Some Carona verdict opinery

Gosh, what are we to make of Irvine Valley College's "Hometown Hero" now?

Matt Cunningham (Jubal of Red County/OC blog on Flashreport):
Mike Carona Convicted On Witness Tampering, Acquitted On Corruption Charges:

This is a legal exoneration of Mike Carona, not a moral one. The legality of his conduct notwithstanding, he clearly disgraced the office, manipulated and lied to family and friends, and lived a double life. None of that is illegal, but it is real nonetheless.

R. Scott Moxley of OC Weekly:
Mike Carona, the unrepentant dirty ex-sheriff and now elated convicted felon!:

"I absolutely feel vindicated," he told a reporter. "Beyond vindicated ... I never gave up the belief that I was innocent."

Absolutely vindicated?

Beyond vindicated?

Innocent?

Jurors I interviewed insisted they believe Carona did accept bribes, lie and cheat, but felt constrained by complicated jury instructions and statute of limitations.

"He shouldn't be celebrating anything," one juror told me after the verdicts were announced. "His conduct as the sheriff was deplorable. He really should be ashamed."

Well, it's all moot anyway. Carona declared that he's now got an all-powerful ally. God, he says, has forgiven him ... for being ... so innocent and vindicated, I presume.

OC Register editorial:
Arrogance was at heart of Carona's crime:

… Mr. Carona was convicted … of one count of witness tampering and could be sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison.

The sooner the Carona era is over – his shoddy and deadly leadership of county jails, his unethical behavior on a number of fronts – the better.
…
Although he was acquitted on five counts, at least two jurors indicated after the verdict was delivered that he had done something wrong, but that the feds hadn't proved the case for crimes of conspiracy, mail fraud and a second count of witness tampering in misusing his office for personal profit.

As to the final count on which he was convicted, it is indeed a serious crime to "corruptly persuade" a potential witness – former friend and assistant sheriff Don Haidl – to withhold testimony and mislead a federal grand jury investigating charges of bribery and fraud.

Mr. Carona's witness tampering points up his trademark arrogance, which is at the root of so much of what despoiled his administration. … [T]he prosecution's tape recordings, made by Mr. Haidl and marked by Mr. Carona's own expletive-filled analysis, explicitly told the tampering story.

The bottom line is that Orange County government is rid of Mr. Carona, who for years arrogantly operated the county's largest law enforcement agency, turned a blind eye to abuse in the county jail and pursued fiscally disastrous policies such as extravagant overtime pay and other practices to ingratiate himself with deputies….

Frank Mickadeit, OC Register columnist
Verdict frustrates even some jurors

An injustice was done today," juror Marcia Deatherage of San Juan Capistrano told me. "It was a terrible verdict to have to bring to the citizens of Orange County, because he was guilty."

I spoke at length to three jurors, each of whom thought Carona was guilty of at least the main conspiracy charge and had gotten off with just one felony conviction in large part because of technicalities.

Arrogant? Unrepentant? Disgraceful? Shameful? Deadly? Corrupt? Unethical?

I'm reminded of Trustee Tom Fuentes, who, no doubt, engineered Mike's "Hometown Hero" designation, one of many Fuentean acts since 2000 that have brought our colleges a new kind of notoriety.

Cryingstockery.

No doubt, next, Mike's good pal Tom will get 'im a job as the SOCCCD's Ethics Officer. They'll get together on the floor and pray. Eyes will roll toward the heavens. Ecstasy will be experienced. Chancellor Mathur will drop by regularly and kiss all four cheeks, and then they'll pray some more. More ecstasy.

It's the SOCCCD, Jake.

George W. Bush is another Pal-o'-Fuentes. Here's Keith Olbermann's review of the Bush years from yesterday's CountDown. Unfuckingbelievable.

TigerAnn this morning.

As always, boldly facing a new day

Note: the belt buckle is a reproduction (I think), distributed by Disney during its 25th year anniversary (c. 1980).

