Disappointment: State Chancellor reacts to the budget

Governor signs budget (OC Reg)

     Today, Irvine Valley College President Glenn Roquemore passed along to the campus community the following communication from Jack Scott, Chancellor of the California community college system, to college CEOs:

Colleagues,
     As you may know, the Legislature recently adopted a budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year. I’m glad that the Legislature passed a relatively timely budget that did not impose new policies on the California Community Colleges, such as the census reform proposal introduced in January. However, I am disappointed that the Governor and Legislature were unable to agree on a more balanced solution that would have provided greater support for higher education and put the state’s finances on a more stable footing. While the higher than expected revenues have helped to protect the system from the worst-case scenario we had feared earlier in the spring, there is still little to cheer about in this package.
     At a minimum, the California Community Colleges will absorb a net reduction of $290 million and students will see their fees increase by $10 per unit (a 38% increase). Also, colleges will have their cash flow management further challenged by a new interyear deferral of $129 million, bringing total deferrals up to $961 million – about 17% of the total apportionment. The budget states that it is the intent of the Legislature that colleges will prioritize transfer, career technical education, and basic skills courses, and I expect that colleges will heed this direction. Given the scarcity of resources, we must focus our efforts on the state’s most pressing educational needs.
     Additionally, the colleges may be subjected to midyear ”trigger” cuts if revenues fall below estimates assumed in the budget. The potential adjustments could include an additional fee increase of $10 per unit for the spring semester with a $30 million cut to apportionments if revenues are more than $1 billion below estimates, and an additional reduction of up to $72 million if revenues are more than $2 billion below estimates, as determined by the Director of Finance on or before December 15th. We know that midyear cuts are disruptive to college budgets and that midyear fee increases are difficult for students to pay and for colleges to implement, so we hope that such actions will not need to be invoked. We will monitor the situation closely and attempt to keep you apprised of developments during the fall.
     It is my hope that the higher than expected revenues indicate that the state may finally be climbing out of the deep economic downturn that has resulted in a devastating and counterproductive underinvestment in our system of higher education. There’s almost nothing the state could do to better position itself for a prosperous economic future than to fund education at adequate levels, so I hope that future budgets will enable the colleges to do what they do best – prepare students for a better future. 

Sincerely,
Jack Scott

June board meeting—live and direct! (Bob Kopecky and Al Tello exit)

Al Tello

     Check out Tere's Board Meeting Highlights.
     The agenda for the June meeting is here.
     Before providing my notes from tonight's meeting, I'd like to cut to the chase. At the end of tonight's meeting, a knowledgeable fellow directed me to interesting aspects of items 6.5 and 6.6—academic and classified personnel actions. Trustees raised no questions or comments tonight re 6.5 or 6.6. They simply approved them, unmodified, and without fanfare.
     So I looked them up.
     This is from item 6.5:

     The only surprise here (I suppose) is the inclusion of Bob Kopecky. You'll recall that Bob was for several years ATEP's "park ranger" (i.e., Provost). Then, thanks to Raghu Mathur, he found himself retreating to the classroom — IVC's learning center.
     This is from item 6.6 (classified personnel actions):

     K6 is the real surprise. Al Tello has resigned as Director of the Irvine Valley College Foundation.

     And now, my notes:

Bob Kopecky

6:05
   Got here five minutes late and, for once, they've started on time. Don't know what the trustees did in closed session. I'll find out. (UPDATE: evidently, nothing of importance was reported. David Bugay was honored for his year-long service as the Acting VC of BS.)
   At present, the board is passing resolutions regarding various sports teams.
   There's a new student trustee — a Mr. Jordan Larson.
   Fuentes and Lang are absent. (Those two were seen together recently at a GOP function.)
   Typically meager Summer audience — maybe 25 people.

   I'll let you know if anything happens....

No public comments.

Board reports:

Bill Jay: no report
Frank Meldau: no report
Marcia Milchiker: no report
TJ Prendergast: mentions graduation of "early college" students.
Nancy Padberg: no report
Dave Lang: absent
Tom Fuentes: absent
Student trustee Jordan: looks forward to meeting people, etc.

