Fuentes & Schmitz, 1967, 1970, 1972

From the LA Times, Oct 10, 1967

     I've often wondered whether there were a Tom Fuentes-John Schmitz connection, since Schmitz and Fuentes were at Santa Ana College (Fuentes as a student, Schmitz as an instructor) at the same time—c. 1967. As it turns out, at Santa Ana, Tom was very active in student government and clubs, such as the Young Republicans. That brought him into contact with plenty of "adults." So who knows.
     Today, I found dozens of fascinating old LA Times articles, some of them about Tom. The one above, from 1967, reveals that, as Student Prez, Tom was involved in a student government conference at which Schmitz, a Poli Sci instructor, gave the "keynote address." That by itself, of course, does not imply that Tom supported Schmitz.
     By 1968, I believe, Fuentes had transferred to Chapman College. Reading through these old articles, I learned that Ron Caspers had connections with Chapman, where Fuentes was once again the President of the Young Republicans. Perhaps that is where the two got to know each other. (I'm only speculating.)

From the LA Times, June 23, 1970

     In 1970, Fuentes, at age 22, managed Caspers' campaign in which he won the area 5 Supervisorial position. In the early stages of that campaign (before Fuentes' involvement?), Caspers and his "Coalition" friends used remarkably unscrupulous tactics to damage the reputation of respected Republican incumbent Alton Allen. In any case, in the end, with Fuentes' help, Caspers won the seat.
     The article above reveals that, at about the end of his college career, Fuentes somehow managed to donate $500 to the Schmitz campaign (to replace Jimmy Utt in Congress, I suppose; Utt died in 1970). Oddly, everything I've read about Caspers suggests to me that, likely, he would not have been a fan of the extreme Mr. Schmitz, though I have not confirmed that.

LA Times, Sep. 17, 1972

     The above 1972 letter to the Times reveals that, indeed, Tom had long supported John Schmitz, though he now distanced himself from the fellow. At the time, the ferociously anti-Commie Schmitz had become a harsh critic of Nixon—who had, after all, gone to China!—and actually headed the American Independent Party ticket, running against him. My guess is that it was at this point that Fuentes' support for Schmitz ended. Clearly, from an early age, Mr. Nixon was Tom's #1 idol.

Nixon birthplace marks 100 years (OC Reg)

P.S.:

Gloria A.

     By 1988, after the Gloria R. Allred lawsuit (Schmitz had called her a "slick butch lawyeress") and the Carla Stuckle scandal (he had produced two kids in an affair with Stuckle, a former Tustin school board candidate), Schmitz’s career was pretty much dead.
     Nevertheless, he still seemed to count Tom Fuentes as his pal:

     …Thomas A. Fuentes, county Republican Party chairman and a longtime Schmitz confidant, said Schmitz recently joked that "if there were 14 Republican candidates he might be the 15th, just to offer a little color to the race."
     "I would say," Fuentes added, "that it was said in the heartiest of jest in the typical style of John Schmitz's renowned humor." (From “Schmitz, Out of Spotlight, Confines Politics to Classroom,” LA Times, May 16, 1988)

     Classic Fuentes. Nobody talks like that.
     Nobody but Tom

Did right-wing loons establish the SOCCCD?

     We at DtB have on occasion delved into the district’s formative years, revealing, for instance, its various early designations ("South Coast Junior College District") and the nature of its early controversies (long hair, plans for library windows, rumors of hippie invasions, etc.).
     One name that comes up a lot in the record of our glorious past is "Hans Vogel," who, as far as I know, is still with us (he’d be about 90 years old now).
     Now, before I go on, I want to be clear that, for all that I know, Mr. Vogel is a really great guy. For instance, he may be a terrific father and husband and, oh, pet owner. We know that he's a war hero.
     We're only talking about his politics here. OK?

     The above "groundbreaking" photo can be found at the district website. The caption mentions Vogel among other members of the “charter board":

With the formation of the district, residents voted as their charter board: Alyn M. Brannon and Hans W. Vogel of Tustin; Louis J. Zitnick of Laguna Beach; Patrick J. Backus of Dana Point; and Michael T. Collins of Laguna Niguel. The first president-elect was Dr. Vogel who served four times as president during almost eight years on the board.

