Saturday, August 9, 2008

The trustee races

I visited the County Registrar of Voters website this morning to find out who’s running for a seat on the board in our district:

Trustee Area 1
(Irvine, etc.)

CAROLYN INMON, Retired College Professor
Candidate Statement Issued:7/31/2008
Candidate Statement Filed:8/7/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:7/31/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:8/7/2008

(Inmon is the faculty union’s candidate going up against Dave Lang. Lang is a strong supporter of Chancellor Mathur.)

DAVID B. LANG, Trustee, SOCCCD

Candidate Statement Issued:7/15/2008
Candidate Statement Filed:8/6/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:7/15/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:8/6/2008

(Lang, of course, is the Benedict Arnold of SOCCCD. Several years ago, horrifying long-time faculty supporters, he suddenly became Mathur’s greatest champion, after Tom Fuentes. On the Red County blog, Lang is described as Tom Fuentes’ “ally.”)

Trustee Area 3 (Laguna Beach, etc.)

ARLENE GREER, Businesswoman
Candidate Statement Issued:8/5/2008
Candidate Statement Filed:8/8/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:8/5/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:8/8/2008

(Near as I can tell, Greer is somewhat involved in Newport Beach politics. She’s interested in environmental or “green” issues. I think she’s the president of a NB home-owners association. Elsewhere, she seems to call herself a “homemaker.”)

WILLIAM (BILL) JAY, Governing Board Member, SOCCCD
Candidate Statement Issued:7/25/2008
Candidate Statement Filed:8/7/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:7/25/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:8/7/2008

(Bill has been a solid supporter of the faculty. He’s supported by the faculty union.)

RANDALL S. JOHNSON, Real Estate Investor
Candidate Statement Issued:7/29/2008
Candidate Statement Filed: NOT FILED?
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:7/29/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed: NOT FILED?

(I’m having trouble finding out much about this guy. In Red County, he’s described as a “new face.” Hmmm. The question is: is he a member of "Team Fuentes"? Dunno.)

Trustee Area 6 (Lake Forest, etc.)

BOB BLISS, Retired College Professor

Candidate Statement Issued:7/23/2008
Candidate Statement Filed:8/5/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:7/23/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:8/5/2008

(Bliss taught at Saddleback College for many years. An author. Supported by the faculty union.)

THOMAS A. "TOM" FUENTES, Trustee, SOCCCD
Candidate Statement Issued:7/17/2008
Candidate Statement Filed:8/6/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:7/17/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:8/6/2008

(An open enemy of faculty. Somewhat of a conspiracy nut re accreditation.)

Trustee Area 7 (Mission Viejo, etc.)

CARL CHRISTENSEN, Retired Educator

Candidate Statement Issued:7/28/2008
Candidate Statement Filed:7/28/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:7/28/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:7/28/2008

(Christensen, a retired Saddleback College professor, has appeared at board meetings, complaining about the poverty of history courses in some areas at SC. His priorities seem, well, odd.)

MO ENTEZAMPOUR, College Professor/Administrator
Candidate Statement Issued: NONE?
Candidate Statement Filed: NONE?
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:8/8/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:8/8/2008

(This fellow has been an adjunct at IVC. He appears to be a division dean at Cypress College.)

JOHN S. WILLIAMS, Trustee, SOCCCD
Candidate Statement Issued:7/15/2008
Candidate Statement Filed:8/6/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Issued:7/15/2008
Declaration of Candidacy Filed:8/6/2008

(Williams is supported by the faculty union.)

The “candidate statement” links at the county site appear not to be working. I'll provide the statements when I can.

Debating the merits of Tom Fuentes in the blogosphere


On Monday, “tylerh” posted about the SOCCCD trustee races on the popular “Red County” blog (District races). (See my Red County whistles in the dark.)

(You know about local political blogs, right? In these parts, Red County is the most popular conservative blog.)

Tylerh, a denizen of the Red County's blogpen, referred to “Tom Fuentes' efforts to maintain fiscal sanity,” and I took him to task for that. This generated a fair among of back-and-forth between Tylerh and me and between others and me. The former was civil and reasonable. The latter: not so much.

At one point, someone who calls himself “Amused,” entirely ignoring my substantive points, accused me of fallacy. He’s mistaken, of course. I just posted a response to that, but I see that it does not yet appear. Hmmm.

Check out the thread here.

Retired Saddleback College professor Carl Christensen's contributions to the "debate" are amusing. Remember him? Months ago, he addressed the board complaining about a lack of certain history courses at Saddleback College. He's running against Williams, who has union backing. (His blog.)

Chris Emami has just posted (on Red County) concerning the county's college trustee races.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...