Don's competition

.....With regard to trustee Don Wagner’s bid for the 70th AD seat, as someone who cares about the future of the SOCCCD, I just don’t know what I want to happen. I’m not sure losing Don on the board of trustees—a necessary consequence of Don’s securing the Assembly office—would be a good thing for the district. Somebody's gotta stand up to Pontificus Maximus.
.....So how is Don doing? I’m not sure. Don’s chief competition (among Republicans) seems to be Steven Choi of Irvine. So how is Choi doing?
.....Today, the always mediocre Matt Cunningham of Red County posted about Choi: AD70 Watch: Steven Choi's Campaign Goes 'Round The Bend.
.....The gist seems to be that Choi’s new campaign literature highlights the endorsement of anti-Republican gadfly Art Pedroza, who rants and spews indecorously over at the popular “Orange Juice” blog.
.....So what?
.....So, says Cunningham, Pedroza is so toxic that “Whatever pretense Choi has to respectability has been flushed down the figurative toilet.”
.....Choi’s campaign, says Matt, has gone “insane.”

Hair in the butter

COWBOY LINGO FOR A SATURDAY MORNING

....OK, cowpokes. It’s pretty clear that Tom Fuentes was raised on prunes and proverbs. Meanwhile, Don Wagner tends to be all horns and rattles. Still, I’ve gotta say that, at this here ranch, Raghu Mathur has been clouding the trail and generally making it a town with hair on it, and somebody just had to put a stop to it.
....Well, yipeekiyay! –That Gooey varmint will soon leave Cheyenne and that’s ‘cuz the Gooster got all swollen like a drowned horse and so Dandy Don took out his cutter full o' beans. But Goo was too slow to live, and it’s been hair in the butter ever since. The sooner he decorates a cottonwood (chancellorwise), the sooner every bull around these parts can take his tail off the dashboard and go back to carryin’ the dang thing. Then, finally, we can go back to the tall grass, cuz this gang of waddies has been narrow at the equator for a coon’s age.

....(–Still, when Goo finally cuts his suspenders, it'll be as hot as a whorehouse on nickel night around these parts! Yippee!)

.....It’s a great day here in Orange County. We had a little breeze for a while, but that’s settled down. The air is cool, the sky is bright. Chirp, chirp.
.....Living out in the country, you hear lots of sounds, and after a while you don’t pay attention to them anymore, but, this morning, just below my bedroom window, something was rustling, and it seemed to be big.
.....Even that wasn’t enough to get me up to have a look. I was reading the news on my laptop. I couldn’t be bothered. (My sister has often claimed to see UFOs at night—right there below my window. I pay no mind to that either.)
.....But the sounds continued. Sounded like a very large creature walking around. And then the sound got more complicated, as if there were several creatures, all large. So, finally, I got up and checked out these noisemakers.
.....Cows. Three of ‘em. Big cows. I see cattle all the time along El Toro Road, and sometimes along Live Oak Canyon, but you get the wrong idea about their size unless you get up close. They’re huge. Each cow had its own colony of flies. I could see ‘em buzzin’.
.....One of them varmints was especially large. Maybe he was a bull. Dunno. He seemed to be in charge.
.....I said hello to the cows from my balcony, and they didn’t like that much, so they started to wander down the dirt road behind my place down to the rock bridge and the canyon entry. It's not far from old Hamilton Trail.
.....Then the cowboys showed up.
.....“You seen some cows?”
.....“Yep. Three of ‘em. They’re headed down the canyon, toward the road.”
.....“Good! That’s what we want.”
.....I nodded.

That got me interested in cowboy lingo. I found an old article from the Corpus Christi Caller Times (There was nothing like cowboy lingo) that offered some examples, including these (here is a fuller lexicon):

• On a trail drive, every man had to do his own job or, as a cowboy would put it, every bull had to carry his own tail.
• A man in a fit of temper was all horns and rattles.
• Someone who was confusing the situation, or getting in the way, was clouding the trail.
• A farmer was someone who turned the grass upside-down.
• A man with a big ego was swollen up like a drowned horse.
• Someone overly pious was raised on prunes and proverbs.
• A depressed cowhand was down in his boots or had his tail over the dashboard.
• A hungry waddy [cowboy] was narrow at the equator.
• A delicate situation was hair in the butter.
• A wild cowtown was a town with hair on it.
• A loaded gun was a cutter full of beans.
• Someone killed in a gunfight was too slow to live.
• To be hanged was to decorate a cottonwood….
• Someone departing for other places was leaving Cheyenne.

All I gotta do is loan myself one hundred grand

.....Today, Tracy Wood of the Voice of OC gave us the low down on campaign cash reports, including those for Treasurer candidates. Naturally, denizens of the SOCCCD want to know how our own Dave "Quisling" Lang is doing:

Campaign Cash Reports: Sheriff's and Treasurer's Races

.....Candidates in the June 8 primary were required to file campaign reports by yesterday for all money raised and spent as of May 22. Here are the numbers turned in by candidates for Orange County … treasurer/tax collector.
.....Huntington Beach Treasurer Shari Freidenrich raised $85,806.09, including $54,000 in loans she made to her campaign. She spent, as of May 22, $83,697.68 and reported a cash balance of $29,828.91 and outstanding debts of $81,720.50.
.....CPA David Lang received $118,300.22 and spent $108,835.15. His contributions included loans totaling $102,073.08 he made to his own campaign. He ended the reporting period with cash of $17,448.76 and outstanding debts of $110,056.66.
.....Deputy Treasurer Keith Rodenhuis raised $9,690.00 and spent $34,109.78. His ending cash balance was $422.20, and campaign debts totaled $25,041.98.