Chancellor Gary Poertner's Report:
Formally introduces Dr. Debra Fitzsimons, new VC of Business Services (replacing Bugay)

Requests for reports: none

Consent calendar: nothing pulled.
Unanimously passes

6.1 Fiscal year tentative budget
   VC Bugay brags about the membership and good work of the committee. "Truly a collaborative effort," said one member.

   Fitzsimons, who seems capable, comes up, presents:

Conservatively based, with balanced budget. Beth M. did a great job, etc.
Based on Governor's may revise.
$528 million total
$200 mil. unrestricted
General Fund: $215 million
Cola: 0%, Growth funding: 0%
Property tax income: tax revenues are expected to be flat
Enrollment fees increase from $26 to $36 per unit
No salary increases included.
Basic aid receipts: trends go up and down, over the years.  43 million
$2.6 m for Retiree benefit expenses
$44.7 m future capital projects
No state budget has been approved.
It's been quiet at the state capitol.
Scott Lay has new info: A plan is in the works. We'll keep track of this in coming days
Entering 4th consecutive year of no Cola. Etc.
We continue to make prudent budget decisions. — End of overview.
Questions?

Jay: good job. Clear. Jay remembers when the district's budget was $10 million. Now it's half a billion.

Poertner: lots of work go into this budget. Some participants were mentioned. College directors of fiscal services did much work.

No further comments. They vote: 5 yes.

6.2 Tentative student government budgets:

IVC: Cheryl Christiansen presents (after intro by Gwen Plano).
Two students come up to give actual report

These kids seemed to do a good job. Hard to say. One of 'em was seriously baby faced.

Any questions? No.

Approved

Saddleback College:
Again, eventually, a student came up to present.
This kid is slicker. Seems to do a good job.

Questions? None

Approved

6.3:  board policy revisions:

Poertner: passed off to Fitzsimons. Minor changes only. No questions. Accepted for review and study.

6.4 Public hearing (recess). District initial proposal for ... CSEA
No one has expressed a desire to speak. Reconvened.

6.5 Academic Personal actions -- no changes

approved

6.6 Classified personal actions -- any questions? None

approved

7.1 Information item: two colleges, speakers invited. No comments from Poertner, et al

7.2 Basic aid report. No comments or questions

7.3 Facilities plan status report - no comments

7.4 Monthly financial status report - no comments or questions

Reports from "shared governance":
Saddleback College Academic Senate: gearing up for hiring new faculty. Several committees.
Faculty Associations: thrilled at completion of process so far, looking forward....
IVC Academic Senate: flex week calendar ready to go. Speaker series lined up.

Peebles: demolition phase 2 will begin in a couple of weeks (at ATEP)
IVC's Roquemore: thanked students for wonderful job, budget presentations...
Saddleback College (Bushe): no report. Did mention civic light opera season.
Bramucci: no report
Bugay: accreds had six recommendations. The process has been informative. Going well, positive.
Etc.

Meeting ends at 6:57 p.m.
Briefest meeting ever?

You should know Graham Parker

John Stuart v. Chris Wallace on Fox

This is the complete interview. I wouldn't bother with Fox's edit.

