envelope filled with what he said was evidence, fired Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo said Friday that Sheriff Mike Carona should be prosecuted for the same charges he is facing.

Jaramillo held court outside the courtroom after a routine hearing on the newest round of charges he faces, including perjury and misusing public resources. A grand jury found Jaramillo improperly used the Sheriff's Department helicopter for a ride to the airport with his wife in 2003.

Taking copies of Orange County Sheriff's Department logs from the envelope, Jaramillo accused Carona of using the helicopter up to 32 times for trips to an award ceremony, a ride to attend his son's soccer game and another trip with his "longtime mistress."

An Orange County Register investigation showed that the county's helicopters were used at least 16 times in 2002 to take Carona and others to award ceremonies, television interviews, the airport and a Lake Arrowhead retreat, costing taxpayers $26,000.

…Sheriff's officials have denied all of Jaramillo's claims as "outrageous lies."

Jaramillo has pleaded not guilty to all the charges he faces, which also include bribery and conflict of interest. His trial is set for September.

Why is it that the worst people I know are also the most pious? Explain that one to me, will you?

The Lyin' King

At the March 2 IVC Academic Senate meeting, senators discussed Chancellor Mathur’s curious new “planning process,” which pretty much leaves faculty out of planning. No surprise there. The new process had been authored by the corrupt little fellow. He had not solicited senate input.

That is illegal, for Title 5 and BP 2100.1 require that the district rely primarily on the Academic Senate(s) for the development of processes for institutional planning and budget development. It's as plain as the nose on your face.

Academic Senate Prez Wendy then explained that, during a meeting with the Chancellor that very day, after lengthy discussion with the two senate presidents (Claire and Wendy), Mathur acknowledged that he made a mistake when he developed the District Planning Process without consulting the Senates. He even apologized for the error and promised that he would not commit it again.

That was welcome news. Still, senators were unhappy. Some, including yours truly, pressed for clarification regarding the standing of the illegal planning process. Is it dead or no?

We know our Raghu. It would be just like him to acknowledge that he was in error and even to promise not to commit the error again—and then to set about implementing the erroneous action. That’s just standard Mathurian operating procedure.

According to the published minutes for the March 2 meeting, “Senators pointed out that despite the admission of wrongdoing, the apology, and the assurance of non-interference, the District Planning Process remains in place and will continue to create confusion among deans and faculty until it is withdrawn.”

Thus the senators took action. They requested “that the Chancellor immediately discontinue implementation of the illegitimate District Planning Process or the Academic Senate will consider filing a Minimum Conditions Complaint with the office of the State Chancellor.” (From minutes.)

During a subsequent meeting, the fellow clarified matters to Wendy in the way desired. He agreed that the new process should be (or already was?) discontinued. How could he do otherwise?

Wendy then wrote IVC faculty, delivering the good news.

But, in a kind of “switcheroo” that will be familiar to long-time Mathur observers, Mr. Goo then cried foul and denied that he had agreed to discontinue the process. Evidently, despite acknowledging the impropriety of his unilateral development of the process, he persists in viewing the process as valid.

Stunning. —But no. It’s just Raghu bein’ Raghu. The New Raghu that we've heard so much about (from Dopey Dave) is just the Old Raghu sayin’ he’s New. Woo-hoo.


And so, on the 23rd (yesterday), the "planning process" issue returned to the IVC Academic Senate. Clearly, Wendy was disinclined to pursue this matter through the existing legal channels, namely, filing a complaint with the State Chancellor. That’s slow and tedious, bigtime. I think maybe she’s had her fill of this kind of legal work for a while.

But senators were adamant: we cannot threaten to go to the State Chance if Mathur does not fly right, and then not go to the State Chance when, in fact, Mathur keeps flyin’ wrong. We said we’d turn to the State Chance, and so now we've got to keep our word.

A motion was made to that effect.

Wendy groaned. She suggested that we change the motion so that it speaks of “exploring” this avenue. But senators would not hear of it. Said one senator: “If you tell your kid that if he does that again, then there’ll be consequences, then, when he goes and does it again, you can’t say, ‘we will now explore consequences.’”