.....As we reported earlier (here), trustee Don Wagner, who is running for 70th AD, loaned his campaign $122,000. No word yet on whether he's paid himself back. If he's a true fiscal conservative, of course, he will not be in debt to himself for long.

UPDATE: Candidates for Local Offices Are Digging Deep into Their Own Pockets (Voice of OC; May 31)

Joe Arpaio endorses Don Wagner

From DISSENT the BLOG

.....According to Zorro (?) over on the Orange Juice Blog, Don Wagner, candidate for 70th Assembly District (and SOCCCD trustee), has been endorsed by Tea Party hero Joe Arpaio: Mexican hater Joe Arpaio endorses Don Wagner for the 70th Assembly District.
.....According to the Z-Man, “As if there weren’t already plenty of reasons NOT to vote for Don Wagner, the knuckle-dragger Republican running in the GOP primary, over in the 70th Assembly District, now we have one more. Wagner has announced that he has the support of Mexican-hating Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.”
.....From Wagner's campaign website:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Endorses Wagner for Assembly
“America’s Toughest Sheriff”
. . .
.....“I’m proud to support Don Wagner, a strong advocate for law and order and a common-sense conservative leader,” said Arpaio in giving his support to Wagner.. . .
.....Sheriff Joe is known around the country for his toughness and we need that kind of toughness in Sacramento if we are going to change things,” said Wagner. “Decades of mindless spending has created a fiscal mess that continues to destroy our state’s economy. You can bet I am going to approach our spending problem the way Sheriff Joe approaches law enforcement.”

SEE Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Reign of Terror Becomes Arizona State Policy, Thanks to State Senator Russell Pearce and Governor Jan Brewer (OC Weekly)

The long and lurid FUENTESization of the SOCCCD

.....Politics do get complicated.
.....Circa 1998-1999: Back during the days of the Frogue recall—a project fueled by the notion that the trustee was a Holocaust denier—the chair of the state GOP, Mike Schroeder, came in from out of left field (er, right field) to support us. We were glad to get his support, though it made for some weird parties. (See State GOP joins Recall Effort.)
.....Why did he do that? Was it mere politics? Was it an action born of conviction? Despite Schroeder’s wily reputation, I do believe it was the latter. For his action, Schroeder caught a lot of flak within the party. He didn’t remain state chair for long.
.....The recall people gathered a very impressive number of signatures—over 30,000. Still, the number fell short of what was required.
.....Then, in the summer of 2000, Frogue suddenly resigned. To everyone’s amazement, the board selected Tom Fuentes, county GOP kingpin, as Frogue’s replacement.

The Lang people meet with the Fuentes people:

.....I was a part of the core group that, in the election of 2000, promoted the (trustees race) slate of Bob Loeffler, Trustee Dave Lang, Bill Shane, and Bill Hochmuth. As I recall, Loeffler was up against Tom Fuentes, Hochmuth was up against John Williams, Shane was up against Dot Fortune (who later resigned from the board amid a cloud of suspicion that she was no longer a county resident), and Lang was up against a guy named Davis.
.....Despite our efforts—I think we did a good job—that election went to hell in a handbasket; only Lang, the incumbent, prevailed. Voters were (and are) brainless.
.....At some point—just after the election, I think—the Fuentes people asked to meet with reps of the Lang people. Our guy with connections, Don R, was selected for the meeting. But (as I recall) Fuentes’ crew asked that I participate, too. (When Fuentes was selected to replace Frogue, I was quoted in the OC Register as saying that “we’ve replaced a crude Neanderthal with a slick one”—or something like that. Fuentes remembered.) So off we went to somebody’s fancy office somewhere.
.....The idea seemed to be that some sort of give and take was possible. –You know: “What can I do to get us past all this hostility?” –that sort of thing. We didn’t go there just to hang out with the rich and powerful.
.....I’m not sure (memory fails me), but I think removing Raghu Mathur as IVC President was high on our list of desiderata. I can’t imagine what would have been higher. ("World peace" maybe.)
.....A secretary led us into some sort of conference room with a long table. At the far end of the table, sitting comfortably, was Tom Fuentes, who, at that point, had been the chair of the county GOP for maybe 15 years. I remember that he had some kind of pink butterfly button on his lapel.
.....Standing next to him was Mike Schroeder, who either was (or who had just been) the state GOP chair. I don't think he ever sat down.
.....Don and I talked and talked. Schroeder said a few things. (A year earlier, he had sent me a thank-you note for my efforts to bring down Steven Frogue.) Fuentes smiled. He hardly said a thing.
.....Maybe then—but probably later—it occurred to me that we were spilling our guts and Fuentes was giving us exactly nothing.
.....That was my first taste of local realpolitik. Whatever Schroeder had in mind, Fuentes arranged for the meeting entirely for the purpose of scoping us out. He had no intention of working with us in any way. I remember the smile. Always the smile.
.....Deception, exploitation, machination: these are the contents of Tom Fuentes’ political toolbox.