The Dissing Don leads NPR's Morning Edition

     Gosh, Don made the bigtime. Here he is mentioned at the opening of NPR’s Morning Edition.
     The likes of Orange Juice Blog’s Vern Nelson jumped all over Don “Spanky” Wagner: here. There's quite a buzz.
     My guess is that this thing will die fast. But it's been fun while it's lasted!
     Because Don is intelligent and has a grain of goodness in him (I've glimpsed it; it was a tiny blue spark), I have long sought to advise him—from afar. Don's problem is that he is hot-tempered, generally peevish, crudely arrogant, egoistic, and, above all, a bully. Over and over again, these weaknesses get the better of him.
     Remember the "hiring policy" incident? According to law, development of faculty hiring policies is to be a matter of joint agreement between the district (trustees) and faculty (academic senates). So Don and Co., that gang led by bullies, unilaterally imposed changes to their Neanderthalic liking to faculty hiring policies. The faculty senates objected.
     What did Don do? He said, dismissively, "So sue us." Thus spake Don-a-thustra.
     We sued. We won. In the grand scheme of community college things, that was a serious defeat for the Neanderthals. It was precedent-setting.
     Religion has long been mildly present in the doings of the SOCCCD board of trustees. But, generally, 1st Amendment (establishment clause) fans--with a few exceptions--could live with it. But it plainly irked Don that a small group of faculty occasionally carped about all those prayers.
     What did Don do? Did he ignore the complainers? No. Don lacks a sense of proportion, owing to his enormous ego and his bully psyche. He raised the temperature. In the setting of a scholarship awards ceremony (three or four years ago), he gave an invocation/prayer that morphed into (or that was) a speech that peeved openly about the complainers. More than the hard core "establishment clause" crowd were offended. The speech so angered the civil libertarians that, ultimately (and with further instigation by the oafish Raghu Mathur and others), they sued. The district spent over a million dollars defending itself.
     Whatever else might be said about the resulting litigation and settlement, it included the judgment, by a jurist appointed by the Bush Administration, that Don's rant was "unconstitutional."
     Add that to your résumé Don.
     Don, please try harder to be good. You've got it in you, I know.

"I will say a prayer for Roy, and hope he is helped"

     Gosh, thanks. I feel better already.

FPPC clears Fuentes of wrongdoing (OC Reg)

     The Fair Political Practices Commission has dismissed a complaint accusing former Orange County Republic Party chairman Tom Fuentes of breaking state laws by failing to disclose a business relationship with Newport Beach auction house Lang Financial Corporation, better known as LFC, while holding elected office.
     Fuentes, a long-time trustee of a community college district and former senior vice president of LFC, maintained an office at LFC for about three years beginning around 2004, he told the Watchdog. But Fuentes never mentioned LFC on any of the economic disclosure forms he was required to file from 2004 to 2010 as a trustee of the South Coast County Community College District.
     Roy Bauer, an ethics and political-philosophy professor for the district whose blog routinely criticize Fuentes, filed a complaint with the FPPC in January. The FPPC’s investigation confirmed what Fuentes had maintained: he did nothing wrong.
     “We found that Mr. Fuentes did not receive compensation from LFC while a member of the South Coast County Community College Board of Trustees (SCCCBOT), and therefore was not require to report LFC as a source of income,” wrote Milad Dalju, commission counsel for the FPPC’s Enforcement Division, in a June 8 letter.
     “LFC donated the use of an office to the Claremont Institute, which the Claremont Institute allowed Mr. Fuentes to use in his capacity as a fellow at the Claremont Institute, and Mr. Fuentes properly reported the Claremont Institute as a source of income on his Statement of Economic Interests,” Dalju wrote.

     “We also found that, under these facts, Mr. Fuentes was not a director, officer, partner, trustee, employee, or held a position of management, at LFC while a member of the SOCCCBOT. He was therefore not required to disclose LFC as a business position,” Dalju wrote.
     “I never doubted the FPPC would arrive at this conclusion,” Fuentes said in a statement. “Bauer’s charge was absolutely false and filed for the sole purpose of tarring my reputation. The FPPC saw through Bauer’s machinations, and dismissed it as having no basis in fact. I will say a prayer for Roy, and hope he is helped.”
     Fuentes’ relationship with the auction house and with Public Administrator and former Public Guardian John S. Williams, who used LFC for land sales, drew the interest of county officials.
     Williams’ office was criticized in two Orange County grand jury reports in 2009, and has come under renewed fire since August. That’s when former state Assemblyman and county supervisor Todd Spitzer was fired from his post at the Orange County District Attorney’s office after he started asking questions about a conservatorship being handled by Williams.
     Fuentes and Williams served together on the community college district together for years until Williams resigned in December.
     Williams also gave a testimonial for LFC on the company’s website, praising LFC’s Internet-based auction program and highlighting its work to help Orange County out of its bankruptcy in 1990s.
     County officials worry that this is all too cozy; the supervisors ordered a review into the Public Administrator/Public Guardian’s Office along with its dealings with LFC.
     In an email obtained by The Watchdog through the California Public Records Act, Fuentes explained to Williams his relationship with LFC. Williams had asked him to write the explanation, Fuentes told The Watchdog.
     Fuentes acknowledged in the Sept. 28 email he had maintained the office space and had access to a company email account. But Fuentes maintained “I have no financial interest in LFC, nor do I receive any compensation from LFC.”
     Fuentes reiterated that claim in an interview with The Watchdog in January.
     “I’ve never been on their payroll,” Fuentes told us. “I have no fiduciary interest in LFC.”
     As for his Statements of Economic Interest, no disclosure was made of his relationship with LFC because no money was changing hands, he said. And the title of senior vice president was merely a courtesy title given by the owners of LFC, who are lifelong friends.

