Monday, October 25, 2010

Tonight's meeting of the SOCCCD Board: live and direct!

Oct. 25:
7:15:
     It's 7:15 and at long last trustees are emerging from their Fortress of Solitude and Expensive Lunch Meat. First, only Board President Don Wagner emerges, looking grumpy? Not sure.
     Now I see trustees Jay, Williams, Padberg (I think)--aha! and now Temp Chancellor Dixie Bullock. They're staring at me! --Well, no, it turns out something's going on behind me and I don't dare look back there. Could be gunplay.
     Aha! There's Dave "Quisling" Lang, looking particularly beancounteresque. He's got one of those SOCCCD pins on 'im; looks like a dope.
     All of a sudden the place is hoppin' with besuited characters, including administrators, lawyers, trustees, and whatnot. An odd crew of middle-aged women are filling the back two rows. Don't know what that's about. Maybe the board's gonna do resolutions in celebration of old people. Could be.
     Back in a minute.
7:24
     Wagner and Marcia Milchiker are somewhere, not here. (Where's Tom Fuentes? I ain't smelled sulphur all night!) Wagner came and went. I've not spotted Milchiker at all.
     Aha! Wagner is preparing to enter the building. He's holding a side door open, speaking with Nancy Padberg. But where's Marcia? Don's disappeared again.
     A student government kid is telling me how much she likes the blog. "Yeah, we've been making trouble for, like, a long time," I blather. She giggles then gets serious. I tell her.... D'oh! The meeting's started.
7:27
Clerk (Marcia Milchiker) reading out actions taken in closed session:  6-0, Fuentes absent, decision to offer Gary Poertner the position of district chancellor, subject to approval of mutual agreement, blah, blah, blah.
     Also: 5-1 vote, Wagner voted no. Faculty placed on administrative leave. Some Saddlebackian, I think.
     JAY does the invocation: "dear heavenly Father..." --He gives thanks to the Lord for everything under the sun: student success, state money, wallpaper, etc.
     Next: resolution for Saddleback College Nursing Program. Those gals from the back rows all stand up there with Wagner and Bullock. I'll take a pic....
     Hmmmm.... Fuentes' absence is not explained. I think he's seriously pissed.
     Maybe his head will pop. Maybe it already popped. Suddenly, I'm feeling chirpy.

7:50
Public comments:
     Speaker: Kevin Muldoon (introduced as candidate for Don's trustee seat)
     Looks terribly young. I want to hand him a lollipop.
     Offers sweet nothings: congrats to colleges, etc.... Looks good though. Good hair.
     (Later, Don remembered to introduce P.J. Prendergast, too. Yes, he was sitting on the other side of the Reagan meeting room, completing a kind of Republican Axis dividing the room into hideous sectors.     I'm reminded that everyone is a Republican. I gnash my teeth.)

Board reports:
     Jay: congrats, blah, blah, blah
     Williams: congrats IVC blah blah
     Milchiker: I've been on the campaign trail. I've been bragging about how wonderful our district is. I like to say that I've done a wonderful job, but really everyone has done a wonderful job: faculty, classified, administrators.... It's not the trustees that make the school great, but the people who work here. Blah blah blah.
     Padberg and Williams Wagner share glances as Marcia proceeds with her blatantly blatant campaign speech.
     "Time," says Wagner, with wonderful ruthlessness.
     Padberg: Congrats to Gary P. He'll start in December. Want to recognize our Nursing Program. Just went through two accred site visits with positive results. Nancy offers sports blather....
     Wagner: all I'll do is add my congratulations. Yes, Poertner. I look forward to working with him--oh no, I'm outa here. I wish him luck anyway. (Har har)
     Lang: Chance. hire was convoluted process, he smirks, but it was a process that we did follow. Blah, blah, blah. My perception: Accred meeting went well. Team was impressed that they could talk with all the trustees. Imagine: all seven of 'em (I guess).
. . .
     Chancellor's report: attended both Accred exit interviews. Many commendations. Nursing program-- "from my roots." I know how hard they work.... Bramucci was in the paper and even in the Chronicle  of Higher Ed (Educause).

6.6 (Saddleback faculty hiring) is pulled off agenda--otherwise consent calendar: all approved (5.1 - 5.20)

