Some day, we'll speak of SOCCCD's lurid Fuentes era

The wonderful/notorious "Stand By Our Tan" performance

     Back in 2006, Republican Tan Nguyen ran against Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Nguyen’s advisor was our own (trustee) Tom Fuentes, a fellow whose notoriety rests on many misdeeds, but especially on his role in the “poll guard” incident: in 1988, as County GOP chair, he approved use of poll guards to stand near polling places in Latino neighborhoods. Nice. There was quite an uproar. The scandal cost Fuentes his gig as PR flak for the Catholic Diocese of Orange and a lawsuit tab of nearly half a million dollars.
     In 2006, the Fuentes-advised Nguyen campaign got caught engaging in a similar stunt: a letter was sent to Latino voters, evidently designed to discourage their voting. As Martin Wisckol explains,

     The Spanish-language letter, sent on a letterhead that mimicked the name of a prominent immigration reform group, was mailed to 14,000 voters with Latino last names who’d been born abroad. The letter prompted an immediate investigation by the state attorney general. Worried that the letter would suppress Latino voter turnout, state officials wrote those 14,000 voters encouraging them to vote and telling them to disregard the previous disguised and misleading campaign mailing.
     That mailing had warned that “emigrados” could go to prison if they voted. “Emigrado” is ambiguous in Spanish. It can generally mean an emigrant – who may or may not be a U.S. citizen eligible to vote – or specifically a non-citizen in the country with a green card.
     The letter also warned that “a new computerized system” would track new voters and could be accessed by “organizations that oppose immigration.”

At Chapman College, Tom was the President of the "God's Hecksters" motorcycle club

     It seemed to many observers that Nguyen had illegally attempted to suppress Latino voter turnout, but that charge was never filed. “Obstruction of justice” charges, however, were filed.
     As I recall, amid the initial hoopla, Nguyen’s treasurer resigned. She turned out to be IVC Foundation Director Al Tello’s wife!
     Well, the wheels of justice grind slowly. Nguyen was eventually tried earlier this year, but that led to a hung jury. Today, we learned that a new trial has begun:

Ex-candidate Tan Nguyen back on trial for lying (OC Register)

     A new trial was launched today for former congressional candidate Tan Nguyen, who faces obstruction of justice charges related to a controversial letter sent to Latino voters in his 2006 challenge of Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana.
     In August, there was a hung jury in the same case, with jurors voting 11-1 for conviction on one charge and 9-3 on the other.
. . .
     With Nguyen, federal prosecutors are pursuing a tack similar to that used in the previous trial. They allege that Nguyen was behind the controversial letter from beginning to end, that when an investigation started he asked a 23-year-old office worker to take responsibility, and that he lied to investigators when he said he had nothing to do with the final drafting and mailing of the letter.
. . .
     Prosecutors say they will present emails showing Nguyen participated all along – emails that were also used as evidence in the earlier trial. They may also call to the witness stand those who Nguyen claims were responsible for the mailings, as they did previously.

Folks at Saddleback Church give the worst President in U.S. history a hero's welcome:
Rick Warren Saddlebacks George W. Bush (OC Weekly)

Anthropology: science or mirth?

Anthropology Without Science (Inside Higher Ed)
     A new long-range plan for the American Anthropological Association that omits the word “science” from the organization's vision for its future has exposed fissures in the discipline. ¶ The plan, adopted by the executive board of the association at its annual meeting two weeks ago, includes "significant changes to the American Anthropological Association mission statement – it removes all mention of science," Peter N. Peregrine, president of the Society for Anthropological Sciences and professor at Lawrence University, wrote in a widely circulated e-mail to members. The changes to the plan, he continued, "undermine American anthropology."
     The Society for Anthropological Sciences, which is a smaller and more recently formed group than the larger, older and broader association, embraces and promotes empirical research. It condemned the move by the century-old, 10,000-member American Anthropological Association, Peregrine wrote.
     The move has sparked debate on blogs and among the various sub-specialties of the discipline about the proper place of science in anthropology. Some also say privately that this conflict marks the latest in a running cycle of perceived exclusions among the heterodox discipline. In the past, archaeologists and practicing and professional anthropologists have argued that the discipline as a whole has become dominated by cultural anthropologists, and has grown indifferent to their interests….