We’ve got some funny senators, boy.

The motion passed unanimously. The IVC senate will now file a Minimum Conditions Complaint.

Soon, the Saddleback College (or, as one of our favorite administrators spells it, “Saddle Back College”) Academic Senate will meet to discuss the planning process. Don’t be surprised if they take a similar action.

And can you blame 'em? We faculty are supposed to have a role, and these people--Mathur and his board patrons--keep taking it away. We can't let that happen.

Naturally, the Accreds will hear about this. We might wanna start looking for new jobs.

A setback for the Fuenteans--PLUS: Is our Nancy a “crazy aunt”?

A MAJOR DEFEAT FOR THE FUENTESISTAS. The OC right-wing blogosphere has been atwitter this week over the failure, Monday night, of the county GOP to endorse Mike Carona for Sheriff. As you know, Carona is a star in Fuentes World, aka the Neanderthal Political Machine.

A couple of years ago, owing to its Fuenteans, IVC’s Foundation anointed Carona its “Hometown Hero,” a fact made ironic—among the civilized—by the subsequent train of Carona scandalosity. Between Carona and Cave co-star Tony Rackaucus (our embattled county DA), these local Neanderthals have more than matched the Bush Administration, corruption-wise. And that's sayin' something.

Recently, the OC Register reported that key denizens of the Fuentesphere—namely, Mike Shroeder (Fuentes' close pal and GOP backer of the Frogue Recall), John Fleischman, and Adam Probolsky (Fleischman and Probolsky are on the IVC Foundation board)—were caught engineering an effort by a “citizen” to challenge the campaign statement of a Carona challenger, Republican Bill Hunt. Hunt had referred to the “scandals” and the “failure” of the Carona administration. “Unfair,” cried the citizen, who turned out to be very connected to the Fuentes crowd (mostly through his wife).

It seems clear (given their emails, which, somehow, Fleischman accidentally sent to the Register) that the Cave People seek to use the threat of expensive litigation over this matter to motivate Hunt to soften his campaign rhetoric. That Hunt’s language--especially his use of the word “scandal”--is manifestly accurate is beside the point.

Trustee John "Brownie" Williams has weighed in on this issue in a letter to the Register (yesterday). Naturally, he sides with his pals and against Hunt. (See Williams questions Hunt's competence)

THERE’S ALWAYS A BIG “BUT.” OK, the local GOP has come to its senses and has not endorsed the corrupt Carona. Still, there's bad news, for it is clear that Carona has lots of cash for his campaign, and money is everything. You may as well get that tatooed on your butt.

According to OCBlog.net, Carona is “miles ahead of opponents in fundraising." They got the following from the OC Registrar of Voters:

Mike Carona 
Cash-on-hand: $618K 
Debt: $28K

Bill Hunt 
COH: $6K 
Debt: $26K

Bob Alcaraz
COH: $76K 
Debt: $100

Ralph Martin 
COH: $80K 
Debt: $3K

Evidently, in the last three and a half months, Carona’s campaign has amassed over half a million dollars. When all is said and done, Carona will have spent over a million dollars on this campaign, or so crows Mike Schroeder. Compare that figure to the puny war chest of a guy like Hunt: $6,000 (and 26K in debt).

TRASHING OUR NANCY. We recently reported that trustee Nancy Padberg is running for Judge. On Tuesday (the 21st), “Roscoe” of OCblog.net reported that there are three candidates for the #4 spot on the OC Superior Court:

Sheila Hanson, Deputy District Attorney - DEMOCRAT

Nancy Padberg, Attorney/College Trustee - REPUBLICAN

Lyle J. Robertson, Commissioner, Superior Court - REPUBLICAN

Roscoe goes on to explain:

Hanson already has the support of her boss DA Rackauckas, neither Padberg or Robertson paid for a candidate statement so we don't know a lot about their campaigns.

We do know Nancy Padberg from her time on the South OC College District. She is kind of like your crazy aunt you keep in touch with just in the hope that she might leave you something in her will.

Robertson has run before and lost.