Assemblyman Don Wagner, that silver-tongued devil, offends Italian Americans, nearly causes a fist fight

LA Times

Fight Breaks out on California Assembly Floor during Budget Talks (KTXL.TV Sacramento)

See also SacBee's VIDEO

Don "Mad Dog" Wagner

     Two lawmakers got into an argument on the California Assembly Floor while debating redevelopment bills.
     It all started when Assemblyman Don Wagner, R-Irvine, compared the bill to the HBO hit “The Sopranos.” He said, “Let’s not buy the insurance policy that Tony Soprano is selling us.”
     Then, Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, stood up, saying he was offended by Wagner’s comments. “As a proud Italian-American, I resent that and would respectfully ask the commenter to make an apology to Italian-Americans in California.”
     Wagner took the bait, saying, “I will apologize to any Italian-Americans that are not in the Mafia and engaged in insurance scams.”
     That comment brought murmuring from the Assembly floor, prompting Wagner to go even further. “My apology is sincere,” said Assemblyman Wagner. “My reference is not lost on anyone here. This is not an attack on anyone. This bill is a bait-and-switch.”
     The speaker tried to move the conversation on, but then Assemblyman Warren Furutani confronted Assemblyman Wagner. The two had to be broken up by colleagues.
     Eventually, the redevelopment bills were passed and handed over to Governor Jerry Brown.
     The state Legislature plowed through a package of majority-vote budget bills Wednesday afternoon, approving a plan to close the $9.6 billion deficit with more than seven hours left until the deadline for both houses to pass a budget.
     You can watch the scuffle in the [above] video. The comments begin about 3 minutes in.

See also:

SacBee

LA Times

SF Chronicle

Fuentes, cancer, and “tumor” rhetoric

     Today, an OC Reg editorial notes that

     More than 800 Republican activists, donors, Tea Partiers and elected officials gathered Monday at the Irvine Hyatt to commemorate Flag Day, June 14, and bolster support for local Republican efforts. It was an evening to celebrate, look into the future of the party and honor a long-term activist. If there were a coordinated theme for the evening, it might as well have been "battle on."

     The editorial ends with this:

     But the show-stopper for the evening was the speech given by the county GOP's Chairman Emeritus Thomas A. Fuentes, who, for the first time, publicly acknowledged his battle with cancer. "Yes, your old chairman has cancer," Mr. Fuentes told the silent room. But his brief speech had little to do with him and more to do with the ideas and battles of the GOP – past and present.
     "Many of you have stood with me when we have battled cancers within our party, cancers from the left. Tumors like Arnold Schwarzenegger," he said, prompting the biggest cheer of the evening. "In the long run, we have won these battles. I will stand with you in our ideals until I can stand no longer."

