Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Tony Garcia, Phil Greer, and John Williams

aka "Brown Boy," "Orlando Boy," "Chucklehead"
     I just came across a blog post concerning John Williams that appeared on Art Pedroza’s blog (OC Politics Blog) nearly a week ago: Why are college faculty funding John Williams’ latest campaign? (Oct. 25)
     Pedroza briefly reviews Williams’ misadventures during his last year or two at the County. Then he writes:
     Now Williams is running for Area 7 of the South Orange County Community College District’s Board of Trustees. Thank God that he is opposed! But here is the kicker. Guess who is funding his campaign? The faculty union and South Orange County Taxpayers for Quality Education, which I believe is made up of Saddleback faculty members. Click here to see proof of this.
     Upon clicking there, one arrives at a pdf file comprising six campaign filings concerning Williams’ trustee campaign. You should check 'em out.
     Upon perusing these documents, we learn that Williams' own home houses “Friends of John Williams.” No surprise there.
     Williams' largest benefactor is “South OC Taxpayers for Quality Education.” Their address is 27121 Pacific Hts. Drive, Mission Viejo, ca 92692. (See notes at end.)
     I Googled that address and found that it is the headquarters of “Write Away Corp,” which is owned by one Anthony Garcia.
     That’s right. That’s Tony “Slime” Garcia, Saddleback College instructor and member of the notoriously secretive and unprincipled “Old Guard” Faculty Association crew of the mid-to-late nineties (c. 1994-2000).
Tony "Loogie" Garcia
     (I did a bit more looking and found that Garcia once owned the name “Empower Writer”—anyone who has ever read Garcia’s absurd scribblings will now snort—but he evidently lost ownership. See.)
     Another benefactor? “SOCCCDFA”—aka the faculty union—is listed as having given Williams $5,776 (on August 9). That chunk of change, of course, was the amount required by the OC Registrar of Voters when Williams filed.
     Of course, we already knew the union paid for that. (Nice work guys. It's because of you that Meldau bailed.)
     Evidently, Pedroza has not kept up with subsequent events: faced with growing outrage among members about the union's support of Williams, the FA subsequently backed away from endorsing the fellow. The Area 7 race proceeds sans FA endorsement of anyone.
     Among Williams’ campaign expenses is $1,000 paid to “The Law Offices of Phillip B. Greer.” Greer is a well-known, ethically-challenged attorney who has defended corrupt local Republicans, e.g., Chriss Street. Greer and the late Tom Fuentes seemed to be tight.
     He also represented Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur when the latter negotiated his exit from our district. Greer was paid $25,000 for that curious service. (I complained loudly about that at the time, but nobody seemed to care.)
Thomas L. Phillips
     And, of course, Greer was Williams’ attorney during Orlando Boy's struggles with the OC Board of Supervisors. (Greer has also represented 4 of the 5 Supervisors, natch.)
     Greer’s wife—Arlene C. Greer—is running against Bill Jay in Trustee Area 3. (See.)
     Oddly, Williams' campaign also gave $250 to the National Conservative Campaign Fund (for "literature"). The chairman of NCCF is Fuentes' old pal Thomas L. Phillips of Corona Del Mar. (Fuentes is still listed as one of NCCF's Directors.) The NCCF's National Advisory Board includes the likes of Ann Coulter and G. Gordon Liddy.
     So you'll be glad to know that the politics of the SOCCCD maintain their "funhouse" (or "madhouse") character.
     An article in the 4/2/98 Lariat reports that, according to Saddleback student Antonio Aguilar (the student who, months ago, challenged an explicit Holocaust denier during a board meeting), he was ‘spit at’ by English instructor Tony Garcia on March 30. Evidently, Garcia responded to the charge by saying that “I cleared my throat as [Aguilar] went by.”
     The article ends with a masterpiece of understatement:
     Richard McCullough, Saddleback College Interim President, said he would not condone this type of behavior from faculty if it did, indeed, occur.
     “That’s not what they should be doing,” he said.
—From Dissent 5, 4/14/98
SEE ALSO
  • The board’s secret allies (OC Reg; Oct. 31, 1998)
  • Adventures in Advertising: The real purpose behind gay-baiting at Saddleback College (OC Weekly; Nov. 15, 1996)
         The anti-gay mailer was paid for by Taxpayers for Responsible Education, a political-action committee (PAC) established by the Saddleback Community College District Faculty Association. The "taxpayers" are mostly Saddleback Community College faculty eager to elect a board that will cut a better deal with teachers when their contract comes up for renegotiation this year.
  • South O.C. Seats Have 10 Trading Hostilities (LA Times; Oct. 31, 2000)
         [Robert] Kopfstein, a professor at Saddleback, has since become treasurer of the South Orange County Taxpayers for Quality Education, and is backing incumbent trustees Fortune, Fuentes and Williams. On invitations for a Sept. 29 fund-raiser, Kopfstein added a handwritten note to 20 vendors who had done business with the district. "We hope that you can help support the campaigns of these incumbent trustees who, in the past, have shown support for your business," he wrote.
  • The infamous "SAME-SEX" flier & how we got to this sorry state (DtB)
  • Additional Endorsements for Don Davis (SmartVoter; Nov. 2000) - South Orange County Taxpayers For Quality Education

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...