Post-forum wrap-up (Jemal y'all)

Jemal: only hope of a
non-Williamsian future?

     At this point, it seems clear that there are at least two—probably three—good candidates for that Area 7 trustee seat soon to be vacated by Mike Meldau. During today’s forum, both Tim Jemal and Jan Serrantino-Cox revealed themselves to be intelligent and articulate people with good values. Jemal is very polished, though less familiar with higher education issues. Serrantino-Cox is less polished, but seems closer to the faculty perspective.

Moderator

     Not sure about Mr. Mike Moodian. The answers he provided to the union’s questions were good. From what I've seen, it appears that he, too, is a good guy with good values. Admittedly, his recent “report” regarding trustees’ pensions was a bit of a stunt—that trustees get medical benefits is slightly sexy, but it is hardly a major issue—but you can’t really blame a candidate for trying to get noticed. I mean, it’s not as if he were making stuff up or revealing idiocy.

Did his learnin' in the Hawkeye State

     The latter, of course, is what Mr. Williams does. It’s what he did today at the forum. Reminded of his egregious late-90s Brown Act violations (Williams and his board appointed Raghu Mathur IVC Prez in a closed session and with the appointment item—unagendized!). Williams seemed to assert that all of those court rulings were overturned (!). Asked about the importance of clean and honest processes in hiring chancellors, Williams described his involvement in the Mathur chancellor hire as though it were a paradigm of openness and best practices. (After the forum, I spoke with a member of that search committee; he told me that he nearly asked Williams why the board hired Mathur when, in fact, he was ranked #22 by the committee!)
     In truth, Williams has been among the most egregious foes of “process,” transparency, and open government in district history.
     But I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that.
     Serrantino-Cox may be a very worthy candidate, but I don’t think she has a prayer in this race. Williams has name recognition (à la Robert Rizzo) and Jemal has bigtime endorsements (Todd Spitzer, William M. Habermehl, Carolyn Inmon, Loretta Sanchez, et al.). S-C has none of that.

Faculty perspective

     It’s hard to see how Moodian has much of a chance either. His biggest endorsement is probably Laguna Hills Councilmember Barbara Kogerman. (Who?)
     [10/19: today, reader GJ called to remind me that only Williams and Jemal's campaign statements will appear on voter materials sent out by the County Registrar. She also assures me that that's a $10 haircut on Jemal's head.]
     Today, Mr. Jemal acquitted himself well. But, as I noted in my conversation with him after the forum, there is a danger that he and Moodian will split the anti-Williams vote. He acknowledged that.
     And so I’m thinking that we need to get behind Mr. Jemal, a plainly good candidate who is probably the only one with a chance of beating that rat bastard John Williams.
     Is he the best candidate? Maybe yes, maybe no. But it does not matter. He is the only good candidate that has a chance of beating Orlando Boy.