     Meanwhile, OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano pounced all over Fuentes’ speech:

     Kudos to former OC GOP head Tom Fuentes for cracking jokes about his terminal cancer last night during the local Reeps' annual Flag Day dinner … in Irvine. Of course, for him—who supported more pedophiles, corrupt politicians, and plain old scum than the entirety of Law and Order: SVU has ever featured—the deadly disease is liberal!
     "Many of you have stood with me when we have battled cancers within our party, cancers from the left," he told his seals. "Tumors like Arnold Schwarzenegger," at which point, the audience laughed.
     Oh, how quick those pendejos forget.
     If you're to believe Fuentes that Arnie is a tumor, then the OC GOP just might be the only case in human history where a group of people willingly infected themselves with cancer just for shits. ... Let's remember that Schwarzenegger found his most loyal donors here, pulled his most enthusiastic ground troops from the rank-and-file of the OC GOP, and that the recall of then-Gov. Gray Davis was mostly orchestrated by activists and funders from OC.
     Fuentes, amazingly, stood on the right (as opposed to Right) side when it came to Schwarzenegger, famously disallowing his campaign from keeping 5,000 "Join Arnold" signs at county party headquarters and always distrusting him as too liberal. Richard Nixon would've been too liberal for Fuentes, but his fellow party [members] didn't heed their in-house Cassandra—and we all know what happened next.
     It would've been great to see Fuentes, the aging lion, admonish his party for the disaster that he warned would come, but he'll never be that truthful. Instead, the rest of wrecked California waits for an apology from the OC GOP for Schwarzenegger, an apology that'll come right after they apologize for Arnold's pal, Mike Carona...

     Gustavo might have mentioned that Fuentes was one of Carona’s biggest boosters.
     Reg political reporter Martin Wisckol covered the same event, providing a truly fluffy story designed to raise a Fuentean smile:

     Fuentes, who faced his share of controversies as GOP chairman, has been active in the Catholic Church as well, received a papal Knight of Malta honor, and was a founder of the Second Harvest Food Bank. He was also known for his fundraising abilities.
     “Tonight, I can only ask for your prayers,” he said Monday.

     That sounds pretty bad.
     Leave it to Fuentes to have loyal friends who stand out for their ability to inspire the moniker, “Prince of Darkness.” You remember the execrable Pal-o'-Fuentes "Bob" Novak? Good Lord. And then there's Mike Schroeder.
     And then there’s the equally execrable Bruce Herschensohn:

     [At the flag day dinner,] Bruce Herschensohn… preceded Fuentes to the podium with a tribute to the Lake Forest resident.
     “He’s the man who put Orange County on the map by making it the best-known Republican county,” Herschensohn said. “Republican presidents always wanted Tom Fuentes to sit next to him.”

     Yep.
     Speaking of loathsome creeps, check out who’s lurking in the background in the article's accompanying photo:

     That's right. It's Dave "the Quisling" Lang.

The “slush fund” story lives ($26k for Saddleback College coaches?)

The Voice of OC reports this morning that

     The Orange County Sheriff's Department expects to open a formal investigation into allegations that some high school and college coaches received kickbacks in the form of personal checks from a sporting goods company, in addition to maintaining accounts their districts were not aware of, according to a sheriff's spokesman.
     The investigation follows a request from Orange County Superintendent of Schools Bill Habermehl.
. . .
     Habermehl's request came after an Irvine couple provided him with a detailed list of what they say were off-the-books accounts held by coaches outside of district oversight, as well as company checks written to coaches.

     Geoff and Teresa Sando, who acquired Lapes Athletic Team Sales as it was going out of business, say the company orchestrated a kickback scheme with coaches across Southern California from 1992 until it closed down in 2008.
     The Sandos say the company maintained "slush" accounts that school districts were not aware of, and that the company's former owner, Bill Lapes, made payments to coaches to reward them for their business.
. . .
     The Sandos say they've been seeking a criminal investigation of the alleged "slush" accounts and kickbacks for more than three years. Teresa said she first provided evidence of the "slush" funds to the sheriff's department in 2008, and last July sent a sheriff's investigator copies of checks made out to Patton….

     VOC provides a link “to view the Sandos' list of "slush" account totals.”
     By my count, eight community colleges appear on the list:

Saddleback College -- $26,272.49 (from 1994 to 2006)
Orange Coast College -- $3,335.70 (from 1995 to 2002)
Fullerton College -- $2,706.13 (from 2003 to 2003)
Cerritos College -- $410.00 (from 2007 to 2007)
East Los Angeles College -- $2,300.00 (from 2005 to 2005)
Palomar College -- $2,658.58 (from 2005 to 2005)
Rio Hondo College -- $139.00 (from 1995 to 1995)
Victor Valley College -- $7,043.75 (from 2002 to 2004)

Loose ends

     Just wanted to mention that, in Poland, when you get a receipt, it's really tiny, like some kind of Barbie receipt. See examples above. Found 'em in my jacket pocket today.