The Fuentesization of the SOCCCD:

.....Nowadays, Fuentes’ most loyal ally on the SOCCCD board is—Dave Lang! As you know, Lang was turned about five years ago when he got the notion to become the county Treasurer/Tax Collector.
.....And there, only a few feet away, sat Tom Fuentes: wheeler and dealer, local kingmaker.
.....It had looked like the days of Raghu Mathur's curious ascendency were numbered; Mathur's support had dwindled to only 3 of the 7 trustees. But then Dave Lang, Mr. Goo's greatest detractor, became the Goo's greatest champion! WTF! 
.....And the rest is history. 
.....At Monday’s board meeting, when the question of whether to set aside $2 million for continued efforts to defend the board’s promiscuous prayerfulness came up, who was there, sans argument, to vote for the expenditure?
.....Why, that would be Dave Lang! –I say "sans argument" because the only “argument” he offered was an ad hominem: the suggestion that critics of the expenditure are “disingenuous.”
.....But I know Dave. I’ve been watching him since 1996. I worked closely with him on campaigns. Of all the trustees, in his heart, he is the least supportive of the often sectarian prayers that have become the norm in the SOCCCD. He used to be explicit about this.
.....And now? This self-discribed “fiscal conservative” is happy to spend $2 million toward an end which, if achieved, would do absolutely nothing to improve the colleges. And he doesn't even bother with arguments.
.....Why, he's been Fuentesized!
.....Fuentes has been busily Fuentesizing the board since he arrived there in 2000. Despite the lack of any qualifications, in 2002, trustee John Williams secured a minor political office that, somehow, he immediately parlayed into a substantial one, with all the trimmings. Soon, trustee Nancy Padberg was working with Williams down at the County, bossing people around. Meanwhile, trustee Don Wagner made two bids for 70th AD—and he got a big boost from Fuentes this go round, until their Mathurian falling out late last year. Until the bitter end, Sheriff Mike Carona would grace Irvine Valley College with his potent America's Sheriffitude once or twice a year. (You shoulda seen the groupies.) Trustee Lang, of course, is running for Treasurer, and he’s got Fuentes’ full backing, now that Tom’s boy Chriss Street is dog meat (Mr. Family Man turned out to be very Fuentean).
.....Fuentes even tried to finagle an appointment as California’s Secretary of Education for Raghu Mathur, though that got kiboshed. And on it goes.

* * * * *

“Republicans have been frustrated with the [GOP] central committee establishment because they refused to go against Mike Carona long, long after we knew he was a serious problem,” said [Mission Viejo Tea Partier Mark] Dobrilovic. “That was astounding! And then they refused to give a vote of no-confidence in Sheriff [Sandra] Hutchens when they should have after she did some stupid things like take on gun rights and bring an LA mentality to the department.”

—From OC Weekly’s Tea Time! Will the boiling-mad tea-party crowd sweep sheriff's candidate Bill Hunt to victory?

.....The crowd that engineered the Party’s endorsement of Carona in the last election was—you guessed it!—Mike Schroeder’s crew, associated with Tom Fuentes.
.....It is worth mentioning, however, that that endorsement overturned an earlier decision not to endorse the reckless fellow. Schroeder’s crew finagled the endorsement, to the chagrin of many on the Central Committee. That hurt the crew’s standing.
.....Then Carona went down. And then Street went down. And now we’ve got this Tea Party mob, which might just vote in their candidate: Bill Hunt, pal of Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Where the boys aren't

.

Men's Share of College Enrollments Will Continue to Dwindle, Federal Report Says (Chronicle of Higher Education)

“Women now account for a disproportionate share of the enrollments of higher-education institutions at every degree level and are likely to become an even more dominant presence on campuses over the coming decade, according to results of a study released today by the U.S. Education Department….”

At Saddleback College, women account for 59% of students. At IVC: 58%.

The Humanities Go Google (Chronicle of Higher Education)

“…at Stanford, legal and technical headaches may be worth the sweeping rewards of becoming one of perhaps two places in the world to host the greatest digital library ever built. The university is planning to chase that prize—and the prestige, recruitment power, and seminal research that could come with it. So is HathiTrust, a digital library consortium whose leaders include the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Indiana University at Bloomington, and the University of California system….”

Was Raghu gonna take his ball and go home?

.....

.....I talked to a friend today who possibly shed light on one of the odd rumpuses of Monday night’s turbulent SOCCCD board meeting.
.....On the agenda for Monday’s powwow was an important discussion of ATEP, that eternal lead balloon.
.....Trustees Milchiker and Padberg (et al.) decided to table the item—until July.
.....Why until July? Well, Mathur will be around for the June BOT meeting, but not for the July meeting. It seems, therefore, that they didn’t want Mathur in the discussion. How come?
.....Mathur’s always been ATEP’s biggest booster. (It was supposed to be his ticket to Mt. Rushmore.) And the Saddleback Academic Senate ATEP report—which was sent to trustees prior to the meeting—seems pretty anti-ATEP. So I figured these trustees wanted to shut out Mathur so he wouldn’t insist on promoting the dang thing.
.....There’s one big problem with that theory though. The only trustee (maybe Lang, too) who sought to block tabling the item (i.e., who sought to let Mathur squawk) was Fuentes, and Fuentes has always been the most anti-ATEP trustee. Why would Fuentes vote to float something that he wants to sink?
.....What I was told today makes more sense. Mathur was shut out because he was gonna torpedo ATEP.
.....Why would he do that?
.....Guess.
.....That’s right. If Mathur’s not gonna be around for realization of the ATEPaloola, then NOBODY’S gonna be around for that.
.....Well, that’s the story. Buy it?

Random Dissentecdotes:

• From Religion Dispatches magazine:

“Donald Wagner, president of the Board of Trustees, took offense to their offense. So, in response to the complaints, he threw what amounted to a public hissy fit cloaked as religious observance at the 2008 scholarship award….”

• From Dedicating the RR Board of Trustees Room:

“Tom [Fuentes] said he ‘enjoyed the warmth of [Ronald Reagan's] smiles’ adding ‘I still miss him.’”