With three candidates in the race there will probably be a run off in November. Robertson and Hanson will most likely be in it unless Padberg does something crazy like spend $200,000.

“Crazy aunt”? I bet Nancy didn’t like that a bit. Not a bit.

A Mr. Mark Brainard responded to Roscoe’s blog by writing “I disagree with your characterization of Nancy. She would make a terrific judge.”

Another reader said that he “met Nancy at the Central Committee meeting [on Monday]…and I support her.”

Yet another reader—this one calls him/herself “Redwine"—wrote:

I recommend asking around a little before disparaging someone you obviously don't know, like Nancy Padberg. She's a dedicated Republican activist who has assisted MANY campaigns over MANY years. She is an elected Trustee for the SOCCCD and, until her resignation last night [presumably, from the Central Committee, not from the Board] because of her campaign for judge, she was an elected member of the Central Committee.

Nancy should be supported by the Republican Party Central Committee and every elected Republican (including Rackauckas, who you say has already endorsed the Dem).

Redwine’s remark provoked “OCSD Investigator” to write:

Redwine, are you kidding me? We should vote for Nancy because she is a Republican. Is that your argument? Do you vote everything straight down the party line? Hanson is a very experienced trial lawyer. She has had her hand in putting away some very dangerous child molesters and numerous other criminals. I have presented many cases to her and found her to be very dedicated to her craft. When it comes to being a judge in the county where I work and live, I could care less about party lines. I do not mean to discredit the other two choices. I just find your comments offensive.

At this point, someone (not me, but someone called “Investigator”) suggested that readers check out DISSENT the BLOG and its account of Nancy’s recent activities on the SOCCCD board (Closing in on Junket Abuse), whereupon Redwine wrote: “OCSD Investigator—My God, a voice of sanity on this issue. Thank you.”

“Jim” then wrote to say, “I know Ms. Padberg, and I have appeared many times before Commissioner Robertson. Both would make fine judges.”

For what it’s worth, here’s Hanson’s campaign statement. We’ll post Nancy’s, too, as soon as it becomes available:

SHEILA HANSON
JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT, OFFICE NO.4

Occupation: Senior Deputy District Attorney

Police, prosecutors and crime victims overwhelmingly support me because they know I will be a fair, no-nonsense Judge who supports law and order for Orange County.

I am honored to have spent sixteen years as a prosecutor in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. Currently, I lead a team that prosecutes crimes including drunk driving homicides, kidnapping, and robbery.
While assigned to the elite Sexual Assault Unit, I prosecuted sexual predators, child molesters and rapists.

In the prestigious GangUnit, I prosecuted criminal gang members for carjacking, drug-dealing, and drive-by shootings.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) honored me for my dedicated work with crime victims.

Because of m ysupport for Victims’ Rights, the death penalty and Three Strikes, I am endorsed by:

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters
California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations
Orange County Coalition of Police and Sheriffs
Police Associations representing; Anaheim, Santa Ana, Fullerton, Westminster, La Palma, Placentia,
Garden Grove,Brea, LosAlamitos
Citizens for Law and Order
Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau

I am most proud of my family and my volunteer work with Assistance League, Girl Scouts, Laurel House, AYSO and in my Parish.

I would be honored with your vote.

I should mention that, according to her district bio, “Nancy serves as a Temporary Judge for the Superior Court of Orange County.”

Godzilla menaces college campuses, then returns to ocean

Late this morning, Godzilla emerged from the ocean and lumbered inland to Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo.

According to witnesses, the enormous reptile seemed to take a special interest in the Student Services Center at the college, which he briefly scorched with "hundred foot long" plumes of flaming breath.


After a few minutes, say witnesses, Godzilla seemed to lose interest. He then proceeded northward on Interstate 5.

At about 12:45, he reached Irvine Valley College, where he paused at the site of the future Performing Arts Center.


According to Highway Patrolmen on the scene, the creature then "mildly scorched" a Hummer that was traveling southward on Jeffrey Road.


Godzilla was last spotted entering the ocean just south of Corona Del Mar.

It was a beautiful day at the colleges

It was High School Senior Day at Irvine Valley College. KROQ was on hand to entertain the throngs of youngsters. The KROQ DJs played lots of Green Day. You know, "American Idiot," and all that.

