Crony Boy to terrorize Nepotism Boy; Puritan Gal nixes PG-13 kids; Brown Boy spills beans; Spanky GOPs on the meeting

THE OL' NEPOTISM GAMBIT. I forgot to mention that, at Monday’s board meeting, trustee Tom Fuentes requested a report on “nepotism” in the district. It’s been a few years, he said, since the last report, so it’s time for another one.

A cynical person (it is impossible not to be cynical upon observing Mr. Fuentes for any period) might guess that something else explains the timing of this request. There are two opposing factions in the district (well, these are the two that I know about, and they're pretty obvious): Fuentes/Mathur, et al. v. Wagner/Roquemore/Gabriella, et al. Anyone who watched last month’s board meeting knows that the tension between these factions has, in the last two months, reached its apogee. On that night, Mr. Wagner, the board president, engineered (well, he presided over) a stunning power shift. After it was complete, he remained President of the board; Padberg was vice president, and Milchiker was Clerk. Lang, Williams, and Fuentes were eating Wagner's dust.

Fuentes was furious. Later in the meeting, he flashed some anger, leaving a thick layer of sulphur on the walls.

Glenn Roquemore is Wagner’s boy. And Glenn wants to be the next Chancellor. That’s pretty obvious. Wagner will have to work to get his ducks in a row if he wants to land Glenn's butt in Mathur’s $1100 Buttmaster® chair.

If he wants that. Dunno. Just guessing.

Of course, a decent board would push forward with a Chancellor search that is open, honest, fair, and cautious. With Mathur’s exit, a manifestly honest search for an excellent chancellor would symbolize a sea change, the beginning of a new era for the district and its colleges. The board would look wise and good.

Do you suppose the trustees understand this? Do YOU understand this?

(Sometimes I feel like I'm wasting my time on this blog. Yeah.)

Well, it’s hard to deny that any report on nepotism is going to make Glenn look bad. Glenn's wife is a member of the faculty who doesn't mind throwing her weight around here and there. And so Tom asked for a report. It’s like losing a baseball game and then pouring sugar in the opponents’ gas tanks. It doesn’t do any good. It’s just a mean and ugly thing to do.

Even if the team does deserve that nasty sucrose STP treatment.

PURITAN BROADCASTING COMPANY. I’ve been thinking about the fate of agenda item 6.1—at Monday night’s board meeting. The Chancellor recommended that (1) our two colleges’ TV stations broadcast only programs that satisfy the highly-restrictive PG standard (Saddleback’s Channel 39 has traditionally broadcast programs, including student projects, that satisfy the less-restrictive PG-13 standard). (2) He also recommended a review of membership of the Film Program Advisory Committee for the purpose of broadening representation.

Recommendation 2 wasn’t controversial. Recommendation 1 was. Trustees Lang, Milchiker and Williams opposed it. Nancy Padberg, who initiated a late-‘09 investigation of the Communications program owing to a documentary it broadcast called “88 Years in the Closet,” and Wagner supported it. Fuentes seemed to support it as well.

Jay expressed no view. But he usually votes with Milchiker.

Lang (and others, e.g., Saddleback Academic Senate Prez Bob Cosgrove) warned ominously of accreditation consequences, should item 6.1 pass. And so Padberg suggested “tabling” recommendation 1. Recommendation 2 passed, but the discussion ended with an understanding that Communications would self-impose the PG standard. Padberg made clear that she’d keep an eye on Channel 39 and its programming.

So, though the contentious part of 6.1 was tabled, essentially, Padberg got what she wanted. Lang suggested that the PG change smacked of “censorship,” and I’d have to agree.

As near as I can tell, the status quo is that Saddleback College’s Channel 39 and Irvine Valley College’s Channel 33 must now restrict broadcasts to PG productions. If they don’t there will be hell to pay. Fierce Padbergian hell. No one wants that.

This, I think, is very bad. According to some of the speakers on Monday night, the new broadcast restriction will diminish Saddleback’s celebrated program. Unfortunately, no one really elaborated on that point. I do wish they had.

I have suggested to IVC’s Academic Senate Cabinet that they consider agendizing discussion of the situation. (For all I know, Saddleback College's Academic Senate is already all over this. On Monday night, Bob certainly was.) We’ll see what happens.

REPUBLICANS BEFORE TRUSTEES. On Monday night, Board President Don Wagner mentioned two recent deaths. One was the passing of a local Republican—the husband of an OC fair board member—who died in December. Ron Young.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but Young seemed to have no connection to the district. He seemed to be, well, a Republican. And Wagner is a Republican. So there you go.

As you know, former trustee Joan Hueter—whom Wagner replaced in 1998—died last week. She is remembered by all as an unfailingly decent person. (See recent video.)

Near the start of Monday’s meeting, Don declared that it would be adjourned "in honor of" both Young and Hueter. (See video.)

Young might have been a great guy. But that dedication doesn’t make any sense to me.

WILLIAMS: BEAN SPILLAGE. As you know, John Williams is not the brightest bulb on the tree. Leave it to John to foul up “the spin” that the district is trying to put on Mathur’s terminatitude.

In his silly email, Mathur explained the situation: he had spoken with his family and they all decided that he should move on to further “professional challenges.” That is, he resigned. Voluntarily.

Wagner denied that Mathur was fired. (See.)
But in Tuesday's Register article, Brown Boy states: “…You work for an elected board and you need a majority of those board members to vote to keep you. In this case, the majority of the board felt they wanted to have a change, so they voted to.”

You mean the board voted Mathur gone? But then what's all this stuff about voluntary resignation?

(At his day job, Williams processes unclaimed corpses and their money.)

Did you notice? Evidently, Mathur lost retreat rights too!

They really want him gone.

From The conservative board majority