Israeli TV airs Gaza doctor's pleas after children killed -

Rebel Girl read this story in the LA Times this morning and tracked down the video shortly thereafter. She knows that the blog has been all about the contract and the inaugural and Mike Carona, but she thought this was a worthwhile direction. Bear with her.

The video is four minutes 18 seconds of the war itself interrupting the regularly scheduled news broadcast as, according to the LA Times, "Minutes away from a scheduled phone interview on Israeli TV 10 with newscaster Shlomi Eldar, Aboul Aish called Eldar's cellphone, screaming and weeping in Arabic and Hebrew. The doctor's home had been struck by a shell:

"Oh God, oh my God, my daughters have been killed. They've killed my children. . . . Could somebody please come to us?"

Sitting at his news desk for one of Israel's main evening news broadcasts, Eldar held his phone up. For three minutes and 26 seconds, Aboul Aish's wailing was broadcast across the country."

It's astounding heartbreak.

Trustees to delay 67% pay increase for themselves

You’ll recall that, last month, the SOCCCD trustees were all set to dramatically increase their monthly stipend, from $400 per meeting to $750. (See Trustees set to nearly double their stipend.) 

Ah, but the media caught wind of that, and so, prior to the meeting, they tabled the item.

The item's back, but with a new recommendation.

Check out page 7 of the SOCCCD Board of Trustees meeting agenda for Tuesday night: SOCCCD Board Agenda (pdf).

Item 6.17 is Mathur's original proposal to boost trustees’ compensation per meeting from $400 to $750. (See graphic above.) As the OC Reg’s Marla Jo Fisher reported (see), that’s a 67% increase in pay.

Impolitic.

During the closed session portion of December's meeting, trustees had a preliminary vote on the union's proposed contract, and it was approved. As you know, since then, trustee Tom Fuentes has pulled out all the stops in his effort to prevent a faculty pay adjustment (a 9% increase over three years—but 5% of this is a state-wide COLA from last year) on Tuesday.

Last we heard, that item has been pulled.

I looked deeper into the trustee stipend agenda item—on page 257!—and found that, in fact, the new recommendation (for Tuesday night) is to delay this increase "until the economic situation becomes more certain...." See graphic below.

Weird miracles

JURY ROOM MIRACLE. Weird news today. First, late this morning, to everyone’s astonishment, Mike Carona was acquitted of all but one count against him.

Said Carona, “What you are watching is an absolute miracle. If you don't believe in God, now you should.” (See Reactions in the OC Reg.)

It’s a miracle that he was acquitted? If he were innocent and then acquitted, that wouldn’t be a miracle, now would it? It would just be appropriate.

Face it, it’s only a "miracle" when he’s as guilty as sin and anybody with half a brain can see it. Then, astonishingly, a jury looks at all the facts and says "hey, um, he's innocent."

There’s your miracle.

Shouldn't Mike be thanking the devil?

According to the Reg, the jury decided as follows:

Count One: Conspiracy
Jury verdict: Not guilty

Count Two: Mail Fraud Depriving the Public of the Right of Honest Services of a Public Official
Jury verdict: Not guilty

Count Three: Mail Fraud Depriving the Public of the Right of Honest Services of a Public Official
Jury verdict: Not guilty

Count Four: Mail Fraud Depriving the Public of the Right of Honest Services of a Public Official
Jury verdict: Not guilty

Count Five: Witness Tampering
Jury verdict: Not guilty

Count Six: Witness Tampering
Jury verdict: Guilty

Huh? He’s not guilty of all these felonies, but he IS guilty of messing with a witness to keep the court from finding out how guilty he is of the felonies?

One of the jurors, an African American, even forgave the Mikester for his frequent use of the word “nigger.”

That’s sweet.

I believe in miracles

FACULTY CONTRACT UPDATE:

Then, just before 5:00 p.m. today, SOCCCD faculty union President Lee Haggerty sent out the following email to membership:

Because of the rapidly deteriorating economic conditions of the state and the rapidly deteriorating political situation in the south orange county area, the Faculty Association leadership has been notified that the Board of Trustees has decided to pull the faculty contract from its agenda for consideration at the January 20, 2009 Board meeting. The Association leadership has been assured that the contract will be brought back for consideration at a Board meeting in the very near future.

