Monday, August 14, 2023

Frogue is dead

O'Connor's photo
Steven J. Frogue, far-right conspiracy fan and former South Orange County Community College District Trustee (1992-2000), has died at the age of 80. 

Evidently, he died 10 months ago here in Orange County. 

The only information about his passing that I have at this point is an announcement by O’Connor Mortuary that appeared in October of 2022. The “obituary” O’Connor offers is sketchy:

Steven Joseph Frogue passed away at the age of 80. Born on June 30, 1942 and passed away on October 10, 2022. 

The only persons listed as having signed the Guestbook are “Prabu, Anandi & Ekantika” (see).

According to O’Connor’s so-called obituary (there can be little doubt that THIS Steven Frogue is OUR Steven Frogue: the birthdates, wife's name, and other details match), Frogue was associated with two charities: (1) Shriners Children's Hospital Southern California (in Pasadena), and (2) Geneva Presbyterian Church Youth Ministry. 

SOME BACKGROUND: You’ll recall that, in an effort to control the SOCCCD (then the “Saddleback Community College District”) board of trustees, the district’s faculty union (the “Faculty Association,” which is affiliated with the California Teachers Association) pursued a scheme to support right-wing (i.e., anti-union) candidates for an assurance from them that they would nevertheless support the union’s key contract demands (mostly about higher pay and better benefits, especially for senior faculty). 

By 1992, the FA scraped up some candidates, including controversial (racist, incompetent) high school teacher Steven J. Frogue, who prevailed among the usual inattentive voters. 

In 1996, thanks to a notoriously homophobic flier, designed and paid for by the union, Frogue and his slate of right-wing candidates (Williams, Frogue, Fortune, and Davis; only Davis lost) prevailed, and, soon, the 1st truly notorious “right-wing board” era commenced, involving reorganizations, grudge firings, violations of state and accreditation processes, and so on.

Frogue, in retirement

Frogue made a splash early on when, during board meetings, he would criticize the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and, by association, question a “Holocaust” course vaguely associated with the ADL being taught by an IVC Humanities instructor, Richard Prystowsky. In the course of following that story, an IVC student journalist interviewed Frogue, where the high school teacher praised the work of the Institute for Historical Review, a leading Holocaust Denial publication, which had been founded back in 1979 by key anti-Semitic publisher Willis C. Carto. 

Not long after his reelection in 1996, Frogue proposed a "forum" on the JFK assassination that invited a crew of embarrassing right-wing conspiracy nuts, mostly associated with Carto’s anti-semitic Liberty Lobby publishing (which included the IHR). Included among them was LL’s chief reporter, a man named Michael Collins Piper, who had published a book claiming that the CIA and the Mossad killed JFK. I alerted an ADL official to Frogue’s plans, and she showed up at the board meeting in which the forum was to be approved to question it and its proposed participants. I immediately contacted the press, and, within a day or two, a major story erupted. 

Not long after, Frogue faced a massive, but ultimately unsuccessful, recall campaign, but he emerged as damaged goods and was no longer useful to the county GOP, who planned to increase GOP influence by controlling local school boards and such. Hence, to everyone’s surprise, Frogue resigned in early summer 2000, only to be replaced by head OC GOP Honcho Tom Fuentes, a ruthless man who, owing to his many skeletons, was unlikely to enter office through anything but a back door. Voila! 

James Frogue, Trump's medical policy advisor

This resulted in more than a decade of seriously bad times for the SOCCCD. Meanwhile, Frogue himself seemed to sink into obscurity, living quietly in Lake Forest.

More recently (2016), I discovered the curious factoid that one of Donald Trump’s 2016-7 administrative organizers was James Frogue of the prominent Lobbyist organization FrogueClark in Washington. James, I discovered, is Steve’s son. 

I'll attach some links to related DtB and Frogue below.