The weather was excellent, and a good time was had by all. Check out the pics.


There was this big rubber blow-up thingy. Everybody just stared at it. It was pretty colorful, I guess.


The U.S. Army was there with some kind of "hoops" game. If you made a basket, a stupid noise would sound. it was popular.

It was a beautiful day also at Saddleback College. The light shone brightly on the face of the library:

Over toward the mountains, it looked pretty blustery:


I tried to be pissed off, but everything was so beautiful. I mean, here's how the central park-like area looked:


Plus there was a seriously cool "nursing" display over in the new Health Sciences Building. I'm not kidding, it was cool. Stuff from the 40s, I think.


Did you know that you can walk the stairs all the way up to the roof of that building, and actually emerge to the roof and walk around--without once encountering a "keep out" sign?

Don't tell anybody, but it's true. Here's a shot I took of the ocean from up there:

Mysterious "Chrysler" menaces campus

Six Degrees of Fuentes Nation

id you read Jean Pasco’s article in the Times this morning? Pasco reports that

A supporter of the Orange County sheriff's reelection bid filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the ballot statement of a rival candidate that calls the sheriff's term a "failure" marked by "scandal after scandal."

The sheriff, of course, is Mike Carona, a fellow who is indeed up to his eyeballs in scandal. He’s a player—a star—in Fuentes Nation (aka Fuentes World), a community that is peopled by like-minded right-wingers.

Being accused of corruption or at least ruthlessness seems to be an entrance requirement.

No doubt thanks to Mr. Fuentes, three years ago, the Irvine Valley College Foundation named Carona its “hometown hero.” That's when everybody in the country was falling all over themselves in a mad rush to honor the "hero" of the Samantha Runnion tragedy.

Some hero. Have you been reading the paper? Carona is about as dirty as that other Fuentean hero, Orange County DA, Tony Rackaucus.

The “supporter” referred to in the Times article is Ronald Young, who will appear in court today with his lawyer, Michael Houston.

Houston, of course, is a crony of Mr. Tom Fuentes. Why am I not surprised?

Pasco informs us that Mr. Houston works for Rutan and Tucker, a fancy-schmancy OC law firm.

Hmmm. Rutan and Tucker. That would be the firm that represented the district in my First Amendment lawsuit. They lost the suit but appealed. During the appellate process—I essentially prevailed there, too—Rutan and Tucker had two attorneys on the case: Dave Larsen and Robert E. King.

Robert E. King? That would be the guy just hired as the Vice Chancellor of Human Resources!


ave you ever played the trivia game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”? According to Wikipedia, the game is

inspired by the stage play Six Degrees of Separation. [It] requires a group of players to connect any film actor to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible.

I play a variation on the Bacon game. It’s called “Six Degrees of Fuentes Nation.” Essentially, to play, you’ve gotta find patches of the fabric of Fuentes Nation, aka OC Right-Wing Republican Web o' Cronies.

OK, so far, I’ve got

Young → Houston → Fuentes and

Fuentes → Rutan & Tucker → Larsen → King → SOCCCD → Fuentes.

Let’s start from Mr. King, who, as I said, is our new VC of Human Resources.

Human Resources? As you know, Teddi Lorch is the district's Director of Human Resources. (How come we've got both a Vice Chancellor and a Director of HR? What's next, a chief petty officer?) Back in 2000, Teddi ran for a seat (representing the 73rd Assembly District) on the OC GOP Central Committee. That would be Fuentes’ OC GOP. (He was the chair at the time.) Teddi came in dead last.

Who represents the 73rd Assembly District these days? That would be Teddi’s best pal, Nancy Padberg, who, of course, accompanies Mr. Fuentes on the SOCCCD Board of Trustees.

Teddi, too, was on the SOCCCD board, until she was replaced in 1998 by—you guessed it! Nancy Padberg!

OK, so that’s King → Lorch → SOCCCD → BOT → Padberg → Fuentes.

