The SOUTH ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT —
"[The] blog he developed was something that made the district better." - Tim Jemal, SOCCCD BoT President, 7/24/23
Today, South Coast [sic] Community College District Trustee David Lang pulled candidate papers [for OC Treasurer]. A source had told me Lang, who withstood a faculty union challenger to his 2008 re-election, had ambitions for the OC Treasurer-Tax Collector seat, and the source was correct. Lang is closely allied with fellow SOCCCD Trustee and former OC GOP Chairman Tom Fuentes. That should prove immensely helpful to the relatively unknown Lang, since Tom Fuentes' has a wide and deep network he's built over the course of 40 years.
About five years ago, after consistently opposing Raghu Mathur (since 1996), Lang suddenly did an about face, becoming a staunch Mathur supporter. His closest faculty friends confronted him, asking him what he was up to. He never seemed to have an answer. He smiled his insipid smile.
Soon thereafter, the word was out that Lang had hooked up with Fuentes, who, of course, had embraced Mathur from the very beginning--in 2000, if not earlier. So Lang would support Mathur, and Fuentes would further Lang's political ambitions, which (according to the story) included securing the OC Treasurer/Tax Collector gig.
Nevertheless, for the election of 2006, Fuentes worked to get Chriss Street elected as OC Treasurer; no doubt Fuentes purred into Lang's ear: "not yet, my son." Street was elected, but, right away, his Fruehauf Trucking troubles surfaced, and he commenced spending extravagant bucks on his County digs.
It soon became clear that he was a typical pal-o'-Fuentes: corrupt, unprincipled, self-serving.
So now Street's out. Will Tom finally come through for Lang?
South Orange County Community College District trustees voted in a special meeting Thursday night to hire a consultant to aid in the search for a new chancellor.
Chancellor Raghu Mathur will leave the district June 30, after nearly eight years at the helm of both Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges. Mathur's departure was announced in late January after Mathur and trustees reached an agreement to terminate his contract early.
Consultants will be interviewed at the March 25 board meeting, SOCCCD spokeswoman Tracy Daly said.
Mathur has alleged his early departure is the result of being forced out by board president DonWagner over the creation of a new dean position at Irvine Valley College.
Here’s an update on the effort to change IVC’s mascot, the Laser.
I communicated with a reliable source who informs me that the process continues but has taken longer than expected for a variety of reasons. My source assures me that the people involved in this process are doing everything they can to avoid the “lame,” the “racist,” and the “illegal.” (My source is funny.)
It is better to do things right, deep throat says, than to do things quickly.
Students—including student government—are the chief players in the process. So, there you go.
Apparently, the team’s goal is to put the matter to a vote right after Spring Break, if possible. Students will be presented with many nominations.
(*The article has been updated: "Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street will not seek reelection and has recommended that supervisors “temporarily suspend” his investment authority while he weighs his legal options." Among other things, this means that the deadline for pulling papers to run for Treasurer has now moved to the 17th [Wednesday].)
Orange County supervisors are moving forward with a plan to suspend embattled Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street’s authority to invest county funds, Supervisor Bill Campbell said late Thursday.
The move comes a week after a federal judge ruled that Street breached his fiduciary duty when he attempted to build an empire instead of protecting the assets of a trust he was hired to liquidate. He was ordered to pay more than $7 million in damages to the End of the Road Trust.
Campbell and board Chairwoman Janet Nguyen are sponsoring an emergency agenda item that calls for transferring Street’s investment authority to county Chief Financial Officer BobFranz.
“We just don’t believe it’s proper to have someone found guilty in court of breaching his fiduciary duty to be responsible for managing the county’s investment funds,” Campbell said. “It’s our obligation to protect the assets and reputation of the county’s investment pool.”
All four county supervisors would have to approve the emergency action, which would remove Street’s authority 15 days after they vote.
Meanwhile, Street has not responded to calls for his resignation. Supervisor John Moorlach, his predecessor as Orange County treasurer who endorsed his election bid in 2006 but who later became one of his most vocal critics, reiterated earlier calls for his resignation the day U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard M. Neiter handed down his decision last week.
Campbell said he met with Street Monday and asked for his resignation. On Tuesday, Street’s lawyer Phil Greer* called Campbell to say that Street would propose suspending his investment authority instead. Campbell was expecting a memo from Street memorializing that position, but still hadn’t seen it late Thursday.
. . . It’s still unclear whether Street will run for reelection. The filing deadline is today, and while he paid his $1,730.98 filing fee the same day Neiter handed down his judgement in the civil case, Street still hasn’t completed the paperwork required to run. The political blog Red County published an unattributed report this week that Street doesn’t intend to stay in the race, but so far he’s been silent on the issue.
It’s also unclear whether Street will appeal the ruling. On Thursday, Greer said they were “looking at the options” and would likely have an announcement today or Monday….
*Recently, Greer has represented Trustee John Williams and Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur.
…[S]omething good is being attempted by students by Saddleback College's Diversity Student Council (DSC). They are trying to have the school modify its Gauchos mascot, which currently looks more like a Mexican greaser than a cowboy of the pampas.
