Tom Fuentes' racist brilliance, etc.

I’ve been busy, so I’ve missed some nasty little stories. Here are three from Friday:

• TOM FUENTES' "RACIST BRILLIANCE." I came across this posting by OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano (OC GOP GOES BACK TO ITS MEXICAN-BASHING ROOTS IN FULLERTON CITY COUNCIL RACE):

In my latest book, I devote a chapter to the many sins of the Orange County Republican Party but also hinted that they were finally evolving from the slimeball campaigns of the past when it came to scoring easy points off of demonizing Mexicans. Specifically, I pointed to the 2006 Tan Nguyen affair, where GOP chair Scott Baugh fully repudiated Nguyen and only the farthest extremes of party activists (i.e., the CCIR [California Coalition for Immigration Reform] crowd) stood by their Tan.

So much for that goodwill. As noted by OC Blog, the OC GOP recently mailed out a hit piece on Fullerton City Council hopeful Karen Haluza, whose day job is planning manager for SanTana. Over pictures of apartment slums and the proposed One Broadway Plaza Freudian tower are these ominous words: "Stop Urban Planner Karen Haluza from Turning Fullerton Into Another Santa Ana!" (underlined in the original). If you still don't get it, the flier retells the same point on the other side: Will Karen Haluza Turn Fullerton into Another Santa Ana?"

The OC GOP plays its hand against Haluza with a racist brilliance not seen since the days of Tom Fuentes and his poll guards….

—An' don't forget: Tom was Tan Nguyen's chief advisor!

• SCAMMING TIPS. I may as well mention Jubal’s recent post on Red County/OC Blog (Greed And Sloth At Orange Coast College) about Orange Coast College political science instructor Patrick Coaty and the Coast Community College District trustee Armando Ruiz:

…[T]he student newspaper at Orange Coast College uncovered a real case of [greed] in the august halls of academia (H/T to R. Scott Moxley of OC Weekly).

The scam was perpetrated by OCC Associate Political Science Professor Patrick Coaty. Here's how it worked:

Coaty required the 500-some he has each semester to buy the textbooks he wrote, which together cost $162.59.

Then, he required his students to rip out the homework pages in the books, which rendered them worthless for re-sale to the college bookstore, and forced Coaty's next crop of students to shell out for Coaty's books.

Nice. Sort of a robber-baron-as-college-professor.

A student raised a ruckus, and now that attention was drawn to his scam, Coaty "revised" his book policy.

What ought to be revised is his employment at Orange Coast College—as in, fire him. The again, OCC is part of the Coast Community College District, of which the infamous Armando Ruiz is a Trustee. Ruiz would probably rather get some scamming tips from Coaty, rather than fire him.

I found this Ratemyprofessors.com site. It's interesting to read the student comments about Coaty. According to his students, Coaty is an easy "A," although they don't like the fact that her never returns their homework, so it's a little tough to know if you are learning the material. Who wants to wager Coaty never actually grades it?

—Do you suppose Tom will mention Coaty's scam during tomorrow night's discussion of high textbook costs? I'm bettin' that somebody will.

• OBAMA AIN'T A REAL AMERICAN, SAY STUPID PEOPLE IN OC. On Friday, the OC Reg's Martin Wisckol wrote about another daffy GOP rumor about Barack Obama (O.C. suspicions over Obama's citizenship continue):

Even some supporters of John McCain are dismayed with fellow Orange County Republicans who think Barack Obama was born outside of the U.S. and does not meet the requirements to be president.

An OC Political Pulse poll found that a third of responding Republicans thought Obama was born outside of the 50 United States....

Twenty-six miles across the sea...

And now, for a mid-semester, pre-election break: assorted pics from a weekend on Santa Catalina Island.

Ronnie gets a trustee room; district gets more lawyers; students get cheaper books?

There’s a meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees Monday night. You can download the entire agenda, a pdf file, at the district website. Looks like the board might make some decisions re ATEP in closed session. Hard to say. The “Janez Group” is listed as a participant in negotiations.

As you know, the board has scheduled a special ATEP meeting for Nov. 3. The open session is set to start at 7:00. Up first: board resolutions concerning the “professors of the year.” Scintillatin'! October's discussion item is “strategies” for “enrollment management” for the three campuses. It'll be a total snoozefest. The IVC student government budget is coming back for a second review. Things could get exciting for student government tomorrow, what with this and the trustees’ interest in lowering book prices (student government gets its money from booksales). The Ronald Reagan Board of Trustees Room

Item 6.3 is approval naming the Health Sciences Building, Room 145, as the Ronald Reagan Board of Trustees Room.  The “status” of this item is (awkwardly) described as follows: Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America, who dedicated Saddleback College forty years ago, and in recognizing that no greater national leader has ever had a role in the history of our community college district, the Chancellor was authorized by the Board of Trustees to send a letter to Mrs. Ronald Reagan, seeking her permission in dedicating the Health Sciences and District Services Building, Room 145, Saddleback College to the memory of her husband, President Ronald Reagan, and naming the room the Ronald Reagan Board of Trustees Room. Mrs. Reagan responded to the letter graciously giving her permission to allow Room 145 to carry President Ronald Reagan's name. Yeah. Ronald Reagan is the hero who gave us deregulation. That's turned out swell. It might be too soon to tell how great a role Ronnie has had in our history. Oddly enough, the next item is revision of various board policies, including BP-1500, Naming of College Facilities. Near as I can tell, the only changes to this policy being proposed are the addition of ATEP as among the district’s campuses and the addition of this line: “The District reserves the right to change the name of college facilities at any time.”

LAWYERING UP RE INVOCATIONS:

Item 6.9 is curious: “Approve retainer agreement for legal counsel to assist in matters involving invocation at Board meetings and College/District functions.” The full item is the following: 

 BACKGROUND

Our District was founded in 1967. For every year except one in the ensuing more than 40 years, the Board has opened its meetings with invocations. Trustees have offered these invocations and used the opportunity to do so for traditional prayers, moments of silence, and words of inspiration. STATUS

The legal propriety of continued invocations has been challenged by some faculty members. The District has consulted with several legal counsels in this regard and believes that we need to employ a legal counsel to further advise us in this matter on a continuing basis. It is recommended that the Board of Trustees employ John Eastman as our legal counsel for the aforementioned purpose. Mr. Eastman currently serves as the Dean of Law School at Chapman University.

TEXTBOOK COST SHOWDOWN?

Among reports are 7.1, “Information on plans for reducing textbook costs for Saddleback College and lrvine Valley College students.” I predict that some trustees will be displeased by this report. They’ll press for more aggressive action to lower textbook costs to students. And they’d be right. Bramucci, Plano, and Telson will be presenting a report on the colleges’ “strategic plans” for reducing textbook costs. Saddleback College’s “recommendations for the future” are the following: 1. The Saddleback College ASG and Foundation will be asked to consider contributing anually to the "Emergenw Book Loan Program," thus building reserves in the Library and accounting for edition changes.

2. The Saddleback College Bookstore is instituting a Book Rental Program, to be in place no later than the Fall of 2009. If feasible, program expansion should be supported as recommended by the Bookstore Committee.

3. Faculty will commit, whenever possible, to use any edition for as long as pedagogically possible.

4. Reminders of the importance of timely book adoptions will be sent to faculty more often. In addition, department chairs will be encouraged to commit to enforcing departmental early adoption policies.

5. Course readings should be encouraged wherever pedagogically possible.

6. Within five years, a CSU-led effort called the "Digital Marketplace," which will offer online resources such as an open-source digital library, should be available. For some reason, IVC’s report seems to highlight a document from student government.  I doubt that the board will be impressed by these reports. In the past, some trustees have seized upon the circumstance that bookstore textbook prices are artificially raised to fund student government (I think the figure is 10%; I could be wrong).  THE 50% LAW: Item 7.2 is a report regarding 50% Law compliance. It’s “status” is explained as follows: There has been no year when the District has been out of compliance with the 50% Law. The calculation for fiscal vear 2006-2007 was 50.03% and the calculation for this past fiscal year, 2007-2008, is 51.65%. No consultant has ever been hired to assist with compliance for the 50% Law. As required by the State Chancellor's Office the District’s independent auditing firm of Vicenti, Lloyd, and Stutzman examines and verifies the details of the calculation as part of the annual financial audit.

As you know, the Chancellor ignored this law for several years, a fact that was detected about a year ago. It soon became clear that radical steps would be necessary to increase "instructional" spending. Thus the massive and hurried hiring of 38 faculty last Spring.

The battle over Proposition 8

Tiger Ann, a celebrity and a fierce opponent of Proposition 8, has agreed to appear in today's blog as, um, eye candy. I asked her if she is gay and she just gave me the stink eye. Then she stretched.

Prop. 8 opponents take lead in money race

A tsunami of new money has poured into the campaign to defeat Proposition 8, as Hollywood celebrities, deep-pocketed donors and thousands of people from across the country wrote checks to block the proposed ban on same-sex marriage in California….


Proposition 8 proponents and foes raise $60 million—Contributors on both sides are motivated by personal beliefs

Sara Havranek quit working five years ago after the birth of her first child. Since then, she said, she and her husband have had to be frugal. "Every cent we spend is carefully considered." ¶ But the Aliso Viejo couple consider Proposition 8 so important that they have donated $1,100 to support the initiative to ban same-sex marriage. ¶ "Our faith is completely centered around the family. We believe the family is a divine institution," Havranek said to explain the contribution. ¶ Larry Maiman feels just as strongly that Proposition 8 is wrong for California. ¶ "I'm a gay man who has been in a relationship for 19 years who got married [six] weeks ago," he said, "and we'd like to stay married."….


Mormon church pulls plug on pro-Prop. 8 calls from Utah:

The Mormon church, whose members have emerged as the leading backers of a ballot measure to end same-sex marriage in California, is scaling back its Utah campaign operation but will continue to support the initiative. ¶ Church members will no longer be making phone calls from Utah to California voters, Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a prepared statement Friday. ¶ At the request of the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, church members in Utah had been enlisted to make calls on behalf of the measure. ¶ "However, the church has since determined that such phone calls are best handled by those who are registered California voters," Farah said. … ¶ The Courage Campaign, a liberal advocacy group, plans to deliver a petition to a Mormon church in Los Angeles next week demanding the church stop funding the Yes on 8 campaign….

Churches take sides over gay-marriage ban:

The Rev. Rick Mixon, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Palo Alto, considers himself an evangelical, but opposes a ban on same-sex marriage. Speaking of his fellow evangelicals, Mixon said: "It baffles me that they come down on the wrong side of this issue." ¶ San Jose evangelical lay leader Larry Pegram has a very different take on that "watershed issue." He declares that "pastors all around the valley are preaching on this issue, that the Biblical truth comes down on marriage as being between a man and a woman." ¶ Catholic, Mormon and evangelical leaders such as Pegram have been influential supporters of efforts to ban gay marriage in California. But Mixon is among a smaller group of clergy, including two dozen ministers and rabbis who spoke recently against Proposition 8 for the Council of Churches-Santa Clara County, which publicly supports same-sex unions….

PLUS!

TIGER ANN says, "Vote YES on Proposition 2!"

The OC: last refuge of scoundrels

1. MORE ON ARMANDO "BOOTS" RUIZ

Yesterday, the Reg’s Frank Mickadeit once again spanked Armando Ruiz, who is known for being Raghu Mathur’s one-time monkey boy, an incompetent Coast Community College District trustee, a Junketeer extraordinaire (like our own John Williams!), and an all around asshole from hell. Here's what the Mick had to say:

'Jamming Armando?' No problem:

Serial public-perk abuser and Coast Community College District Board candidate Armando Ruiz finally defended his conduct Thursday afternoon. … Give Ruiz … credit for showing up. Credit should end right about there, though. I wandered into the Orange Coast College Student Center shortly after 1 p.m. for a candidates forum and found Ruiz at the far right end of a dais populated by the other candidates – including the two who are on the ballot opposing him in Area 3, Lorraine Prinsky and Don Apodaca.

During his six-minute opening statement, Apodaca … swung his support to Prinsky and said he wasn't going to campaign. He left the room. Ruiz got up and asked the moderator archly, "Am I going to have 12 minutes then?" With a nod toward Prinsky, he added, "I just ask because his speech was for her." Whiner!

"A lot of people are saying things about me that are unfair and untrue," he continued. He said he was part of a reform board when he took office in 1983….

Great, as Prinsky noted later, but what have you done for us lately? Besides spend tens of thousands of dollars on cross-country junkets, keep the district's accreditation problem under the radar and, most egregiously, engineer a phony double retirement so he can soak the taxpayers for about $50,000 a year more than he deserves and continue to sit on the college board.

On Thursday, Ruiz's total defense for his 2004 retirement scheme … was this: "It was a retirement I have and I took advantage of it."

We've waited four years for him to utter that? Take advantage of us, is more like it.

As for the excessive travel – he's heading off to Manhattan for another junket next week – Ruiz noted that all travel is approved by the board majority.

True. However: Other trustees travel about half what Ruiz does. And when they do get travel approved, they don't always follow through with the trip, especially in light of one of the worst budget crises in memory and with scores of classes potentially being cut. Jerry Patterson canceled his trip to the New York conference.

On the accreditation issue, Ruiz denied that two fellow trustees were kept out of the loop, as they have charged. A copy of the warning letter was put in their mailboxes and they were told to check them. "They didn't read their mail," Ruiz asserted.

And then sounding like a whiny NBA center, he invoked the third person: "This is another way of jamming Armando."

Patterson denied he was notified. The first he heard about it, he said, was at a meeting a month after the warning was issued – and only then from a teacher.

Amazingly, Prinsky charged, the issue of accreditation was not brought up by the board until Oct. 1 – at 11:45 p.m., when it could be conveniently buried.

As for the accreditation problems themselves, Ruiz blamed the faculty for not embracing a policy of laying out specific learning objectives for every course.

This was but one of several issues for which the Western Association of Schools and Colleges cited the district, but it was the only one Ruiz addressed. One of the others, significantly, is that the lines of authority between the district and colleges are not clear.

Which brings up Ruiz's excuse about how it came to pass — without public discussion by the board – that scores of courses could be canceled this spring. Those decisions are left to the three individual colleges, Ruiz said. "I'm not the expert to say, 'You should cut this,' " he said.

Wait a minute. This is a crisis. You have been on the board 25 freaking years! In your real job, you worked in college counseling and administration. You're not the expert?

It's the faculty's fault. It's other trustees' fault. It's somebody else's job. You're picking on me.

Maybe come Nov. 4, it will be somebody else's job.

2. NOT NOTIFYING THE PRESS?

A local reporter has written us about SOCCCD public information. Evidently, he notified the district in writing that he wanted to receive notices of special SOCCCD meetings, but this yielded an email response, saying that there is no system in place for providing such notices. Our reporter friend insists that, by law, districts are required to notify every general circulation newspaper that has requested notification at least 24 hours in advance. This includes any emergency meetings, he adds.

3. TO THE MOON, ARIES!

Bob Park reports that India has launched its first spacecraft to the moon. According to Bob, “Astrologers among the astronomers in the Indian Space Research Organization declared 22 Oct 08 to be an auspicious day for the launch….” Oh good.

4. ASSHOLES ON A TEAR

I’ve been told that Chancellor Mathur is on another one of his tears, getting in underlings’ faces, causing tears, the gnashing of teeth, and much irregularity.

Meanwhile, his pal and patron Tom Fuentes is sending robocalls to South County residents, taking credit for balanced budgets, high transfer rates, good weather, and I don’t know what else.

He's a lyin' sack o' shit. You can quote me.

5. MY NIGHTMARE

I had a nightmare last night: in November, the whole country will swing to the left, ridding itself of numerous Republicans.

The nightmare? Everyone everywhere rids themselves of Neanderthals, except for us in South Orange County.

The last refuge of scoundrels.

Pictured left: my dad's latest clay creation. A closeup. Above: El Toro Rd., near Cook's. Live Oak Canyon Rd., as seen from my Chrysler 300.

Big trouble for the Accreds re SLOs

Last night, someone sent me an email, dated Oct. 13, from Marty Hittleman, the President of the California Federation of Teachers, to Barbara Beno, who heads the Accrediting Commission (ACCJC). Evidently, the CFT is taking on the Accreds over its mandate that SLOs be incorporated in course outlines, a clear violation of Title 5.

Will our own union (CTA) join the CFT? Here's the email, edited for length:

Re: Amendment of ACCJC Standards III.A.1.c. and II.A.6.

Dear President Beno, Chair Gaines, and Commissioners of the ACCJC:

...One of the most important rights faculty have is to negotiate with their employer over evaluation procedures, criteria and standards. … In addition, pursuant to the EERA, academic freedom policies are negotiated at community colleges.

In recent years, considerable controversy has existed within the community colleges over the issue of Student Learning Outcomes or SLOs. It is an understatement to say that many within the college community, faculty and administrators alike, feel the ACCJC has gone too far in its demands regarding SLOs, especially when they intrude on negotiable evaluation criteria and violate principles of academic freedom.

Not long ago, the CFT invited comment from its faculty unions about SLOs, and their impact on their local colleges. Of particular concern to CFT is the propensity with which accreditation teams from the ACCJC have indicated to the colleges that they should “develop and implement policies and procedures to incorporate student learning outcomes into evaluation of those with direct responsibility for student learning.” This directive is based on ACCJC Accreditation Standard III.A.1.c., which states,

“Faculty and others directly responsible for student programs toward achieving stated student learning outcomes have, as a component of their evaluation, effectiveness in producing those student learning outcomes.” (ACCJC Accreditation Standard III.A.1.c.)

Another standard has been used by accreditation teams to justify changes in faculty work such as syllabi….

This standard, which has interfered in faculty’s academic freedom rights, states:

“The institution assures that students and prospective students receive clear and accurate information ... In every class section students receive a course syllabus that specifies learning objectives consistent with those in the institution’s officially approved course outline.” (ACCJC Accreditation Standard II.A.6.)

We believe both of these standards, as written and as applied, intrude on matters left to collective bargaining by the Legislature. For a time, we recognized that the ACCJC’s inclusion of these standards might have been considered to be mandated by the regulations and approach of the U.S. Department of Education.

Now, however, with the recently re-enacted Higher Education Act, the Federal mandate for the SLO component has been eliminated for community colleges and other institutions of higher education. I’m sure you are aware that Congress passed, and the President signed, legislation amending 20 U.S.C. 1099 (b), to provide that the Secretary of Education may not “establish any criteria that specifies, defines, or prescribes the standards that accrediting agencies or associations shall use to assess any institution’s success with respect to student achievement.” [See Higher Education Act, S. 1642 (110th Congress, 1st Session, at p. 380)]

Given this amendment, it is CFT’s position that the ACCJC has no statutory mandate which prescribes inclusion of the above-referenced standards dealing with faculty evaluations, and syllabi.
...
Accordingly, the CFT wishes to inquire as to what actions ACCJC intends to take to conform its regulations to the requirements of State law, and to recognize that the adoption of any local provisions which include faculty effectiveness in producing student learning outcomes, should be entirely a matter of collective bargaining negotiations. And, similarly, that the ACCJC cannot mandate inclusion of information in syllabi which faculty, by reason of academic freedom and tradition, are entitled to determine using their own best academic judgment, or through the negotiations process. Of course, in negotiations over evaluation, the law also provides that faculty organizations shall consult with local academic senates before negotiating over these matters.

While ACCJC is free to encourage colleges and their faculty organizations to negotiate over this topic, it is not free to mandate or coerce the adoption of such standards by sanctioning colleges which do not adopt standards that ACCJC would prefer in these areas. Given its state function, ACCJC must respect the negotiations process mandated by state law, and academic freedom rights adopted by contract or policy.

California’s public community colleges are an extraordinary public resource, and the Legislature has seen fit to decree that when it comes to faculty evaluation, that process shall be subject to collective bargaining. With the adoption of the landmark bill A.B. 1725 almost 20 years ago, the Legislature came down squarely on the side of faculty determining, with their employers, the method and content of their evaluations. This system has worked exceptionally well for almost 35 years.

Given the change in Federal law, the CFT calls upon ACCJC to take prompt and appropriate action to amend its standards to respect the boundaries established by the Legislature and not purport to regulate the methods by which faculty are evaluated or determine their course work such as syllabi.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Marty Hittelman, President, CFT

Tom Fuentes: morality on holiday

You've gotta hand it to these "moral" right-wing Republicans. Most of the time, you can find 'em praying and moralizing and condemning the unrighteous.

—Yeah but, when election time rolls around, for this dark crew, morality goes totally on holiday. 

Consider Mr. Tom Fuentes' campaign for reelection as trustee on the SOCCCD Board of Trustees. He calls his opponent, Bob Bliss, a liberal unionist. In fact, Bliss is a conservative Republican. 

Fuentes takes credit for our colleges' high transfer rates (of students to 4-year institutions). In fact, he has absolutely nothing to do with that achievement, which, in truth, is accomplished by the very people he routinely contemns and demonizes (those lazy faculty featherbedders, et al.).

Tom bases his claim to being a frugal "friend to the taxpayer" on the fact that the SOCCCD has not pursued bonds. But he neglects to mention that our district is swimming in taxpayer dough thanks to its unusual "basic aid" funding, which obviates bonds.

I asked an expert to explain how much tax money this district spends, thanks to its "basic aid" gravy train. "A total shitload," he said.

Tom crows about our "balanced budget," but he neglects to point out that he doggedly supports a hated Chancellor who, for years, has driven our district ever closer to disastrous noncompliance with the "50% Law," which requires that most expenditures be devoted to instruction, not buildings and administrator salaries.

Plus Tom doesn't mention some important truths--e.g., that he shares much of the responsibility for our two colleges' coming as close as they've ever come to losing their accreditation.

Thanks, Tom, for the trustee micromanagement and the plague of despair!

Check out the Tomster's latest mailer (see graphics). 

Then, like Tom, contemplate morality and virtue and piety. Make sure your eyes are rollin' into the back of your head.

And think of the Lord thinking about Tom thinking about his campaign. 

I do hope there is a Lord, just so Tom can finally meet him. I wanna be there for that.