Because the Board will not consider the contact [sic] at this upcoming meeting, faculty members are asked to not attend this January 20th meeting to speak in support of the contract and the Boosters pre-meeting is also being canceled.

The Association will keep you updated and share all additional and new information with you as it becomes available.

We are very concerned about this development, as we are sure you are, and we have committed ourselves to resolving this issue and protect your wages, benefits and work conditions.

Thank you again for your continued support of the Faculty Association and the negotiations team.

What's this about the “rapidly deteriorating political situation in the south orange county area”? Does he mean specifically the area occupied by the seven trustees?

Gosh, that Lee sure can be hazy.

A New Rose

Ah!
I get a feelin’ inside of me
It's kinda strange like a stormy sea
I don’t know why, I don’t know why
I guess these things have gotta be

Chorus:
I gotta new rose, I got her good
Guess I knew that I always would
I can’t stop to mess around
I gotta brand new rose in town

See the sun, see the sun it shines
Don’t get too close or it’ll burn your eyes
Don’t you run away that way
You can come back another day

(Chorus)

I never thought this could happen to me
This is strange, why should it be?
I don't deserve somebody this great
I'd better go or it'll be too late....

Storm over the contract vote

Wow. Yesterday, Tom Fuentes’ anti-contract blitz swung into high gear. Recently, Reg Opiner Steven Greenhut has been blasting trustee John Williams regarding his support of the faculty union contract offer recently voted upon in a closed session board vote. Then, yesterday, came this Reg editorial:

Editorial: Republicans ignore their principles:
Community college board with conservative majority approves huge pay raise

It's hard to believe – given the dire situation with the state budget, which is running a potential $40-billion-plus deficit, and the terrible state and national economic climate – that any public agency with the slightest shred of fiscal responsibility would be pushing forward large raises for public employees. Yet that's not only happening at a local community college district, but at one that has a board with a supposed conservative Republican governing majority. Are government officials this out of sync with reality?

They certainly seem to be at the South Orange County Community College District, which already pays some of the highest salaries in the state. According to recent estimates, the district pays the 10th-highest salaries out of 72 districts, but the board voted 4-3 in closed session to move forward a 9-percent salary increase for faculty members and 11-percent increase for part-time instructors, both over three years. These well-paid jobs, which come with some of the finest pension and other benefits, are sought after, so it's hard to believe there's a retention issue. But the board nevertheless is likely on Jan. 20 to give away the store to the faculty union….

The editorial extends the critical focus to trustee Nancy Padberg, who (reportedly) also supported the contract offer, and it slams Williams’ “rebuttal” to Greenhut’s criticisms:

…Ironically, Ms. Padberg is a prominent Republican, and Mr. Williams, another well-known Republican, is the elected public administrator for the county. Mr. Williams rebuts our criticisms by pointing to his long-running Republican credentials, but he doesn't deny that he favors the huge taxpayer-funded salary boosts.

He uses distinctly liberal reasoning: the district has a large budget surplus and the employees are underpaid compared to some other districts. He expects more federal funds to flow in given the importance of community college education and is worried about keeping the best employees. Some of the turnover problems Mr. Williams refers to are the result of overly generous pension benefits, which push people out of the classroom and onto the golf course at early ages. We'd certainly like to see hard evidence that the district is having retention problems before inflating pay, especially for those at the tail end of their careers….

On Wednesday, Jubal of Red County (Who Says The Union Lost The SOCCD Trustee Elections?) offered this:

Although Fuentes and Lang triumphed at the polls [in November], the union still seems to [have] won the election because four of the seven trustees are supporting a new contract that hands district faculty a whopping 9% pay increase, courtesy of Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer.
…
I don't know Milchiker and Jay, but it is practically impossible to attend an OC Republican event without seeing Williams and Padberg on hand. John Williams is a very nice man, and Nancy Padberg is...well, let's just say John Williams is a very nice man.