The group wrote a resolution, recently passed by the Associated Student Government's senate, that calls for what I wrote in the last sentence. "Whereas, Saddleback College, an educational establishment, reiterates institutional racism through caricatures of a minority that misrepresent it, and Whereas, the inaccurate depiction of the Gaucho suggests a climate of tolerance towards stereotype," the resolution states before asking for the "halt of Saddleback College merchandise and school publications with the image of the current Gaucho."….(continued)
(As Gustavo has acknowledged, we wrote about the "Gaucho" problem back in 2006: The Lariat “Gaucho”, Feb. 8, 2006)
Red County’s always-mediocre (and often dull) Matthew Cunningham just posted something about Tom Fuentes’ good pal Chriss Street, who, as you know, recently walked out of a courtroom with something new and special to add to his CV. (It Looks Like Chriss Street Won't Seek Re-Election)
Matt reports that he’s “hearing that OC Treasurer Chriss Street will announce today that he's decided against seeking re-election….”
As if that weren’t riveting enough, Matt opines: “Street exiting the race makes Huntington Beach City Treasurer Shari Freidenrich the heavy favorite – not only because she has Sup. John Moorlach's backing but primarily because she has the magic word 'treasurer' in her ballot title.”
I’m still hoping that Dave Lang’s name will pop up here. He's got the magic word "quisling" in his title, or at least in his reputation.
Wouldn’t it be great if he were to throw his beans into the ring? But there’s no sign of it. Dang!
Our readers have been reacting to some of the special comments that were solicited in IVC’s now famous “student satisfaction survey.”
The chronically clever Bohrstein has offered some interpretive advice. Some student remarks, he seems to say, are baffling or abstruse. These students, he writes, seem to be leaving out crucial context--elements without which no real sense can be made of their stunning verbiage.
Being the generous fellow that he is, he offers some plausible complements:
"It would be nice if more classes were offered in the summer," should have the following appended, "because I failed all of my classes this semester."
"I feel that the assessment test does not accurately evaluate.” [Addition:] “It said I was stupid.”
Why, yes, that does make things clear.
Bohrstein identifies his favorite comment, which, as it happens, is mine too:
Yes! I WAS VERY OFFENDED BY HEARING ABOUT THE VIEWING MATERIAL FOR HUMANITIES 73. THE TEAHCER SAID THAT PART OF THE STUDY WAS GONNA BE ON RAUNCHY RATED R DIRTY COMEDY FILMS, WHICH I FIND TO BE SEXUALY HARASSING ESPECIALLY IN A PUBLIC CLASS ROOM. SO I DECIDED NOT TO PETITION THAT CLASS. I HOPE THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR WILL BE RULED OUT OF ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS. I ALSO BELEIVE THAT ITS WRONG TO CHARGE A STUDENT FOR NAPKINS, PLASTIC UTENSILS, AND CONDIMENTS JUST BECAUSE THE STUDENT DOESN'T BY LUNCH ON THAT GIVEN DAY. I TRIED TO TAKE A PLASTIC FORK AND SOME KETCHUP AND THE CASHIER WANTED TO CHARGE ME FIFTY SENSE. AND SHE SAID THAT THE UTENSILS AND NAPKINS WERE FOR CUSTOMERS ONLY. I FELT UPSET BECAUSE I JUST BOUGHT $10.00 WORTH OF FOOD AT THE CAFETERIA EARLIER THAT WEEK. UNTIL THEY CHANGE I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO THE CAFETERIA AGAIN. I WOULD APPRECIATE A RESPONSE FROM THIS. THANK YOU.
Bohrstein’s eagle eye spots something particularly good in this fine rant:
"Really? Fifty sense? That's like [a] super sixth sense, right?"
In this instance, BS casts no light, not for me. Nope. Whatever this woman was referring to, it was something that one can “charge.” One cannot really charge a sense—such as, say, vision or ESP or anal probe sensitivity.
I suspect that this woman’s (?) instructor (Hum 73 is “Film genre studies”) did not actually say that she would be showing “raunchy rated-R dirty comedy films.” On the other hand—hey, maybe I should sign up for this course. It sounds really good.
The woman was plainly incensed by being charged for that plastic fork and ketchup she took from the cafeteria on a day when she bought no food there (but where, days earlier, she had spent ten whole bucks).
She is a woman of action. She has already commenced boycotting the cafeteria. But that is not all. She demands an official response to her bitter complaint.
I wonder what it is like to be this woman? I have no idea. It’s a little like wondering what it’s like to be a bat.
Another among my favorites is this: “If indit ironic that IVC….”
The rest of the sentence is disappointingly conventional. (He/she actually goes on to make a good point.) It’s that stunningly original introductory phrase that caught my eye. Now, if I were to start that sentence, I might write something mundane, such as:
Isn’t it ironic that…
What kind of being are we dealing with here? What manner of creature could arrive at something as wonderful and prodigious as “If indit ironic”?
Good Lord! I’m still reeling!
There are, in fact, many good points made by students in the survey. We will no doubt note them and then assemble and launch the necessary "work groups" and "action teams."
But, in time, all of that will be forgotten. I do not think, however, that I will ever forget "If indit ironic."
Well, the always mediocre Matthew Cunningham of Red County/OC reports that Dave Lang has pulled those dang papers afterall:
