Sunday, January 3, 2010

Chancellor's opening session: expect announcements and boosterism

SOUNDS LIKE MATHUR BLATHER. My back is out but I still hope to make it to the Chancellor’s Opening Session on Wednesday. Gosh, anything could happen!

The special speaker for Wednesday morning’s event is Chris Harrington, a VP at Toshiba America Information Systems. According to the inservice schedule BLURB, he plans to talk about the importance of innovation and education “in creation of intangible wealth through governance, accountability and corporate social responsibility as we prepare the workforce of tomorrow.”

OK, that gets an F. Harrington must've taken one of Mathur's rhetoric courses at Argosy Clown College.

MR. GOP. I Googled Mr. Harrington’s name and I immediately came upon something called “Fundrace 2008” at the Huffington Post. I gather that “Fundrace” monitored campaign contributions during that election.

Mr. Harrington is down as having donated $33,500 to the Republican National Committee. Gosh. I think that means he’s a Republican. Like Mathur. (And Fuentes. And Wagner. And Williams. And Lang. And Padberg. And Milchiker. And Jay.)

Mathur and Harrington are pals because they each chair a committee (among eleven committees) of the Orange County Business Council (OCBC), which is a kind of county "Chamber of Commerce." Harrington chairs the “Workforce Development Committee” and Mathur chairs the “Community College Working Group.” So they probably also sit on the “chairs committee” together.

But what (you ask) is the OCBC? Well, it’s
the leading voice of business on important issues locally, regionally and nationally. The organization works to enhance Orange County’s economic development and prosperity to preserve a high quality of life.
… The Orange County Business Council serves pro-business interests so that the region's vibrant economy will continue to expand, bringing the benefits of prosperity to every corner of the county.
Naturally, they’ve got a “mission statement,” according to which the OCBC “represents and promotes the business community….”

That sounds mighty Republican.

MOVERS & SHAKERS. I scanned the website and found the usual suspects: the Irvine Company, Safeway/Vons, Disneyland Resort, the OC Realtors Association, and the big law firms such as Rutan and Tucker (the district used them in my First Amendment lawsuit; boy were they steamed when they lost) and Manatt Phelps and Phillips.

Manatt Phelps and Phillips—you remember them. They hired up-and-coming Republican star Jeffrey Nielsen, mentee of such bulwarks of GOP rectitude as Tom Fuentes and Michael Schroeder—and current head of the OC GOP, Scott Baugh, who got ‘im that job!

Jeff’s a pedophile. Just got out of prison.

He’s really into the Lord. Like his mentor Tom.

Which reminds me: will there be a prayer Wednesday morning?

Why don’t you show up and find out!

Weird Uncle Steve, living in obscurity



I’m glad that Steve Frogue has kept a low profile since he resigned from the SOCCCD board nine years ago. I always saw his rise and fall as an instance of the Peter Principle. His guff was OK for as long as he was talking to his pals down at the lodge. But he was definitely not ready for the Spotlight—er, the spotlight.

I just Googled his name and it popped up in a church newsletter, where we are told of his “micro-grooming” of Lake Forest—i.e., his routine of picking up trash (see). Evidently, when the city refused to take responsibility for some of it, he bagged the trash and threw it into City Hall. Something like that.

But he didn’t blame it on the ADL or the Academic Senate; and he didn’t hold a press conference or a pancake prayer breakfast.

He popped up this morning in a little OC Register story about an IVC Emeritus creative writing course in Lake Forest (Writers: Living life all over again).

There’s a photo. Yep, that's our Steve. But he’s not quoted.

Good for you, Steve.

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...