But John is also a union guy who is two-and-a-half dipping at the public till: retired county marshal, current county Public Administrator and SOCCD trustee. He enjoys union support in his trustee campaigns, and it's not hard to see why.

So I'm not really surprised John is supporting this contract. Disappointed, yes: a lot of taxpayers are cutting back their family budgets even as John wants to plow their money into a fatter union contract.

But not surprised….

Then, yesterday, Jubal (The Curious Case Of Nancy Padberg) switched focus to Nancy Padberg:

As it stands now, the contract is likely to be adopted on a 4-3 vote -- with the fourth vote for the contract coming from Trustee Nancy Padberg.
...
Padberg is a member of the OC GOP Central Committee and a fixture of local Republican events - and a self-described "Reagan Republican."
…
Giving a 9% pay increase in this economic environment, when SOCCD is looking at declining revenues in coming years, not only is not Reagan-like -- it is fiscally reckless. Padberg and the other three pro-union contract trustees need a serious reality check.
…
That Padberg is providing the fourth vote to put the union contract over the top is particular ironic considering the rhetoric in this "reader rebuttal" she published in the OC Register last September, heatedly denying she was a "union backer":

"Greenhut states Padberg, Milchiker and Jay support the union. In fact, I have voted against union proposals 96 percent of the time. I never voted to increase teacher salaries by 10 percent."

And Padberg's been as good as her word, bravely holding the line at 9% -- and not a penny more for that...that...union!

Ms. Padberg continues:

"I have fought tirelessly to contain all salaries, especially the salaries of administrators."

Given that she's supporting a 9% pay spike, Ms. Padberg has apparently stumbled onto a new definition of the word "tirelessly" no one else knew about.

Padberg closes her screed with:

"I defy anyone to prove my record is anything but that of a fiscal conservative and taxpayer watchdog."

Nancy Padberg has a golden opportunity to walk that talk by voting against the union contract on Tuesday. Otherwise, Padberg will be voting to rebut her own rebuttal.

Coincidentally, Padberg Is Up For Re-Election
…
Every two years, the OC Republican Party conducts its local elected officials endorsement process. In 2006, I observed ann [sic] endorsement committee meeting at which, aong [sick] other things, they considered an endorsement request from a candidate for one of the south coastal cities (I think it was San Clemente). This woman had been a registered Democrat at one time, and had apparently publicly endorsed a Democrat for a partisan [sic] office. Padberg mercilessly harangued the committee [sic] on these points, demanding they not endorse her.

Should Padberg actually cast the fourth vote on Tuesday, she ought to be held up to the same scrutiny she applied to that candidate. Personally[sic], I'll take an honest convert over a political Pharisee any day of the week.

Well, to top it off, yesterday, Chancellor Mathur emailed all SOCCCD employees, providing a link to the Reg editorial. What a guy!

Tuesday night’s meeting will be a humdinger.

Get Your Ball Gown On

This late arrival in the virtual mailbox today came from the college president. In case you didn't read it, we post it below in its entirety with all its capitalization intact.

SUBJECT LINE: PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION

Colleagues,

There have been a few requests to open the PAC for the purposes of airing the Presidential Inauguration. There is no doubt that this Inauguration is historic and expected to draw broad National attention and interest. However, establishing a formal college wide program for this purpose is not possible from a number of vantage points. The most important point is that Tuesday will continue to be a day where students are in most need of our services. I have consulted with the Executive Administrative Team, the Deans and the Academic Senate President regarding this matter. The consensus is to not host a college wide Inauguration viewing. We can do the following:

We have been told that “College Network” will be airing the Inauguration on the cafeteria televisions.

We will attempt to bring up a CNN web feed on the two flat screens in the SSC lobby.

Student clubs are encouraged to host Inauguration events.

Administrators and Classified Staff wishing to view portions of the Inauguration Program will be able to do so only at the discretion of your supervisor and when zero impact on college business is verified.

Very Respectfully,
Glenn R. Roquemore, Ph.D.
President
Irvine Valley College

Ahem.

Not surprising but still. Rebel Girl recalls all those other events of a civic nature that we and our students (and, she believes, staff and administrators) were encouraged to attend--to commemorate say, Veteran's Day or September 11th. These events are held in public areas of the college during class time. Very often faculty dismiss or cut short classes in order to participate and are greeted with smiles. Please join the IVC community, the flyers often say. Join us.

Rebel Girl remembers a sunny day when we were all told to stay home. On Wednesday April 27, 1994, the entire college district shut down for an Official Day of Mourning honoring a great American, newly dead and to be buried on that day. Surely you remember. We were the only college district in the country to close (it took a vote from the board of trustees) and deny students our services on that day. Who were we honoring?

Richard M. Nixon.

Over a year later, on October 3, 1995, Rebel Girl noticed two big televisons pushed out in front of the Student Center. What's up, she wondered. Some students and staff gathered around the sets. As as she got closer, she saw what was up. It was the O.J. Simpson trial, televised live. The jury was about to deliver their verdict. It was something Rebel Girl didn't want to see, no matter what happened. There was something creepy about the whole scene.

She never could figure whose idea it was to put the big TVs out there. What they were hoping for. Why they thought that that verdict in that trial was so important for the students to view. She wonders what those same people might say when, 14 years later, someone requests to recognize the inaugural of the nation's first African-American president in a manner that suggests President Obama is just as important as a disgraced dead president or a disgraced celebrity athelete.

Shame.

Don't even get her started on how the college simply doesn't really "do" King day either. She'll talk your ear off and then you'll only have one ear.


Anyway, Rebel Girl plans to wear her version of an inaugural ball gown on Tuesday. Come find her, wherever she is and we'll party down. She's never needed anyone's permission to celebrate. She suggests you don't either.

Ground Broken on Vast Campus Hole

This satirical piece (aka "fake news") was written by a colleague in the sciences who insists on calling himself "intrepid girl reporter Lana Lang." —RB

Ground was broken, and construction begun here at IVC this past Tuesday, January 14, on the much touted and long-anticipated Raghu P. Mathur Commemorative Hole-In-the-Ground, a gargantuan cavity to be dug deep into the IVC campus.

The hole is funded in part by the state’s investment of $50 million during the second special legislative session of 2008, according to a news release from SOCCCD Board Chairman David Lang’s [sic] office. “It will be a great monument to a great man, emblematic of all he has done for the people of this district and of Orange County in the past, and all that he is going to do in the many, many years ahead,” said Lang, age 64.

In attendance at the ground-breaking ceremony were Lang, IVC President Glenn Roquemore, SOCCCD board members Tom Fuentes and John Williams, celebrities Ed McMahon, Bob “Front Row!” Uecker, disgraced New York Giant running back Plaxico Burress, deceased wrestler Andre the Giant, a Wolfman Jack look-a-like, and noted entertainment figure Chesty Morgan—as well as the great man himself, SOCCCD Chancellor Raghu P. Mathur.

“This groundbreaking represents a very great monumental step forward in our district’s continued expansion and growth of on-campus facilities and ongoing efforts to serve for the best interests of our students, who must come first, while providing job growth to the economy in a cost effective manner for the benefit of all peoples of Orange County,” said Mathur, age 67, a Pisces, pointing out that the hole construction would employ over 100 people at close to minimum wage. “In essence—this wast hole in the ground is a wast new cylinder in the educational and economic engine that is the SOCCCD,” he concluded.

Construction of the new Raghu P. Mathur Commemorative Hole is scheduled to be completed by July 2012, said Fuentes, a life-long Republican and a terrible dresser. Cost overruns, construction, delays, and materials shortages are expected to drag the actual completion date to sometime in late September of 2017, Fuentes added, with an actual opening to the public for a nominal fee expected sometime in the summer of 2019. The final costs, not adjusted for inflation, are anticipated to exceed 245 million dollars.