     Oh yeah, and I wanted to mention, too, that our favorite Polish tour guide was Agnes. She's way knowledgeable, she's a good driver, and she's cute. Plus she manages to convey just the right amount of contempt for the Soviets, who did so much to mess up her country. It's all implicit, you understand. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

Agnes and my folks, Sopot, Poland

Just a cool old building along the canal, Gdansk

The same old irrational exuberance

     This morning, I noticed the above video posted at the Orange Juice Blog. It is a brief and interesting presentation by Internet guru Jim Gilliam entitled, “The Internet is my Religion.”
     Well, I watched it and left the comment below:

     I enjoyed Gilliam’s presentation and will acknowledge that he has quite a story to tell, but I do wonder about the label “humanism” applied to him and, frankly, about his philosophy also. Humanism—yes, a notoriously ambiguous term—is often viewed as a non-theistic (godless) philosophy that embraces the notion of the power of human faculties—especially reason. Gilliam has surely abandoned theism and embraced human capability, but his embrace of reason is questionable, for he does seem to embrace “faith,” or something very like it, and it is faith (one might argue) that makes religion religion more than does embrace of the supernatural. Yes, Gilliam was saved in part by internet activists, but his rescue had more to do with medicine and the phenomenon of individuals choosing to make their organs available to others—both pre-dating the Internet. And so why does he attribute the miracle of his rescue to the Internet and not to these other things, which surely are more fundamental to the event? At a certain point, Gilliam reminds one of the charismatic preacher who, having roused his audience with stories of happy accident, human kindness, and whatnot, commits the usual non sequitur: it’s Jeeeeeesus.
     Gilliam simply replaces Jesus with the Internet. So, what we have here is not humanism but a new, but a typical, religion—a thing with an utter failure of logic at its core.

     (Note: someone with a sounder training in the Humanities would not have made Gilliam's mistake—namely, conceiving and exhorting his godless, human-centered philosophy as a religion—something relying on "faith.")

Hey, wait! Wasn’t the world supposed to end? Tom Fuentes jokes about Asian drivers

     TOM FUENTES’ final days will be noisy and difficult.
     I know nothing about his family life. I’m thinking only of his “public” life—his life as Tom Fuentes, Political Animal.
     It appears that this animal is dying fast.
     The local political machine he helped develop and maintain is in trouble.
     Some of the Fuentesphere’s more prominent champions of rectitude have fallen spectacularly, leaving decent people to wonder just who would ally themselves with them in the first place?
     And, during this endlessly-shocking post-Bell era, the system of mutually-supporting leech-leadership with which Tom is so closely associated is coming into public view. The public, still unclear about what it sees, is initially aghast.
     But there’s more: Fuentes’s curious private affairs—his peculiar “consulting” gigs and their relation to public service, and even his private business (etc.) relationships—are themselves under scrutiny, revealing, well, disturbing darkness.
     My guess is that the full Dark Serpent that is Tom will only become clear some time after his passing.

     Today, I came across a little speech Tom made about a year ago during an event of the ultra-conservative Pacific Research Institute. It reveals one head of Thomas the Hydra.
     (You remember PRI. Just a few years ago, Fuentes protégé, Raghu P. Mathur, invited PRI’s Lance Izumi to give an address during a Chancellor’s Opening Session. The address came after the prayer.)

The event:

Leechleadership: writhing &
thriving(?) in the Fuentesphere

The Politics of Aspiration
How to Bring the Gold back to the Golden State

Saturday, March 20, 2010
Island Hotel
690 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach

Moderator: Steven Hayward

Introductory Speaker: John Eastman
. . .
Keynote Lunch Speaker:
Hugh Hewitt
Short Discussion: Can the California GOP Regroup and Save the State?

