Tom Fuentes, campaign advisor

OK, now bear with me here. Back in March, DtB noted a remark that appeared in Orange Juice in February (Trustee Fuentes):

An anonymous blogger posted a comment on OC Blog today insinuating that Tan Nguyen, the former Democrat who is running in the GOP primary against Santa Ana School Board Member Rosie Avila, for the 47th Congressional District, paid Tom Fuentes to work on his campaign. I took the time to look up Nguyen's campaign filings, and sure enough he paid Fuentes a total of $10,000. However, the report is murky as to what Fuentes did to earn the money…It turns out that Fuentes, the former Chair of the Republican Party of Orange County, is indeed acting as a senior adviser to Nguyen, according to Nguyen's latest mailer….

You’ll recall that, back in 1988, Mr. Tom Fuentes got into hot water concerning a certain dirty trick designed to discourage Latino voters. As Gustavo Arellano explained back in 2005:

You [Tom] approved the use of poll guards to stand outside polling places in Latino neighborhoods when they cast ballots for the 72nd Assembly District race. The Republican Party candidate, Curt Pringle, won the election. But the subsequent furor led to your resignation as communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Orange, an exodus of Latino voters from the GOP (the first of many, it would turn out) and various settlements of lawsuits regarding the matter totaling more than $480,000. (Tom Fuentes)

This finally brings us to this morning’s LA Times and OC Register:

A state attorney general's investigation into letters apparently designed to suppress Latino voter turnout in Orange County for the upcoming election is focusing on the campaign of Republican congressional candidate Tan Nguyen, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

Nguyen, who has made halting illegal immigration part of his platform, is running an underdog campaign to unseat Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who represents Santa Ana and is Orange County's only Democratic member of Congress.

In a fast-moving examination that began just days after the letters were mailed, sources said investigators tracked down the location where they were printed and mailed to an estimated 14,000 Democratic voters in central Orange County.

Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, appearing Wednesday on the Patt Morrison show on 89.3 KPCC FM, said his office believes it knows who financed the letters, but said interviews were still being conducted and declined to provide further detail.

"That's the preliminary assessment, that there were one or more Republican candidates for office that were associated with this effort," Lockyer said.

A spokesman for Lockyer declined to elaborate. But two sources with direct knowledge of the inquiry said investigators were focusing on Nguyen's campaign, and a third said agents had interviewed Nguyen at his office...

...The letter, which purports to be from a Huntington Beach-based group, warns that immigrants will not be permitted to vote in the election. It also warns that the state has developed a tracking system that will allow the names of Latino voters to be handed over to anti-immigrant groups.

"You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time," the letter, written in Spanish, says....(Investigation into OC letter)

This morning’s OC Register (State Probe) appears to offer an even more in-depth report. Check it out.

I’ve gotta run. Gotta give a test in a half hour!

What does it all mean?

Garsh, I dunno.



UPDATE (11:00 p.m.):

MATT COKER has posted the letter (translated into English) on his blog:

Greetings [NAME WITHHELD],

You are being sent this letter because you were recently registered to vote. If you are a citizen of the United States, we ask that you participate in the democratic process of voting.

You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time, and you will be deported for voting without having a right to do so.

At the same time, you are advised that the government of the United States is installing a new computer system to verify the names of all new registered voters that vote in the October and November elections. Anti-immigration organizations can ask for information from this new computer system.

Unlike Mexico, here there is no incentive to vote. There is not a voter registration card in the United States. Therefore, it is useless and dangerous to vote in any election if you are not a citizen of the United States.

Do not listen to any politician that tells you the opposite. They are only looking out for their own interests. They only want to win elections without any regard to what happens to you.

Sincerely,

Sergio Ramirez

Day two of retaliation? —Where's Glenn?

Facilities and Maintenance workers told me today that, once again, Director Wayne Ward seems to be meting out retaliation for workers' speaking out about Wayne's unprofessionalism (see this & this). At least that's how they see it.

This morning (I'm told), Wayne asked the custodians' lead worker to pull a custodian from the pair who were supposed to clean the B-quad. The custodian's new job? Scraping gum from around the A400 building.

I actually saw him doing that this morning. Scraping. That scraper didn't look very efficient. The worker didn't look very happy.

Meanwhile, the other custodian was left to clean the entire B-quad by himself. Naturally, that put him behind his cleaning schedule.

I'm told that there is a pressure washer for this "gum" job. Evidently, a grounds worker had used the washer to blast gum from the same area two days ago, but, evidently, Wayne decided that the effort wasn't good enough.

But he didn't ask the grounds worker to finish his job. Instead, he pulled a custodial team apart, insuring that they fall behind their schedule.

Plus the custodian wasn't given the pressure washer to use.

GLENN? Are you listening, Glenn? Have you a clue, Glenn?

RECENTLY, I mentioned that a certain manager at IVC got into trouble a few months ago for using the college credit card to buy gas for his car. (At this point, you should imagine the sound of sirens.)

I've been told that more than one manager was caught doing this. (Now, please imagine the sound of, oh, a snazzy Camaro. Vroom.)