Dissent the Blog is—influential? Guess so!

.....

.....Dissent the Blog is listed on BlogNetNews/California.
.....To be honest, I don’t quite know what BlogNetNews (BNN) is. I know that it lists recent posts by a set of political blogs. It does appear that all of the major state political blogs can be found on BNN.
.....I vaguely remember reading about this thing when it started up about three years ago. “Sounds good,” I said. I joined it. I told Rebel Girl. She said, “Huh? What are you talking about?”
.....“I dunno,” I said. “Maybe it will help readership.”
.....But here’s the thing. According to BNN, Dissent the Blog is (right now) the seventeenth most “influential” political blog in California. That’s what it says on this page, and that page looks pretty dang authoritative.
.....And what (you ask) is “influence”? BNN explains:

BlogNetNews' Blogosphere Influence Rating combines a variety of data sets to determine which blogs are most powerfully influencing the direction of the California political blogosphere. The exact method BNN uses to calculate influence scores must remain proprietary in order to prevent attempts to game the system. BNN's methodology takes into account the fact that all Internet data is profoundly limited in its reliability by using multiple data sets that, when combined, reveal a fair picture of activity in the blogosphere.

.....See what I mean? Data sets. Proprietary. Gosh.
.....I did some looking, and it appears that we’ve been in the top twenty for two or three months. At one point, we were #12.
.....What does it all mean?
.....Dunno.
.....Rebel Girl just called me. She said:
....."That's great about our being #17. But there's something even better!"
....."What's that?"
....."We beat out those bozos over at Red County (OC). They're only #20!"

Video of Monday's wild board meeting: key moments

......

.....Go HERE. Look for the list of “archived videos.”
.....Click on “VIDEO” for the May 24 meeting.
.....The “streaming video” player should appear. (Mac users may want to use Firefox.)
.....JUMP TO:

Item 6.2 [esp. 50:42]
Spending $2 million in basic aid on "Westphal" legal defense
(Fuentes is among the last to speak. He says he hopes the district will "go after" those who brought the suit.)

Item 6.9
Discussion of classified personnel action—including one hire that inspired a heated exchange between Mathur and Wagner. Mathur bloviates re diminishment of Chancellor's role

Item 7.1
Discussion of “nepotism” at the SOCCCD

0:28:53 The faculty plaintiffs' ("Westphal" prayer complaint) public statement occurs (Margot/Claire, et al.)
1:09:50 Mathur speaks; it’s ugly
1:24:45 Here's where Fuentes does his best "Joe McCarthy" impersonation. He almost holds up that piece of paper. And it is a list. And he doesn’t care that lots of the people on the list have done nothing wrong. And he’s a tail-gunner. (Well, OK. I just made that up.)

UPDATE: on “going after” (discussion of item 6.2)

.....Marcia motions to separate out the part of the item requesting $2 million for legal defense in the prayer case. That occurs.
.....When the board gets to that part of the item, Marcia states that she pulled it (out of the rest of the item) to vote against it. She gives her reasons: Given that important services are being cut at the colleges, how can this large sum for defensive litigation be defended? (Note: the district's prevailing in the case would do nothing to improve the colleges or student services.)
.....Padberg explains that the action is only to set aside $2 million, not necessarily to spend it.
.....Lang then asserts: “I frankly find it somewhat disingenuous that the very folks who are speaking out about spending the money on this item are the same folks who are causing us to incur this amount of expense for the district. I’m gonna support the motion…”
.....Please note that Lang here commits a classic fallacy, namely, rejecting a view based on (alleged)  facts about the persons who hold it (ad hominem). Also, note that Lang’s point about disingenuousness in no sense addresses the point that Milchiker had just made—a point that Lang acknowledges he is sympathetic to. Note, too, that Milchiker is untouched by Lang’s ad hominem, for she is not among those who brought the suit.
.....Fuentes then says:

“It is my intent to support the setting aside of these funds. I think it is the only responsible action this board can take, to be prepared. I believe that our district will wiiiiiiin this case. I hope that we will pursue it with all aggressive action that we can take. And I hope that we can go after [51:10] those who have caused the district to spend this money and win the repayment of these attorney fees.”

.....I suppose that critics of our "prayer" lawsuit will claim that, in referring to “those who have caused the district to spend this money,” Fuentes is referring, not to the plaintiffs who had just spoken (and to whom trustee Lang just referred in his comment about "disingenuousness”), but to the organization Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AUSCS), who are providing the legal team for the suit.
.....But of course AUSCS are not the plaintiffs in this case.
.....I do hope that Mr. Fuentes will clarify his remarks, which could easily be interpreted as his hoping the board/district will “go after” those who have in fact caused the district to be sued, namely, the plaintiffs, which include faculty, students, and members of the community.
.....Further, Fuentes’ defenders will insist that Fuentes was referring only to “going after” specifically in the sense of gaining repayment of attorney fees. Perhaps. But given the supreme ugliness and wrongness of the notion that he seeks to “go after” those who brought this suit (plaintiffs), I think he needs to be very clear and specific about just who and how he wants to pursue this project of "going after."  --RB

More timecard shell games

.....

.....A friend sent me an article in today’s LA Times regarding fraud in various areas of government in LA County: L.A. County auditors find widespread fraud. According to the article,

Los Angeles County auditors substantiated 101 instances of fraud during the last six months of 2009, uncovering cases large and small in which taxpayers were cheated, according to a report released Wednesday. ¶ The latest report was unusual because it found misconduct that touched the highest levels of the Fire Department and the office of the county's chief executive, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraud.