Moderator: Tom Fuentes

Panel:

Duf Sundheim
Jon Fleischman,
Bill Mundell
Brian Calle

Well, here are Tom’s remarks (listen to them yourself, starting at 6:04):

…Once again, our topic is, “Can the GOP regroup and save the state?”
     The bottom line is of course: we need to win elections.
     Presently, Republican voter registration has reached a low of near 30% in California. Less than one out of three Californians declare themselves to be members of the GOP.
     A party needs people.
     We meet today in Orange County, where our neighbors include some 800,000 Hispanics, reflective of the ever-growing Latino population statewide. You know, we know, in Orange County, when we have many, many new Asian neighbors, we Latinos begin to buy car insurance. [Uncomfortable laughter?]
     Nearly one out of three Orange Countians—some of you are little slow on [getting the joke]—nearly one out of every three Orange Countians is a Roman Catholic. Black and Hispanic voters voted “yes” on proposition 8 [i.e., the Eliminating the right of same-sex couples to marry act of 2008]. Yet some suggest that our party should move way from the traditional, conservative social values so appealing to these communities and to the growing Asian population as well.
     Earlier this week, in this same county, a few here attended the first debate by the two leading Republican candidates for governor. It was hosted in an invitation-only exclusive setting at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Samueli Theater, where the public and the general membership of our party was excluded. Members of the New Majority PAC, who pay $10,000 a year as dues, were invited to the exclusion of rank and file Republicans. [The New Majority is “Orange County's group of supposedly progressive millionaire and billionaire Republicans” (see) who have sought to moderate OC’s image. Starting in the 90s, they sought to unseat Fuentes as chair of the local party. By 2004, they succeeded.]
     The state is in a fiscal and political crises as we come to the end of the failed Swarzen-Jaeger [sic] administration. [Fuentes has always hated the former Governator: See.] Unemployment is skyrocketing, businesses are leaving California every day. Multimillionaire candidates are vying to carry our party’s banner in November.
     While the Tea Parties are growing in the streets, the old specter of a boardroom-controlled Republican Party of the rich is being raised again. And all of this is happening amid the deepest recession in our memory.
     Moneyed special interests have ever-greater influence in the affair of our party. No debate between the top candidates for governor was presented at the California Republican Party convention. The control and direction of our party have left the floor of the convention, with its volunteers and activists, and founds its ways into the offices of a governor–a governor who has a liberal Democrat chief of staff. [Fuentes had his start as a grass-roots organizer, in the 60s, when OC was more notorious for its right-wing conservatism.]
     He who controls the purse strings controls the party.
     High paid consultants have their say. Outside PACs raise money from the business community and little of the money finds its way into the coffers of the official party. PAC directors collect large salaries while the candidates and the local party operations are under-funded. The Governors’s appointee for the Lieutenant Governor seeks to allow Democrats to select our Republican nominees.
     So the question that we put to you gentlemen is: can the California GOP regroup and save the state?

Back

Nearing L.A.

     Finally got back to Southern California--about 6:00 p.m. last night. Had a snafu with our shuttle service, so we didn't get home until maybe 10 or 11. Sheesh.
     Looking forward to normality. Right now, owing I suppose to all those hours in those sardine-can 757-200s, I feel like 40 miles of bad road. But it was a great trip.
     I was happy to read the news about John Williams. There are things brewing with Tom Fuentes as well. All will be revealed soon enough.
     Later.

These are the "anonymous" street musicians we happened to catch near Alexanderplatz in Berlin—on Monday. We enjoyed them very much. I'm not sure what to make of them. Some kind of world music, I guess. I hear some New Orleans Jazz, but certainly not only that. Some of their music reflected Spanish or Middle Eastern influences. (Here one finds them playing Hava Nagila.) Still more of their hotness can be experienced here.

Guardian-a-Go-Go! But Williams Still Administrates

WILLIAMS FIRED! 1 Down, 1 To Go

OC Register Reports...