Would it really be so terrible?

OK, so I was over at the Health and Wellness Center yesterday, getting one of those flu shots. While I was there, I noticed a little basket over on the counter. It was full of shiny cellophane stuff. I checked it out.

Why, of course! The shiny things were condoms! So I took one. I mean, I'm a taxpayer, am I not?

So I got to looking at it, and it got me thinking: would it really be so terrible to suddenly find one of these little packages in your stuff?

I can't see why. Maybe somebody's sending you the message, "Be careful." That's not so bad, is it? Or maybe they're saying, "You, sir, are the sort of fellow who has sex."

Well, OK. I can deal with that perception. Why get peeved about it?

I mean, what if you opened your office door in the morning, and then, voila! There, on the floor, lookin' pretty sharp and staring right up at you is a condom, just like the one above that I snagged from the H&W Center.

Are you gonna freak out? What for?


OK, suppose you wander down to the coffee cart, and then, Boing!—there sits a condom next to the Vanilla Nut! Why on earth would you run screamin' into the night about it? You'd have to be some kind of dope!

Or what if you walked through the Administration Building and then walked up to where the Board Agenda is posted on that little clip. You go lookin' for it, and Zing!—somebody's stuck a condom up there instead!

Would that mess up your day? Really?


I can think of one CONDOM SURPRISE that might weird me out. If I'm looking in the mirror and I see that somebody's pasted a condom to my forehead, then, OK, that's not right.

But I wouldn't get all pissed off about it either.

Scholarly alternative to Wikipedia

• The latest issue of "Inside Higher Ed" informs us that, soon, a scholarly alternative to Wikipedia will be launched. See CITIZENDIUM.

• Ever hear of Victor Valley College? Well, there's a website or blog--a kind of rude & crude version of Dissent--called VVCHVAC.com, whose writers seem all worked up about various issues at that college. VVCHVAC.com seems to be especially worked up about a particular administrator whose name rings a bell.

UPDATE: Ting! Victor Valley College is in Victorville, way out there in the middle of nowhere near Barstow.

The administrator to which I referred is Pat Spencer, who served as IVC's VPI for a brief period (she was quite popular), but she soon figured out what she'd gotten herself into. Within a year, she got a better (i.e., unMathured) job at Fullerton College.

In 2003, she snagged the Superintendent/President job at Victor Valley, whose trustees seemed very pleased to snag her. The college has undergone a ridiculous rate of growth since then, and that caused major "growing pains," evidently.

About a year ago, a student at the college complained about her grade on an essay in which she made some reference to God that the instructor had somehow prohibited. Evidently, the case became a cause celebre among the knuckle-dragging crowd, and that probably had something to do with Spencer's recent "retirement" after three years on the job.

• Do facilities workers at our colleges have a union? It's hard to tell sometimes. (See recent blogs.)

Condom caper update: Wayne's retaliation?

LAST NIGHT, we told the story of an "Incident Report" submitted by custodians to Human Resources about a month ago. (See "It's a condom," he said )

The gist of the story was that, last month, Director of Facilities and Maintenance, Wayne Ward, called in the day custodians concerning the alleged fact that condoms were left in a groundskeeper's locker. During the meeting, according to our source, Director Ward angrily browbeat the custodians, accused them (or one among them) of the condom stunt, and threatened the perptrator, should Wayne learn his identity, with firing.

The custodians feel strongly that they were treated unfairly and unprofessionally by Wayne.

Hence the Incident Report.

But that process has, it seems, offered them no protection. (See yesterday's blog.)

We at DISSENT the BLOG agreed to present this matter but explained the risks involved. Nevertheless, the employees with which we spoke supported drawing attention to the situation. And so, last night, we told the story.

TODAY, one of the custodians reported to us that, in his judgment, Wayne has responded by retaliating against the day custodians.

According to that custodian, this afternoon, Wayne informed the day custodians—angrily—that he is breaking up the usual custodial teams. Instead, he is assigning large areas (e.g., 2 entire buildings) to individual custodians.

"What exactly is the problem with that?", I asked.

"It's more area than anyone can handle," said our source. "It's simple. We won't be able to do everything, and then people will complain about our work."

"He's setting us up to fail."

—OK, Glenn. Lead.

My Beautiful Laundrette

REBEL GIRL, reporting from Irvine Valley College:

LATE LAST WEEK, in an early morning raid, Bio-Nite commandoes liberated a washing machine, which had been rudely padlocked, allegedly by a member of the School of Fine Arts.

Said machine and its accompanying dryer were always the property of the School of Fine Arts; that fact is not in dispute.

However, for some time, the two machines had been stored in Bio-Nite Territory where they were used to wash the thin nylon costumes often seen in Fine Arts productions. In recent years, an accord had been reached and ratified by the two factions, which allowed the Bio-Nites to utilize the machine for purposes deemed more serious (the cleansing of laboratory garments). This access was seen as an exchange for the continued storage of said machines in Bio-Nite Territory.

During the recent funding round, the Bio-Nites were successful in their quest for monies to purchase their own machines--and when approached, the Fine Arts faculty declined to share in the expense.