.....In some instances, employees were viewing internet pornography—a problem that has arisen on several occasions here at Irvine Valley College.
.....But there were more serious findings—for instance, that “Three senior Fire Department managers played golf during county work hours but claimed a full day on their timecards, according to investigators. One of the employees also recorded overtime for that day, the report said.”
.....As in the case of John Williams, in this case, officials provided a dust storm of odd explanations and excuses:

.....Two of the employees were not disciplined because at the time, Fire Department rules allowed them to report they had worked full shifts if they worked at least one hour, a practice that has since been changed.
.....Fire Chief Michael Freeman said all employees involved had worked extra hours on other days, and he disputed the auditors' findings….

.....As you know, recently, we reported that trustee John Williams turned in timesheets to the county (re his job as OC Public Administrator and Public Guardian) that indicated that he had worked on days when in fact he was junketeering (often, in Florida) as a college trustee. This was explained essentially as an unavoidable artifact of the alleged complexity of Williams’ position as both an elected official and an appointed official.
.....We are in possession of further records and will be reporting about them in future.

Saddleback's Rajen Vurdien gets while the gettin's good

.....

Fullerton College appoints new leader (OC Reg)

.....Rajen Vurdien has been appointed the eighth president of Fullerton College, according to a release from the school.
.....He starts in office July 19.
.....The North Orange County Community College District board appointed Vurdien Tuesday night
....."Because of his personal background, he fully understands the challenges and hopes of so many young people entering community colleges," said Board President Michael Matsuda in a prepared statement.
....."I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead Fullerton College," said Vurdien, in the same release. "These are exciting times, as Fullerton College will be celebrating its 100th anniversary over the next two years."
.....A native of the island nation of Mauritius, Vurdien came to the United States in 1985 from China, where he ran language programs and taught English for the United Nations.
.....Vurdien also spent six years as the director of graduate programs in education at Gwynedd Mercy College outside of Philadelphia, the release states.
.....He worked at Long Beach City College and Long Island University and was appointed vice president for instruction at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo in 2004. He's leaving that position to take over at Fullerton.

May SOCCCD board meeting VIDEO available noon tomorrow

.
.....I'm told that streaming video of the May board meeting will be "up" by noon tomorrow (Thursday).

Peabody's Improbable History: the SOCCCD and cronyism, 2003 and 2000

...
1. Driving Through the Valley of Malls, OC Weekly, March 27, 2003 (Matt Coker)

SSSSSSMACK!

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 [viz., Teddi Lorch]—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.

2. “David Lang…alleges cronyism in college district,” Irvine World News, June 2000

David Lang...told his colleagues Monday he objects to the continued recruitment of friends and political allies for jobs in the district…The trustee said he was appalled at the lack of ethics he contends is damaging the reputation of the district. “One can only hope we can avoid being dubbed the Tammany Hall community college district,” Lang said.

The Morning Matinée: Rebel Girl Meets the Book Burner (2 minutes)

.....
.....One in the series of short films documenting special moments in the college's (Irvine Valley College's) history.
.....Here Rebel Girl is approached by one of IVC's own: the "idea" guy.


.....To read the original account of this episode, see "Hey Kids! Let's put on a Book Burning!" (2007)

Other films in the series:
.....• IVC: faculty banned from discussing the war (2003)
.....• Tom interviewed for “OC Insider” (2010)
.....• Dissent wins in Federal Court, 1999

Jack Scott’s Kaplan deal: “we were not consulted”

.....

In this morning’s Inside Higher Ed: California's Deal With Kaplan

.....Last fall, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office announced what some perceived as a partial solution to the budget-related enrollment restrictions that threatened to disrupt the educational plans of many students. Under a memorandum of understanding with Kaplan University, students at certain community colleges would be able to take specific online courses – at a steep discount off the for-profit institution's normal tuition rates, though still paying significantly more than they would at their own college – with the assurance that the credits would transfer back to their home institutions, allowing them to stay on track to earn an associate degree.
. . .
… A standard three-credit online course at Kaplan costs $1,113, and a discounted three-credit course there costs California students $645. By comparison, a three-credit course at a California community college costs a mere $78....
. . .
.....Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California, ...doubts that the single-course option at Kaplan will appeal to many of the state's community college students.
. . .
.....Lay believes the deal is an unfortunate consequence of the state’s disinvestment in public higher education in recent years. He noted that it was perceived as one of the few options – though not an ideal one – to keep the path to degree completion open for some students.
. . .
.....“I know [Chancellor Jack Scott's] heart was in the right place when he made this agreement, but we’re just not convinced this is the right way to do it,” [Jane Patton, president of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges] said. “The initial concern faculty had with the [memorandum of understanding] was that we were not consulted when it was written....(Continued)

Pictured: Scott with IVC President Glenn Roquemore, Friday

"The role of the chancellor has been diminished," gripes Raghu

.....

.....—Back to last night's meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees.
.....Item 6.9 was “classified personnel actions.” According to the agenda, “The Chancellor recommends that the Board of Trustees approve/ratify the classified personnel actions as shown in Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
.....Among the elements of Exhibit A was this:

BUGAY, PATTI is to be employed as Senior Administrative Assistant, Pos #3224, Division of Fine Arts and Media Technology, Saddleback College, Classified Bargaining Unit Salary Range 127, Step 1, 40 hours per week, 12 months per year, effective May 10, 2010. This is a replacement position for Yvonne Price, who retired.

.....The usual suspects drew attention to this. Saddleback Prez Burnett stated (I think) that this hire occurred without “undue influence” by VC of HR Bugay. (My advice to the Bugay family: work on your timing.)
.....The trustees learned that Ms. Bugay has already begun to work for the district.
.....Trustee Nancy Padberg defended the hire. It was carried out within the proper guidelines, she said. And Ms. Bugay will not report to the Vice Chancellor.
.....Trustee Tom Fuentes remarked that it was unfortunate that they had been apprised of these appointments after the hires had already begun work. That fact, he said, means that the board’s actions are “inconsequential.”
.....He took the opportunity to bring up “nepotism.” Oddly, he did not mention that he is and has always been the unchallenged King of Cronyism (cronyism, you'll observe, is a close cousin of nepotism) and that some of his cronies work for the district, making a damned good salary, given their, um, attainments.
.....Nepotism, Fuentes said, is a long-existing situation in the district. There are numerous family ties among employees. (Note: the existence of family ties in a work environment is not ipso facto nepotism. Nepotism, like cronyism, is an act of favoritism that violates the principle that the best candidate deserves the job.) He said that the board has an obligation to “our community,” especially in “these times,” to have the most open hiring process possible! It is “troubling to me,” he said, that “family hiring” continues. (Fuentes' blindness to his hypocrisy is epic!) We need, he added, to avoid the perception, and not just the reality, of this sort of situation. It carries “with the electorate and the community, significance,” said Fuentes, using his distinctive syntax.

Enter Raghu

.....That’s when Mathur weighed in. He recalled how, over the years, the board had been very concerned about the hiring of relatives. "Upon reflection," he now said, he finds that, though in this case there is an appearance of a “clean” process, ...
.....—This is where Mr. Goo seemed to come off the rails.
.....He then stated that he was aware of “two cases” in which an “impropriety” by the Vice Chancellor of HR was reported to him! (As near as I could tell, these cases had nothing to do with the Patti Bugay hire.)
.....Wagner interrupted him. Are you alleging impropriety? he asked.
.....“I stand by the comment I made,” said Raghu.
.....Wagner asked again. Same response.
.....Marcia noted that Chancellor Mathur had recommended approval of these hires. That’s what item 6.2 says. Why did you put this forward for approval? asked Marcia. Why did you do that only to present these concerns at the “eleventh hour”?
.....“I’m glad you bring that up,” said Raghu. He launched into his big moment.
.....“The role of the chancellor has been diminished,” he declared. In recent months, he said, if the Chancellor asks any questions, then he is accused of micromanagement. So, he said, “I just started approving” everything. "Go for it," he would say.
.....Mathur finished by stating that the board will “confuse the heck out of the new chancellor” unless it has a discussion about, and gets clear about, the chancellor’s role.
.....Only Fuentes voted against 6.2.

* * * * *

With time, all things become clear

.....I should mention that one of the people who availed himself of the opportunity to make public comments at last night’s meeting was a student named Sam Deviana(?) who sported an accent that I could not identify. He said he objected to the trustees’ invocations/prayers, appealing to the notion of the separation of church and state. Indeed, he quoted Thomas Jefferson at length and explained the ideal of “secular” government, which, he said, is not against religion; rather, it is religiously neutral. He said, appealing perhaps to American egalitarianism and the notion of equal rights, that the government should do nothing to exclude people—e.g., those with a minority faith or, I suppose, no faith at all.
.....Sometimes immigrants can see who we are more clearly than natives can.
.....If we are unchallenged, we tend to lose grasp of our own principles over time. That is why, argued John Stuart Mill, it is useful always to have people around to challenge us, to say "no" to what we view as self-evident. That forces us to recall and understand the grounds for our beliefs.
.....During his report, trustee Tom Fuentes mentioned the recent veterans memorial dedication. Speaking in sentences encumbered with Fuentean syntax, the fellow declared that it was an event “of prayer and patriotism.” He said this as though he were the narrator of a patriotic newsreel, circa 1938.
.....He urged everyone to vote on June 8. At least he didn’t tell us who to vote for.
.....In his report, Dave Lang, for many years Raghu Mathur’s fiercest detractor (his embrace of Mathurism was shockingly sudden!), sang the praises of the Chancellor’s retirement party down at the Balboa Bay Club and Rat Bastard Depository. It was, he said, a great event, a wonderful opportunity to honor Mathur for “all of his incredible contributions and accomplishments over the years.”
.....Does Dave imagine that we take him seriously?
.....The new student trustee, Eve Shieh, said that she hoped that “we can have a fun year.”
.....Evidently, she has never been to a board meeting.

.....The June board meeting—Raghu's last—promises to be a doozy

Don's new campaign literature

.....
.....Over on Red County, the always uninspired Matt Cunninghham has posted links to Don Wagner's new campaign literature. Check it out.



.....Naturally, I'm deeply hurt that Don has chosen to abandon use of my fabulous quotation about him. But politics is nothing if not ruthless, I guess.



.....Also, just in case anyone cares, here's Dave Lang's candidates statement re his run for OC Treasurer/Tax Collector:

TREASURER-TAX COLLECTOR
NAME: DAVID B. LANG AGE: 56
OCCUPATION: Trustee, South Orange County Community College District

.....As a Certified Public Accountant, founding shareholder of HBLA, and a 14-year elected Trustee of SOCCCD, I have worked as a fiscal conservative to assure the rock solid financial condition of our district. I have served multiple terms as Board President. Our board oversees a $435 million budget with multimillion reserves and minimal debt.
.....As an owner in a CPA firm these past 25 years, I also know the challenges of operating a business and making tough decisions.
.....As Treasurer, I would be a principled leader, who believes in reducing the size of government and opposing tax increases. My proven decision-making and financial skills, would enable me to effectively work with county leadership.
.....I have been very active in the community: on the National Board of Governors of American Jewish Community; Past President of IVC Foundation, the Rotary Club of Santa Ana, and AJC; and other organizations.
.....I earned a Bachelors in Accounting Summa Cum Laude from Pennsylvania State University and Masters in Business Taxation from the University of Southern California.
.....My wife of 15 years, Julia, and I reside in Irvine. I pledge to you my commitment to the safety of taxpayer funds and ask for your vote.