Public Guardian fired by county supervisors
by Kimberly Edds, Staff Writer

excerpt:

Public Administrator John S. Williams was fired by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday from his job as the county’s public guardian, potentially sparking a legal fight by Williams to get the appointed job back. He remains the county’s elected public administrator.

Williams, who served as both the elected public administrator and appointed public guardian, has been hounded by accusations of mismanagement, dubious promotions and questions of how he does his job. The public guardian handles the affairs of Orange County’s ill and elderly who have no one else to care for them. The public administrator handles the estates of those who die without legal heirs.

The county has spent months trying to wrest control of the two departments from Williams.

He has ignored repeated calls by the Board of Supervisors to resign from both positions. Williams attended the board meeting but did not speak.

To read the rest, click here.

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No More Secrets: new bill will force transparency for higher education foundations

via OC Watchdog:

excerpt:

...Senate Bill 8 would apply to the likes of the UC Irvine Foundation (with net assets of $255.5 million), the CSU Fullerton Philanthropic Foundation (with net assets of $51.5 million) and would “bring greater transparency and accountability to California’s public higher education institutions – University of California, California State University, and the state’s community college system,” according to its rabble-rousing author, Sen. Leland Yee (pictured below).

“SB 8 will ensure UC, CSU and the community college auxiliaries and foundations adhere to state public records laws. Under SB 8, all other financial records, contracts, and correspondence would be subject to public disclosure upon request...

To read it in its entirety, click here.

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The folks on their last day in Berlin

Edith declared that she had ridden to the top of this thing as a little girl. "Don't think so," said Manny.

Later, I discovered that the dang thing was built by the Commies back in 1968, so there's no way.

But my mom hangs tough.

My dad and I have decided to call it the Berlin "time machine." We went to the top of thing thing today but we managed to avoid time travel.

As far as we know, at least.

Here we are with our cute Nigerian-German cabby

At an Italian restaurant in one of Berlin's many cool spots. Listened to a cool band, too.

Mom insisted on ordering a fancy chocolate desert. It arrived as a big mouse head with mouse ears made of crackers. Mom grabbed one of Mickey's ears and ate it.

"You're eating Mickey's ear!" I protested.

"Don't worry. Mickey's dead," said mom. She ate the whole damned thing.

Buffalo Springfield Again

Buffalo Springfield stunningly returns to L.A. (OC Reg)

     …Here at last, after giving its first reunion performances last October at Neil Young’s Bridge School benefit concerts, was the short-lived but mighty Buffalo Springfield — a group that literally formed in a traffic jam on Sunset Boulevard, finally playing again in the city that spawned it 43 years and a month after the (mostly) original lineup last played in Southern California, to some 5,000 people at Long Beach Arena on May 5, 1968.
. . .
     Their importance cannot be overstated: The band that locals used to call the Herd rank only behind Bob Dylan (especially with the Hawks/Band) and the Byrds (with and without Gram Parsons) as the most crucial cornerstones of what’s now called Americana music, that hard-to-define yet easy-to-spot hybrid of folk, rock, country, blues, psychedelia and lyrical poetry….

What I've found re Stettin's Rosengarten Strasse

Rosengarten 71, Hermann Lockstadt

Rosengarten 40, Stadtmauer; 1930

27 Rosengarten (1918)

28a Rosengarten 25-26

28b Rosengarten 25-26

28c Papenstrasse 11, Ecke Rosengarten

29a Rosengarten (1938)

Rosengarten 19, Katholischeknabenschule (21 Gemeindeschule)

Rosengarten 74-75

Rosengarten 9-10, Judische Gemaindezentrum

Rosengarten 6, Bernhard Mundt

On Ulica Podgórna, I'm told

A Sunday in Berlin

Very sunny. Kinda humid. But a fabulous city to photograph
Click on graphics to enlarge them

A group played some cool horns near Alexanderplatz

The folks on a bus

Our charming Turkish-German cabby

Dig her "Cleopatra" makeup

Berlin is a green town

I dropped and cracked my "polarized" filter back in Gdansk. Hence some of the booboos here and there

Berlin is very cosmopolitan. I do believe they've got aliens from outer space. They fit right in