“A year ago today,” said Mathur, 5’4”, 195 lbs, in his opening address to the dozen or so on-lookers, “I told you that ‘in the knowledge-based economy of this century, inwestment and opportunity flow to places vere the vork force is prepared … vere the business climate is velcoming . . . and vere educational opportunities are being supplied by a caring faculty and staff, facilitated by a top-notch . . .” he droned on and on like that, before his microphone malfunctioned and he was partially electrocuted.

Construction foreman Eduardo Contreras, age 47, married, three children, commented that, “It’s a very difficult project. We will be displacing over 1.2 million cubic yards of earth, and where do you put it all, huh? The landfills have all refused it, and we will not be allowed to haul it over municipal or county rights-of-way . . . so we will be looking for ways to redistribute it . . . across campus, maybe. I don’t know.”

“In fact we will use some of the student and staff parking lots to stockpile the overburden,” said SOCCCD board member Williams, brown hair, brown eyes. “As well as building rooftops and unused storage areas. If we leave it out long enough, a lot of it will simply blow away, I think.”

“Putting some of the extra soil in available classroom spaces on a temporary basis is not out of the question,” added SOCCCD board member Fuentes, age 87. “Afterall, we should put those spaces to some good use,” he quipped humorously, before falling over into an uncovered gas-main search trench.

“Oh, those are all swell ideas” added Contreras, whose status in this country is thought to be entirely legal. “Or maybe they could just put up a fucking sign, ‘free topsoil’ or something, huh? I mean—sheesh! Coños!”

Over the course of the construction project, there will be numerous disruptions to local traffic, noted aspiring state-level politician David Lang—including long-term closures of College Drive, and occasional shut-downs of Jeffrey Road and Irvine Center Drive to make way for the movement of truck cranes, crawler derricks, gantries, semi-driven dump trailers, hydraulic excavators, wheel loaders, back-hoes, precision vibrating earth rammers, bulldozers, skid steer loaders and just a whole shit-load of other kinds of heavy earth moving equipment.

Additional problems associated with the project include disruption to campus electrical and water supplies, as over ten thousand feet of copper wire, and three-quarters of a mile of concrete pipe and pipe fittings, will have to be removed to accommodate the expanding depression. In addition, the recently-built, two-story, 60,000 square foot library building will have to be entirely demolished to make way for the colossal Mathurian fissure.

¨The college has been steadfast in following the Facility Master Plan and the District Five-Year Construction Plan,” noted IVC President Glenn Roquemore, who is a former United States Marine and father of one. “From Fall 2003 to Fall 2008, Distance Education sections offered at IVC have increased by over 680%,” he noted cheerfully, for no discernable reason. A heavy explosion sounded from the construction pit as he did so, disrupting a flock of starlings.

“Yeah, it’s like the return of the fucking pharaohs,” said construction foreman Contreras, as he paused to lean against his shovel in the unseasonable 82 degree Santa Ana conditions, while workers busied themselves on the emerging testimonial crater. “All this fucking effort for the sake of one man’s seemingly unassuageable ego. Ai chinga’o!”

“You know, most college district chancellors, they work a few years in one position, and then they move on, eh?” Contreras continued, “But this guy here, this Mathur guy, I guess he just don’t get the idea, huh? So he gets his cronies to build this monument to him while he is still in office rather than when he retires or dies, cuz, you know—when else can they do it? He’s not ever going to leave, and he’s not ever going to die. Que cabron!”

“Ai, puta madre!” he added later.

The commemorative hole project was originally envisioned and proposed by former IVC Dean of Humanities Howard Gensler, a diminutive bald man of some sixty-odd years, almost five years ago when he was his intense groveling and brown-nosing style initially ingratiated him with Mathur and other district board members. The plan, however, was ridiculed and laid aside once Gensler fell out of favor with, and was eventually hatcheted by, twisted district apparatchiks. The deranged and unholy scheme was resurrected by Mathur and the current board majority when their joint efforts failed to produce a better idea.

“I want just want to thank everyone who attended,” said IVC President Roquemore at the closing of Tuesday’s ceremonies, “And everyone who participated. Thank you. Thank you all.”

—Lana Lang