Williams loses on appeal

AN ODD DEVELOPMENT. Surfin’ the net, I happened upon a successful appeal, published today (here is the download).

It is the reversal of a court decision made back in May in favor of John Williams, OC Public Administrator. It concerns the estate of Charles David Lewis Jr., aka “Mask”—some sort of celebrity, who died a year ago in an automobile accident in Newport Beach. (See Charles Lewis, Jr..)

His Ferrari was hit by a Porsche driven by a drunk driver.

The appeal was filed (I believe) by Diane Larson, the mother of Lewis' two children.

Why would Williams seek to administer the estate of this guy?

Here are some excerpts:

Diane Larson appeals from the court’s order appointing the public administrator to administer the estate of the deceased father of Larson’s two children, who are decedent’s sole heirs. We reverse because Probate Code section 8464 did not authorize the court to make such an appointment.

FACTS

On April 1, 2009, Larson petitioned to administer decedent’s estate. The petition stated decedent died intestate in Orange County, California on March 11, and was survived by two children who lived with Larson in Illinois.

On April 7, the public administrator petitioned to administer decedent’s estate, claiming Larson was “not the court-appointed guardian of the estates of the minors” and, even if she were, the court had discretion to appoint “another person entitled to appointment” as administrator. The public administrator stated he was “best suited and qualified . . . to act as administrator” due to the “potential size and complexity of this estate.”

Also on April 7, the public administrator petitioned for letters of special administration. His petition stated decedent was believed to own a 28 percent interest in “TapouT LLC,” a successful clothing and marketing company “associated with the sports of mixed-martial arts and ultimate fighting.” Media reports suggested the value of that interest exceeded $10 million. Decedent was also thought to have substantial bank accounts, securities, “valuable automobiles (including a Porsche Turbo S and a Bentley) and potentially valuable intellectual property rights.”

The next day, Larson petitioned for letters of special administration. Larson stated the minors were decedent’s sole heirs and she was their biological mother and legal guardian. Larson submitted a brief stating that under Illinois law, she could not be appointed the minors’ guardian since she is their living, custodial parent currently caring for them. The court responded to the competing petitions by appointing the public administrator as the special administrator of the estate, and later extended the letters of special administration through May 13. Prior to the May 13 hearing on the petitions, Larson reported that an Illinois court had appointed her the legal guardian of the person and estate of each minor, and that both minors had nominated her to act as administrator of their father’s estate.

At the May 13 hearing, the public administrator argued he was “better suited to handle” the large, “complex” estate. Shortly before his death, decedent had stated his net worth to be “15 million dollars, and his annual income [to be] 1.5 million dollars.” The estate required “a lot of leg work to track down the assets,” such as taking custody of the cars. The public administrator had “three attorneys assigned to this case,” and “a team of investigators and professional fiduciaries . . . .” The public administrator was local, whereas Larson lived in Illinois. The public administrator advised the court that section 8464 gave the court the discretion to appoint as the estate’s administrator either the minors’ guardian or “another person entitled to appointment.”

Larson argued for appointment as the estate’s administrator because she is the minors’ guardian. She asserted there was no conflict between the children and her. … She argued she was qualified, is bondable, and had competent experienced counsel; moreover, the “two sole heirs want their mother to take care of it.” She asked the court, in exercising its discretion, to “consider what would best benefit the children.”
…
After reviewing the moving and opposing papers, the court approved the public administrator’s petition, appointed him as the estate’s administrator, and denied Larson’s petition.

After an extensive “discussion,” the document ends with:

The court’s order must be reversed because, in the absence of a finding that Larson was not competent to act as personal representative, the court lacked statutory authority to appoint the public administrator, instead of Larson, to administer decedent’s estate and thereby abused its discretion under section 8464. (In re St. John’s Estate (1937) 8 Cal.2d 175, 176-177) [court’s order appointing administrator reviewed for abuse of discretion].)

DISPOSITION

The order is reversed. Larson shall recover her costs on appeal.