6.1 ATEP responsibilities of colleges, district. Unanimous. (1 absence: Fuentes)
6.2 Pool deck. Unanimous.
6.3 ATEP demolition. Unanimous.
6.4 IVC REORG. Wagner notes that we don't have the entire org chart for IVC. Why not? Bullock: will have that next time. Bullock: no cost. No new positions. Wagner disagrees. Bullock: these are not HR items at this point. Wagner: shouldn't we have some idea of the cost of these items? Bullock: we can do that. Wagner: Saddleback has a more thorough presentation. They mention positive outcomes of reorg. Can we add that for IVC? "Sure," says Bullock.
     Padberg: what's the urgency? Should have more detail. Bullock: can get that. Lang: let's give the Prez an opportunity to give a rationale for reorg. Cost issues, ek-cetera ek-cetera (sheesh)
     IVC Prez Roquemore: funds will come from collapse (?) of other positions. (Gosh didn't we go over this last time?) One position is a replacement position. Wagner: any reason you didn't provide the full chart? Roquemore: I guess it's a difference in style between colleges. Wagner: "The style of giving us more info is better than the  style of giving us less."
     Whoa! Wagnerian hostility?
8:12
6.5 Saddleback College REORG. Burnett offers a pitch (or explanation). Seems very prepared to explain/defend changes. You know how he rattles on, rat-a-tat-tat. A gattling gun.
     Wagner: Saddleback has the least # of administrators in the state, but you do a great job. You've been planning ahead. You've got three positive outcomes here. "This is the kind of information that I'd like to see." Have constituent groups signed off on this?
     Carmen: yes, this has broad support across the college.
OK, I GET IT: TONIGHT, TOD IS THE GOOD PREZ AND GLENN IS THE BAD PREZ.
     Carmen: broad buy-in. We all agree that this is the way to go. We want to move forward. We're whistlin' a happy tune!
     Padberg: compliments Bullock on the presentation. More info on 1 page of Saddleback report than IVC had on 3 pages, she says. (I can't see Glenn's face, but he must be mortified.)
     Lang: want to agree that SC made a compelling argument for why SC needs "this position".
Yes, could be that SC is more efficient, as you say, --OR other institutions are less efficient. So saith Mr. Bean. (We regard him as we might regard a turd in a glass of milk.) 6-0
6.6 been pulled
6.7 Policy revision....
6.8 lots of policies. Approved, 6-1
6.9 Academic personnel actions, SOCCCD.
     Lang: some of these positions have staff that has already begun work. And here we are approving after the fact. Gosh, what's the policy?
     Bullock: Talked to Lorch today about that. (Lorch? I stop listening.) Lang: shouldn't this come before us before the person starts? Bullock: hard to do. Some boards meet twice a month. Blah blah blah. 6-0
6.10 6-0
6.11 6-0

7.1 college speakers.... the rest: bang, bang, bang


Written reports:
     Burnet: hiring Gary is beyond hunky-dorey. Gee wilikers. Phenomenally successful accred results. Board deserves credit for participation in visit. Burnet shows copy of strategic plan. (He talks too fast. He's starting to annoy me.) Wishes luck to all the buzzards in room running for office. Marcia smiles.
     Roquemore: Congrats to Gary Poertner. Very good choice. Accred visit. IVC set new standard for transparency and inclusiveness. (I'll say this: I sure was transparent.) Some frustration but blah, blah, blah. Thanks Gabriella and Rudmann. Congrats to sister college, and thanks for helping with 25th Celeb blah.
     Peebles: no report (Maybe he's pissed; no fucking wonder; he's the Demolition Man.)
     IVC Ac. Senate: we're thrilled that Gary's Chancellor. Pleased as punch
     Sadd. College Ac. Senate: a commendation for Burnet, his leadership. Etc. Thanked Bob Cosgrove, Buchet. Special thanks to Dave "Quisling" Lang. "We're so proud that he betrayed us." Chirp chirp
     Faculty Association: Fac. Assoc. wants to welcome Gary Poertner. Honest and ethical. Will be a wonderful chancellor.
     Saddleback College student gov. report: describes various activities.
     IVC: military service day. Multicultural day with over 20 clubs. "It was a blast."
8:30
CSEA: lots of thank yous.
etc. Thanks to Bugay. (I fall into a coma.)
Classified senate: accred meeting was "great."
8:36 -- adjourned.

     Kevin Muldoon, who's been sitting behind me all night, hands me his card, says he loves the blog. Wanna talk about policies and stuff, lemme know, he says. I'm friendly (and a bit surprised). Gosh.

Typical OC DA Corruption clearly on display

     Today, the OC Reg played catch-up (see Voice of OC) with its own story about DA Tony Rackauckas’ willingness to arrange for Republican crony Tom Harman to hang around the DA office for a couple of days so he can claim to be a “prosecutor.” Yeah, and then Rackauckas said he was “surprised.”

Harman sworn in, mostly no-show as DA volunteer (OC Reg)

     GOP state Sen. Tom Harman of Huntington Beach participated for only a few days of an eight-week program required of participants in the district attorney’s Trial Attorney Program, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
     Harman was sworn in as a deputy district attorney before beginning the program – then, without prosecuting a single case Harman tried to be identified as “Prosecutor/Attorney/Senator” on the ballot when he ran for state attorney general in June.
     Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley – who would prevail in the GOP primary for attorney general – sued Harman over the term “prosecutor.” A Sacramento judge sided with Cooley, ruling that because Harman had never tried a case he could not use prosecutor as part of his ballot designation. Harman was forced to remove the word prosecutor.
. . .
     The description of Harman’s brief participation in the Trial Attorney Program were made by Rackauckas last Wednesday during a sit-down with reporters to discuss why he fired then-assistant district attorney and one-time protege Todd Spitzer.
     In the midst of accusing Spitzer of campaigning for district attorney on county time, using county resources and county staff, Rackauckas, who endorsed Harman in the June primary, acknowledged Harman’s less than full participation in the Trial Attorney Program.
     Known as TAP, the program is designed to give private attorneys courtroom experience while saving the county money by using volunteers. Even though they are volunteers, the attorneys are sworn in as deputy district attorneys.
     Rackauckas said he agreed to take Harman into the eight-week program.
     Rackauckas swore Harman into the program Feb. 5. Harman had a “special schedule” because of his position as a state senator and the fact that he was campaigning for state attorney general. According to Rackauckas and court documents, Harman showed up for just a handful of days.
     He stopped coming altogether after the judge refused to allow him to use prosecutor designation on the ballot, according to Rackauckas and court documents.
     It wasn’t until Rackauckas ran in to Cooley at an event that he said he found out Harman was trying to use prosecutor as part of his ballot designation.
     “I was surprised,” Rackauckas said.

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