While hangin’ with the OC Republican leadership, no doubt Nancy rubs elbows with conservative pollster Adam P, the guy who assisted Mr. Fuentes so ably on that night five and a half years ago when Fuentes made his successful bid to replace Steve Frogue on our board.

Remember the Frogue Recall? The leader of that effort among Republicans was close Fuentes associate Michael Schroeder, who just happens to be the chief legal advisor of both Tony Rackaucus and Mike Carona. (Schroeder’s wife is Carona's spokesperson.)

Like I said, Central Committee member Nancy P might run into Adam, cuz Adam is on the executive group of the Committee.

Adam, of course, can also be found, along with Fuentes’ wife Jolene, on the board of governors of the IVC Foundation, as can John Fleischman, who is also on the GOP executive leadership group and, by day, works for Sheriff Carona.

Confused yet?

The executive director of the local GOP is Kathy Tavoularis, another Fuentes crony, who also sits on the IVC Foundation board.

Paul Hernandez, another Foundation board member, is ex-officio alternate on the OC GOP Central Committee.

Foundation board member Anthony Kuo, a Mathur apologist during his student days at IVC, is now Jo Ellen Allen’s alternate on the Central Committee.

IVC Foundation board member Keith Carlson is the alternate for Scott Baugh, who represents the 67th Assembly District on the OC GOP Central Committee.

Baugh, of course, replaced Tom Fuentes as chair of the OC GOPers back in 2004.

I could go on like this forever.

But you get the idea.

h—one more thing. Did you know that Nancy Padberg is running for Superior Court Judge? See

Nancy runs for Judge (a pdf file)


MARCH 18 UPDATE:
in TODAY'S REGISTER

Yesterday's Times article didn't reveal who was behind the legal challenge, aside from Young and his lawyer Houston. I implied that Fuentes or his crowd (Schroeder, Fleischman, Probolsky, et al.) were behind it.

But today's Register article ("Carona wants phrase barred," by Peggy Lowe) "connects the dots," owing in part to a misdirected email between Schroeder and Fleischman. Some excerpts:

...Carona's top two advisers – Jon Fleischman and Michael Schroeder – recruited a voter with no name recognition to challenge it [i.e., inclusion of language referring to "scandal" and "failure"] in court.

In an e-mail inadvertently sent to The Orange County Register, Fleischman reported to Schroeder on Wednesday that the campaign's lawyers were working with someone named Ron Young "to challenge the questionable language (on) Bill Hunt's campaign statement."

To connect the dots: Young is the husband of Mary Young, a GOP activist, and was found by pollster Adam Probolsky, according to Fleischman's e-mail. Further connection: Probolsky has worked with John Lewis, Carona's campaign manager.

"We'll all have to thank the Youngs – and also TY (thank you) to Adam for calling them and getting them to agree to this!" reads Fleischman's e-mail from a personal account.

Schroeder responded to Fleischman in an e-mail that "Hunt may stipulate to removing the offending language in order to avoid an attorney's fees hit." [Classic hardball tactic!]

Reached Friday, Fleischman said he was working at his county job as the sheriff's spokesman and must keep politics separate.

..."What we're seeing here is a very concerted effort from a select few behind the scenes from one party that is controlling and manipulating what happens in the office of the sheriff," Hunt said. "That should be problematic for anybody, especially with the string of scandals coming out of that office."

...Carona has faced many controversies, including the firing of an assistant sheriff and his chief of staff, George Jaramillo, who has since been indicted on several charges, including bribery.

Carona, who is seeking a third term, has also weathered reports of questionable campaign contributions and one case of money laundering through his campaign. The attorney general is investigating three issues surrounding the sheriff's department, including a claim of sexual harassment against Carona.

The issue will be heard in Orange County Superior Court on Monday.

Also, check out an article in today's Register concerning Fuentes crony Chriss Street:

Trustee: Official abused firm funds

O.C.'s assistant treasurer is accused of fiscal misconduct as a bankrupt trailer firm's asset manager.

By MARTIN WISCKOL

Chriss Street, the leading candidate to become county treasurer-tax collector, has been accused of "mismanagement, conflicts of interest and greed" in a bankruptcy-court document filed this week....