SEE C.A. Reverses Order Naming Administrator of TapouT Founder’s Estate (Metropolitan News-Enterprise)

The matter is "under review"

.....I want to apprise readers of new developments in the John Williams “disturbing discrepancies” matter. (For background, see this.)
.....Early yesterday, I went online to the Orange County government website and found an organizational chart that seemed to indicate that the person Williams answers to is the County Executive Officer, Thomas Mauk.
.....So I wrote him, explaining the “disturbing discrepancies in public records concerning” Mr. Williams. I wrote: “At appears that, in several instances, Williams claimed a full day’s work at his county job on days when, according to SOCCCD records, he was at conferences.”
.....I closed with: “If you are not the person to contact, please advise.”
.....Mr. Mauk did not write back, but, after a day and a half, I heard from Howard Sutter, CEO of Community/Media Relations (County):

I am writing in response to your e-mail of May 4, 2010 sent to Thomas G. Mauk, County Executive Officer. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. The matter you referenced is currently under review.

As I expected, I was also apprised of “the nature of the reporting relationship between elected department heads and the County Executive Officer.” It’s kind of complicated.
.....I was glad to hear that “the matter” is now “under review.” But that’s pretty vague. So I wrote Sutter back immediately:

Would it be possible to shed any light on the "review" to which you refer and that is currently under way? Who is performing the review? To whom will that person report? When will the review by done?

Soon, I heard back. Sutter wrote:

I am not directly involved in the matter, so I do not have any additional information at this time.

Well, that won’t do. I pressed for more information.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE:

At 6:55 this morning (May 6), Mr. Sutter wrote to say

After my e-mail to you yesterday, I learned the matter has been referred to the
Internal Audit Department. That is all of the information I have at this time.

Read about the IAD here.

Listed on the site is a fraud hot line: “Report to us [IAD] about questionable behavior, waste, and abuse involving county vendors, employees, and processes.”

There is an Audit Oversight Committee (AOC). According to the website, "The AOC members are as follows:

• Chair, Board of Supervisors
• Vice-Chair, Board of Supervisors
• Auditor-Controller
• County Executive Officer
• Public Member
• Treasurer Tax-Collector, Ex-Officio Member (Non Voting)"

The Death of Public Education, UCI, May 4

Photos by our pal Jason (Davis).

Still more to ignore

TOM’S APPALLING LEGACY.
.....Some day, Tom Fuentes will leave the board, and we will be able to assess his legacy as a SOCCCD trustee.
.....That legacy will include the lasting marks of his sustained efforts to associate the district and its colleges with his right-wing pals in government.
.....Who would that be?
.....Well, it would be, among others, the ethically-challenged OC DA, Tony Rackauckas, the ethically-challenged OC Treasurer, Chriss Street, and the even more ethically-challenged former OC Sheriff, Mike Carona.
.....Carona. You remember him. He used to show up and pray and salute a lot. Now he’s a convicted felon.
.....Today, the Reg (Ex-sheriff heads back to court for appeal) provides a heads up regarding Carona’s appeal. The hearing will be tomorrow.
.....The Reg explains the basis of the appeal:

The former law enforcement official was found guilty of witness tampering in January 2009 for trying to persuade ex-assistant sheriff Don Haidl to lie during a grand jury probe….
. . .
Carona's lawyers argue that prosecutors broke an ethical rule when they arranged for Haidl to secretly record an August 2007 conversation despite knowing Carona had retained a criminal defense attorney at the time….

That recording, played repeatedly during the jury trial, was the basis for Carona's witness tampering conviction….

.....The upshot is this: Carona does not dispute that he tampered with a witness. Rather, he argues that the manner in which the damning recording was acquired by prosecutors violated ethics rules.
.....There’s a Plan B: “The former sheriff's legal team also contends that Carona was convicted under the wrong statute, and therefore was wrongfully convicted.”
.....If Carona prevails, he will of course announce his complete vindication. But no. Clearly, he did tamper with a witness.
.....On the various tapes played during his trial, Carona said a great many things that contradict his image of staunch right-wing Fuentean rectitude—racist remarks, etc.
.....If he prevails, Carona will pretend that those tapes do not exist, that he never said and did those awful things.
.....If he prevails, no doubt Fuentes will again arrange for the Mikester to be named the Irvine Valley College “Hometown Hero.”