     Previously (see), I reported that Vogel had distinguished himself as an interpreter/interrogator during World War II while serving under Patton in Europe. (I recall that, on one occasion, trustee Don Wagner marveled at Vogel's wartime adventures.) After the war, Vogel became a noted college volleyball coach; he also wrote about and published some of his wartime experiences. (He's a German scholar.) In the 50s, he left collegiate life behind in favor of the construction industry. Much later, he returned to education at the K-12 level. (At one point, he was invited to join the CIA!)
     And he's been active in local politics.
     We’ve long suspected that some of the district’s early movers and shakers were, oh, seriously conservative—even Neanderthalic. Given some of Vogel's decisions and positions, we've wondered if he was anything like the stereotypical 60s South County right-wing loon.
     Some readers have come out of the woodwork, seeking to refute any such suggestion.
     Today, I happened upon a brief description of Vogel in Tom Rogers’ book about Orange County politics, Agents’ Orange (2000). Rogers, an early (1962) admirer of notorious right-winger John Schmitz, was the chairman of the OC GOP from about 1969 until 1972, and he remained active in local politics at least until 2000 (he died six years ago). By the 1980s, owing to his fidelity to conservative principles and his determination to conserve the look and feel of rural OC, Rogers had become alienated from the GOP establishment. He felt that the party had utterly sold out to big business interests, especially developers.
     Here’s what Rogers says about Vogel:

     Hans Vogel was one of the first county residents to become involved in conservative politics. As a local businessman and bookstore owner, Hans was able to gather a circle of friends and associates to informal discussion concerning many issues. He was an early supporter of [notorious John Bircher*] John Schmitz, but his most impressive accomplishments was to sponsor a book-signing event at his Tustin bookstore, featuring a rising star in GOP politics, Ronald Reagan who had written a book Where’s the Rest of Me? [1965] The event was a success by all standards, and really introduced the future governor to local conservatives who came away with a signed book and a determination to support Ronald Reagan in his political career.
     Hans was also active in the County Republican Central Committee as publisher and editor of the Observer. [Elsewhere, Rogers explains that Vogel did an excellent job in that role. The Observer faded from the scene many years ago.]

     I suppose that answers our questions about Mr. Vogel, who, as far as I know, did not experience Rogers’ gradual disaffection with the local GOP. He was (and perhaps is) seriously right-wing. Remember: John Schmitz was a member of the John Birch Society, which was very active in OC.
     According to the district website, Governor Reagan participated in the dedication of Saddleback College on October 15, 1968—and Vogel "was instrumental in securing the Governor's participation in the historical event."
     Ronald Reagan, of course, deserves a high position on any shitlist assembled by critics of development in Orange County. With regard to overdevelopment, surely one of the worst events in OC history was Governor Reagan’s appointment, in 1974, of Tom Riley to replace the deceased Ronald Caspers on the OC Board of Supervisors.
     "General" Riley was extremely pro-development.
     And the rest was history.
     By the way, originally, Reagan had announced his intention of naming Tom Fuentes as Caspers’ replacement, but a residency rule nixed that plan. The disappointed Fuentes gave himself a big fund-raiser and then went to seminary instead.
     But it didn’t take.

"Prior to the dedication [10/15/68], Governor Reagan met with Board of Trustees, from left to right:
Allyn Brannon, Hans W. Vogel, Michael Collins, Patrick Backus,
Louis Zitnik and Superintendent Fred Bremer." (From district website.)

*The John Birch Society was much bothered by its reputation as a haven for extremists and, at some point, it purged itself of some noisy members who seemed to be anti-Semitic. John Schmitz was among these. After losing his Congressional seat, Schmitz ran for President for the American Independent Party, receiving about one and a half percent of the votes. Unfortunately, his later years were marked by a sordid scandal.

Still half-assed

     HALF-ASSED LARIAT. Back on Dec. 5, the Saddleback College Lariat posted an editorial entitled, “What should the new Library be named?", written by “staff.” It said

     Saddleback College has the rare opportunity to start over in recreating one of the most pivotal buildings on campus, the library. ¶ The library at Saddleback has been under construction since spring of 2010…. ¶ The next step to completing the Library is to give it a name. Currently the name is the James B. Utt [Memorial] library which has been given the nickname the "Butt Library."