* * * * *

PAST DtB (and other) REPORTING (in descending chronological order, more or less):

 • Mel Mermelstein, Holocaust survivor who fought the Institute for Historical Review and won, dies  February 06, 2022 

  Dissent Archive: the 3 articles that really broke the "Frogue/Holocaust denier" story (1995-1998)  June 10, 2020 

  Frogue, Schmitz, and Sons  June 27, 2017 

  Jim Frogue is on Trump's "beachhead team"  June 22, 2017 

  Frogue's son was Trump's senior health policy advisor during the 2016 campaign!  June 20, 2017 

  Carto dead  November 02, 2015 

  Former SOCCCD Board President: member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans  October 19, 2014 

Frogue, hangin' with the neo-Confederates

  The Alex Odeh case briefly reemerges (the SOCCCD's sometimes lurid past)  November 07, 2013

  Playing hide-the-bratwurst  April 22, 2011 

  Weird Uncle Steve, living in obscurity  January 03, 2010 

  Full-blown anti-Semites among us  December 09, 2009 

  Prayer in a bottle  December 08, 2009 

  Let’s give it to Mikey, he hates everything  August 14, 2009 

  OC Weekly follows up on our "Holocaust museum shooter" story  June 20, 2009 

  Our tenuous "connection" to the (alleged) National Holocaust Museum shooter  June 11, 2009

  H. Millard: "slimy mass of glop"  May 11, 2008 

  The Alex Odeh case, Frogue, and the ADL  October 11, 2007 

  On the good ship Nincompoop  December 18, 2006 

  Prayer and being "out of the picture" at the South Orange County Community College District  November 04, 2006 


 
 STEVE FROGUE COMMITS PHILATELY WITH FORMER OPPONENT! by Big Bill  - September 23, 2005 

  Frogue thinks he's my pal ! - September 16, 2005 

  SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES: THE DECEMBER 13 BOARD MEETING by Chunk Wheeler  -  January 04, 2000 

  "SLOWLY I TURNED...": FROGUEIAN CHRONICLES II, by Red Emma  -  From Dissent 39, 12/13/99 

      THE "SAME-SEX" FLIER (1996)  -  December 04, 1999 

  PIPER, MICHAEL COLLINS.  -  December 04, 1999 

  FROGUE, STEVE. (a.k.a. "Weird Steve," “Uncle Steve”)  -  December 04, 1999 

  FACULTY ASSOCIATION. (A.k.a. the "union")  -  from The Dissenter’s Dictionary, 1999 

  BOARD MAJORITY (a.k.a. “the Gang of Four”).  -  From The Dissenter’s Dictionary, 1999 

  He’s Baaaack...!; Being “controversial” and just being Steve--by Red Emma  [From Dissent 30, 9/20/99

  The "board's unlikely secret allies" (the union supports anti-unionists)  -  From Dissent 9, 11/2/98

  Hangin' with Bigwig Republicans while Nazis hid in bushes - by Chunk  -  From Dissent 9, 9/28/98 

  A MOTLEY CREW OF NAZIS VS. JDL THUGS: OH, WHAT A NIGHT! by Chunk Wheeler  -  See also ARCHIVES: January 1998 and August 18, 1997

 • The Evil of Froguenstein (Matt Coker; OC Weekly)  OC Weekly - April 10, 1998 

  FROGUE'S "SCHOLAR" HINTS AT VIOLENCE  -  From Dissent 4, 3/27/98 

  Anti-Semitism at meetings  -  February 13, 1998 

  NIGHT OF THE NAZI by Chunk Wheeler [Roy Bauer]  -  FROM THE VINE: 1/20/98 

  THE SAYINGS OF CHAIRMAN FROGUE (1997?)  -  December 13, 1997 

  "Time for Pie" by Chunk Wheeler (Roy Bauer)  -  Dissent, December, 1997


 
 Alvarez on the board majority -  (in the L.A. Times)  Angeles Times, Orange County Voices, 9/7/97

  The excrement hits the fan: the August '97 Board Meeting  -  From the ‘Vine, 9/1/97 

  Studying the Lessons of Steven J. Frogue  -  (LA Times, Nov. 25, 1996


 
 Sherry Miller-White: the end justifies the means, evidently  -  November 02, 1996 

  TO CONCERNED UNIONISTS: FROGUE DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST THE CHARGE THAT HE IS A HOLOCAUST DENIER - Frogue defends himself against charges -  (10/6/96

  Trustee denies holocaust, according to former students (Francis; The Voice) Trustee denies holocaust, according to former students  -  (the Voice, 4/20/95)

Kedric Francis

See also: 



3 comments:

Rebel Girl said...

Wow.

MattCoker1960 said...

Goodnight, Dark Prince.

Kedric said...

“I’ve never wished a person dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.”-attributed to Clarence Darrow (and often Mark Twain).

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...