The May board meeting: Fuentes wants to "go after" prayer plaintiffs

.....

.....Gonna make this quick. I’ll have more details tomorrow. (See also Tracy's board meeting highlights.)
.....Marcia Milchiker announced that the dependable and popular Dixie Bullock was appointed interim Chancellor. She’ll start July 1. People cheered.
.....Normally, during the passing of “resolutions” (about the wonderfulness of, say, the successful women's tennis team) the board Prez and the Chancellor do the presenting together over by the podium off to the right. Tonight, however, Don Wagner presented alone. As he walked to the podium, he said, “the chancellor has declined to join me.” It appeared that this was Mathur’s choice, not Wagner’s.
.....Mathur's hostility toward board President Wagner was palpable. Mathur appeared disgruntled throughout the meeting. At one point, his hostility flared hideously, as I will later explain.
.....Two students made public comments opposing the board’s practice of prayer/invocations. One of these students appeared to be Middle Eastern.
.....The faculty plaintiffs of the “Westphal” invocation complaint read a statement, urging the board not to spend more money defending their actions, etc. (We all stood together; Margot and Claire took turns reading the 4-minute statement.)
.....Tom Fuentes mentioned the recent celebration of Raghu Mathur’s career and alleged contributions to education. Naturally, it was held at the Balboa Bay Club and Center for the Advancement of Rich Assholes. I am confident that most people in the room viewed the event as some sort of joke or perverse ritual of power. As Tom spoke, the Twilight Zone theme could be heard, faintly. Or maybe it was the Outer Limits.
.....Trustees fell all over themselves praising the recent Veterans Memorial opening, which, by all accounts, was very successful and well-attended. Dave Lang felt the need to explain why he did not attend. At that moment, he said, he was in Washington, D.C. introducing Congressman Ed Royce at a dinner.
.....He said this as though it were not obvious to everyone in the room that he was in Washington to promote his political career. As you know, Mr. Lang would even betray his supporters for a chance at grabbing the brass ring. He tells voters that he has "integrity."
.....Mathur introduced the new student trustee, Eve, who seemed nice. Mathur declared that he was all over her (mentoring and such) and he has determined (he said forcefully) that she is “one heck of a person.”
.....We stared at him.

ATEP discussion tabled to avoid pesky goo

.....The discussion item (4.1) concerned the inevitable ATEP. The Saddleback College Academic Senate President, Bob C, had prepared a report and a letter. (I believe that he produced the report with Carmen D, the incoming Senate Prez.) The letter presented a recent SC Academic Senate action: to ask the board to commission a cost study before moving forward with ATEP. (To read the letter, go here.)
.....The idea seems to be that ATEP is an enormous money pit.
.....The letter mentioned such factoids as that, since 1999, the district has spent at least $23 million on ATEP. That is likely a very conservative figure. The net amount "committed to" ATEP is at least $46 million (it is probably much higher).
.....ATEP’s mission, says the letter, has changed 4 times in fewer than 8 years.
.....Several trustees (Milchiker, Padberg, et al.) sought to table 4.1 until July—perhaps because they did not want Mathur to have a significant voice in the discussion (he would likely defend pursuing a grander ATEP, i.e., he badly wants his Mt. Goomore).
.....4.1 was tabled, with Fuentes and Lang voting to the contrary. (Lang takes orders well, doesn't he?)

$2 million for legal defense re "Westphal"?

.....Item 6.2 was a recommendation concerning how to spend $13 million of basic aid money. As you know, included on the list of 6.2's proposed expenditures is $2 million for the district’s defense against the “Westphal” invocation complaint.
.....Marcia succeeded in dividing the question: the legal defense part was separated.

.....When they got to that matter, Marcia declared that she would vote against this expenditure. She noted the areas of great need throughout the district: counseling, etc. It sounded pretty grim. Under the circumstances, spending so much money defending trustee prayer didn’t make sense to her.
.....Most trustees, however, seemed inclined to vote in favor of the expenditure. They argued that setting aside this amount did not mean that it would be spent. Marcia spoke again, noting that, if we set aside a chunk of money for some purpose, then we’ll spend it all. Be realistic.