     (Actually, “Butt” is a pretty good name for a “pivotal” building. Butts are pretty pivotal. Some butts.)
     Well, on the 8th, I submitted a comment to Lariat online, offering various naming suggestions. But it did not appear. Not that day.
     I submitted it again. Again, nothing.

Her butt is "pivotal"

     After a couple of days, I emailed the Lariat editor, pleasantly notifying him of the problem. Never heard back from that guy.
     Once in a while, I’d check, and my comment never appeared.
     —Until recently (it’s now the 30th). Just checked, and, well, there it is. You can read it yourself here, if you’ve a mind to. (I wouldn’t bother.)
     But how come the editor never got back to me? How come it took these people several weeks to post a comment?
     What kind of half-assed operation are they running over there?

* * *

     HALF-ASSED IVC WEBSITE IMPROVEMENTS: Speaking of half-assery, as you know, here at Irvine Valley College, “they” are endlessly working on our college website, trying to improve it. But it never seems to get better, near as I can tell. (Comparison of websites)
     Well, anyway, at about this time of year, I visit the IVC website to download the “Faculty Professional Development Week” ("Flex") schedule. After all, FPD week (pre-semester staff development activities) starts on Tuesday!
     Usually, I have no trouble finding the FPD Week Schedule. It’s just three or four clicks away.
     But not this time. I looked in the usual places, and it wasn’t there.
     (Yes, I know. The college emailed us the FPD Week schedule back on the 7th, but I managed to misplace the email.)
     I tried the Academic Senate website, and that led me to “Curriculum/Academic Affairs.” That opened a menu that included “Prof Fac Development.” That's it! I clicked on that and got—nothing.
     I went to the “Office of Instruction” site. That was no help at all.
     Finally, I used the search engine, searching under “staff development.” That gave me this site: IVC Staff Development and Flex. Great!

Nothing for Fall 2012?

     I went there. It listed two “flex schedules”—one for Fall 2011 (New! it shouted); another for Spring 2011.
     But there was nothing for Spring 2012.
     I gave up. (Since then, I found the lost email. That link actually worked.)

Finding Flex Week schedule at Saddleback website: easy-peasy

* * *

     HALF-ASSED ATEP WEBSITE. While perusing the IVC website, I noticed a link to ATEP, that endlessly gestating (but never arriving) third district campus out on Redhill in Tustin—the one supposedly dedicated to technical instruction and all manner of whiz-bangery. It is listed as “ATEP classes” on what appears to be the main menu of the IVC webpage (see). “Click.”
     That brought me to the ATEP website:

I wanna class

     I wondered: “What if I were a prospective student who was considering taking one of those technical courses over at ATEP? In fact, I got to this website clicking something that said ‘ATEP classes.’ Surely this site will help me to find those classes!”
     But no.
     The site is divided into two halves, with the right half dedicated to the district. The remaining half is for students (see above). It is entitled

ATEP CAMPUS: Classes from Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College

     Classes?! –That sounds promising!
     But no.
     I clicked on “programs.” Naturally, that brought me to a list of programs. I clicked on the first one: “applied technologies.” No classes appeared, just some alienating blather about the program. Ditto for the other programs.
     The second thing on the list looked promising: “Current Schedule - Workforce Training Classes”
     But no. That led to a site about, not classes, but a “free event,” a “comprehensive 5-hour workshop” about “Efficient Energy Use & Audit," whatever that is.
     The next item on the list was “How to Enroll.” But surely that would be helpful only after one has identified the courses that one wishes to take. Right?
     Essentially, "How to Enroll" offers a phone number.
     And so on.

* * *

     I’ve been on sabbatical. Next week’s my return to normal faculty life since the end of Spring 2011 (May)!
     It is, I guess, a return to half-assery.

• Chimpanzees seem to know what's on other chimps' minds (Guardian UK): Study done on IVC’s B-200 faculty. Scientists "stunned."