This turn of events apparently inspired the actions that led to the padlocking of the washing machine by someone acting in the interests of Fine Arts. Fit of pique perhaps? A long-simmering tantrum of resentment?

Whatever the motive, the Bio-Nite Liberation Army (BNLA) commandoes moved into swift action, and said machine was liberated via a device identified by a renegade art historian as either an "Oklahoma picklock" or a "Texas nutcutter."

All parties involved declined to state their names, leaving Rebel Girl unable to fill in the details.

David of Bio demonstrates recommended posture for wielding Texas nutcuttlery.

"It's a condom," he said

Over the last year or so, I've heard several tales from Irvine Valley College employees about Wayne Ward, the Director of Facilities and Maintenance. Most of these stories have come from those who work with or under the Waynester.

Wayne runs a crew of maybe thirty employees, including three on the Administrative Staff, thirteen in the Custodial Department, five in the Grounds Department, and eight in the Maintenance Department. (See IVC Facilities and Maintenance.)

Those who work with Wayne—and even those like me who observe him only occasionally or from afar—are quickly left with the impression that the fellow has a very high opinion of himself and of his station in life. This can be gleaned from where he parks his car—anywhere he damn well pleases, evidently (see Wayne's World)—and even from his car's vanity plates, which say, "ALL WARD."

I've asked some of his crew for a brief description of Wayne. One told me, "He's the kind of guy who'll say, 'I don't come here to make friends; I come here to do a job.' —And, sure enough, he doesn't make any friends, not with us."

Another employee said simply, "Wayne thinks he owns the college. The guy's got a real attitude."

Then there's the issue of Wayne's alleged unprofessionalism. Workers have told me that Wayne sometimes issues orders that plainly violate rules, such as limitations imposed by the workers' contract. When someone calls him on these violations, Wayne doesn't take it well. "Wayne doesn't like it when we stick up for ourselves," says one employee. "He really hates that."

"Plus, when you make him look bad, he is liable to retaliate against you."

But does he at least get the job done? Certainly, one hears stories about Wayne's incompetence, and, though it is often difficult for those on the outside to determine these stories' validity, it is obvious to anyone with eyes to see that maintenance at IVC isn’t exactly Job 1. For instance, plainly, some rooms aren’t cleaned on any schedule. Instead, they are cleaned only when someone finally complains that they have become hellish shitholes.

And then there are the bathrooms. They're pretty important. You'd think that Wayne would make a point of getting them cleaned and ready for Monday morning, the start of the school week. Not so. Often, over the weekend, organizations use some of the facilities, including bathrooms, and, as a result, the bathrooms are trashed, sometimes appallingly so. Typically, when Monday morning arrives, they're still trashed: toilets are unflushed, towels are strewn, and so on. (This is my own observation—I teach at 8:00 a.m. on Mondays.)

There have been several incidents bringing faculty directly into Wayne's sphere, and these have generally left a very poor impression of him. The recent "unfinished temporaries" episode comes to mind. (See Abject finger-pointage.) That time, somebody dropped the ball bigtime. But Wayne didn't take responsibility. (Neither did Roquemore. It was pretty frustrating.)

RECENTLY, a custodian described a remarkable Wardian incident.

Evidently, a month ago, in the late morning, Wayne called in the day custodians for a meeting. The workers arrived at the designated time and then waited for their boss. Finally, Wayne showed up. He tossed a condom onto the table.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s a condom,” said one worker.

Angry, Wayne demanded to know which of the custodians left a “wet condom” on a table and a second, still-packaged condom in groundskeeper S's locker. That's what the meeting was about. These mystery condoms.

Wayne commenced cursing. He raised his voice. More than once.

The guy who told me this story insists that the custodians—at least those present—had nothing to do with the mystery condoms. Indeed, he says, they can provide proof that they were not even present when the condom incident occurred.

During the meeting, the custodians asked about their accuser. Wayne would not identify or produce him/her. Wayne then announced that, if he finds out which custodian left the condoms, he would personally see to it that he is fired. Wayne would personally escort him "out."

But why, asked the custodians, are they being singled out for accusations? What about the groundskeepers or the maintenance workers or others who could have condomized Mr. S's locker?

The custodians were offended. They felt that they were being accused of something that they had not done, and that, as a result of the accusation, their jobs were now threatened.

Later, they began to think: if Wayne gets away with this, he can do anything to us.


The custodians decided to pursue an official “incident report” (see above), which is essentially a formal complaint. It involves official channels and a defined process. Good.

They submitted the IR paperwork and then waited. After a few days, they called HR and, to their surprise, they were told that the IR document had not arrived. So they submitted the paperwork again, and, this time, they took steps to insure that it would arrive at HR.

But another problem arose. The custodians had submitted their complaint. But then they were told that they would never learn the results of the complaint. For instance, if, as a result of the IR, Wayne is disciplined or cited for misconduct, the custodians who made the complaint—and who still fear what Wayne might do to them—will not be told about that!

Naturally, the custodians feel that the situation is unacceptable.

What do YOU think?