Fuentes wants to "go after" prayer plaintiffs

.....Finally, Fuentes spoke. He said that he supports setting aside these funds. It is the only responsible thing to do, he said. He declared that the district will win the case. He hoped that the district will pursue the defense “with all aggressive action that we can take.”
.....And then he said: he hoped that the district will “go after those who have caused” the district to defend itself in the courts. There was no doubt who those persons were. They had just addressed the board.
.....This was said with typical Fuentean sternness and unpleasantness. To me, it sounded like a threat against the "Westphal" plaintiffs. I was amazed. I was equally amazed that none of the trustees seemed to react to Fuentes’ curious statement. (Not sure about Marcia.)
.....I was stunned.
.....Luckily, board meetings are videotaped. In a few days, we can all see for ourselves exactly what Mr. Fuentes said and the manner in which he said it. [UPDATE: I'm told that the video should be up some time tomorrow, i.e., Wednesday.] The plaintiffs in "Westphal" include instructors, students, and members of the community. Fuentes wants to “go after” them.
.....Amazing.
.....Watcha gonna do?
.....Naturally, Fuentes imagines that the “Westphal” plaintiffs are mere wrongdoers, criminals. One should take stern action against them, of course, just as one should take stern action against thieves or murderers (or illegal immigrants!).
.....How can he be so dense? Naturally, the complaint itself is based on the plaintiffs’ sincere belief that the district has wronged them and those they represent—by imposing religion upon them, contrary to the values of our Constitution, which proscribes governmental establishment of religion. They did not suddenly sue the district: there had been discussions and efforts at comprise for years. (Why not a moment of silence?)
.....Then the district started showing "Jesus" videos.
.....Fuentes cannot understand this. He is a bully. He's about taking out the enemy, by hook or by crook. He’s about as ugly a person, morally, as I have ever encountered. Yep, worse than Mathur.

Mathur gets ugly, seems to make accusations

.....Later, there was a remarkably ugly episode involving Don Wagner and Raghu Mathur: their hatred for each other (or at least Mathur’s hatred for Wagner) suddenly flashed forth for all to see. In the course of a discussion about new hires, in which it was noted that the HR chief’s wife was hired for a job (because, we were assured, she was by far the committee's first choice), Mathur oddly spurt forth that two complaints about inappropriate action had come to him about that administrator. Inappropriate actions? Many in the audience were dumbstruck. These were stunning things to say at a public meeting. They were serious allegations.
.....Wagner stopped Mathur. Are you saying, here in a public meeting, he asked, that this man engaged in inappropriate actions?
.....Mathur refused to answer. “I stand by what I said.” Wagner wanted a simple “yes” or “no” answer.
.....He asked again. Mathur slithered anew.
.....Wow, it was way ugly. Mathur had lost it. He had crossed a line. Wagner gave a "so be it" look and then proceeded with the rest of the meeting.

Fuentes makes like Joe McCarthy

.....Later, during the discussion of the report on nepotism (the wrongful favoring of relatives in hires) and related employees, things got ugly again. I’ll say more about that tomorrow. But here’s the thing you’ve got to know: in this country, at least at a public institution, you can’t discriminate against somebody who wants a job just because they happen to be related to somebody somewhere in the organization. So says the law—and SOCCCD policy. In fact, there are no clear instances of nepotism that anyone can identify at the SOCCCD (according to Bugay's report, given known facts), and the rate of “related employees” in the SOCCCD is actually lower than the norm.
.....None of this mattered to Mr. Fuentes, who had no interest in facts or logic. He yammered about the taxpayers. He was tossing red meat. He had blood in his eyes.
.....Fuentes, like his hero the late Richard Nixon, is the kind of guy who lives in a world, not of opponents, but of enemies. He knows who his enemies are and he is determined to go after them.
.....He is the world’s ugliest man.
.....Why is he in a position of power and authority?

The Reg covers our commencements

.....

Reg caption: "Graduating student and professor Carmenmara Hernandez-Bravo holds a sign, protesting against the prayer during commencement."

.....• Graduates celebrate Irvine Valley Colleges 25th commencement (May 24)

.....• Saddleback College graduates almost 1,300 (May 23)

.....• IVC Commencement: platitudinous and sans hitch (May 22; DtB)

.....• The district's photos (May 25)

.....Evidently, the Reg photographer noticed protests at Saddleback College re our board's imposition of religion on the community.

IVC

Reg caption: "During the prayer at the Saddleback commencement, professors silently protest by holding up signs to "respect everyone's beliefs."

REPRISE (our very own "sideways story," starring Tom Fuentes as "Smokey" or "The Man in Black"):

Judging by his campaign video, John Williams is an idiot

.....

.....Here's John Williams' campaign video.
.....He's a clever one, that John Williams. In the video, he explains that, for seventeen years, he's been on the "Saddleback College Board." (See above.)
.....You'd think after all these years the fellow would know that the SOCCCD comprises Irvine Valley College, too, and not just Saddleback College. This has been true, of course, since 1985, when IVC became an autonomous college. (Between 1979-1985, the facility was an off-site location of Saddleback College.)
.....Check out Williams' campaign website here. If cornball patriotism were intelligence, Williams would be a very different man.

* * * * *

.....I did a little research. The board changed the name of the district from the "Saddleback Community College District" to the "South Orange County Community College District" in  March of 1997.
.....The trustee who suggested this particular name (i.e., SOCCCD) was John Williams.
.....At the time, some trustees opposed the change. Some opposed the new name. Trustee Joan Heuter noted that the district comprises Tustin and Irvine, and neither city is considered part of South OC.
.....She did not prevail.

* * * * *

.....According to the Lariat (4/10/97),

In a survey of 47 faculty, staff and community members by the district public information office, 17 said they did not want the name changed. ¶ Results from a Lariat survey in February indicated 50 percent of students opposed the change, with 12 percent supporting the new name as an option. ¶ Student government polls found 97 percent of Saddleback students and 75 percent of Irvine Valley students opposed the change.

.....The district has never been called "Saddleback College."

* * * * *

.....According to the district,

In the planning stages, the district was referred to as the South Coast Junior College District. At its March 13, 1967 meeting, the board named the new district Saddleback Junior College District…. Saddleback College was officially named by action of the board on February 26, 1968.…

* * * * * 

.....There are four candidates for OC Public Administrator. In her campaign, Colleen Callahan has noted Williams’ incompetence and unsuitability. Her campaign video is here. Her campaign website is here.