CAPO’S NEW MYSTERY SUPE.
.....The Reg also reports that the

Capistrano Unified's school board has tentatively selected a successor to outgoing Interim Superintendent Bobbi Mahler, but has not released the finalist's name pending a reference check and visit to his school district….

.....The Reg indicates that the individual is “male and a superintendent at another school district.”
.....The board president is quoted as saying, "We're very proud of our choice…. He was notified right after our board meeting [Monday night], and he was very excited and very energetic and looking forward to it.”
.....She also explained that “Three district trustees will visit the finalist's school district, likely this week, and also will contact its [?] school board to do a reference check.”
.....Our insiders tell us that Mathur is not the guy.
.....The Capo board president is none other than Anna Bryson. And who is she? Well, she works for OC Treasurer--and pal o' Fuentes--Chriss Street.

THE DAY EDUCATION DIED.
.....Meanwhile, the OC Weekly’s Matt Coker reports that

UC Rebel Radio presents a mock funeral for education this afternoon at UC Irvine. ¶ Faculty, staff and students wearing black are expected to participate in a 1 p.m. gathering at the flagpole, where speakers will eulogize young people's future before departing for a procession around the campus.

"The desire for the free and equitable cultivation of thought which spurred the creation of the University of California has been smothered, due in part to privatization and the increasing lack of availability of an excellent UC education," states a letter from a group of participating groups.

.....Matt notes that May 4 was chosen for this event because it is the 40th anniversary of the Kent State massacre.

EVEN MORE FOR IVC TO IGNORE.
.....Our own Rebel Girl (Lisa Alvarez) appears in the May issue of Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, along with the likes of Andrei Codrescu—you know, that NPR guy with the cool Romanian accent and dry, Transylvanian wit—and various other writers and artists.

John Williams' ethics

This morning, I visited the SOCCCD website, where I found board policies, including BP1400, the "code of ethics for members of the board of trustees."

Point 3 of the code is the following:

As you know, recently, we came upon copies of timesheets submitted by trustee John Williams for his county job as Public Administrator/Guardian. It appears that, on those timesheets, Williams claimed full work days (presumably in his office in Santa Ana) on days in which, according to SOCCCD records, he was many miles away (in Orlando, Tampa, etc.) at conferences in his role as college district trustee.

Assuming that the fellow cannot be in two different places at once, and assuming that district records of trustee travel are accurate, it would appear that Mr. Williams claimed to work (as a county official) when, in truth, he was not working (in that capacity).

According to my Mac's dictionary, fraud is "wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain." Filing multiple false claims of full work days (for which one is paid) would seem to qualify as fraud.

We at DtB would like to hear from readers. Is there an ethical problem here?

If so, is this a matter for the Academic Senates to pursue? The board? The DA?

Tell us what you think.

For-Profit, for Chrissake! Your tax dollars at work

Public TV Takes on For-Profit Colleges (Inside Higher Ed)

Airing tonight on PBS at 9 p.m. is Frontline's College, Inc., an hour-long look at for-profit higher education, its investors, and the U.S. Department of Education's efforts to regulate it. ... It tells stories of students plunging deep into debt and unable to get jobs, touches on traditional academe's criticisms, and looks at the negotiated rule-making process aimed at reining in abuses of the Title IV federal financial aid system, with a particular focus on career colleges.

But it is likely to garner lots of attention -- from ordinary Americans, think tankers and Congressional staffers -- and to stir up press releases, editorials and conversations that will skew against the for-profit institutions just as the Education Department ratchets up its criticisms of the sector. The storyline is more balanced than many major-media examinations of for-profit colleges, but it's still a less-than-favorable depiction of the sector.

At the "Frontline" link, we’re told that

The biggest player in the for-profit sector is the University of Phoenix—now the largest college in the US with total enrollment approaching half a million students. Its revenues of almost $4 billion last year, up 25 percent from 2008, have made it a darling of Wall Street….

…[T]he cash cow of the for-profit education industry is the federal government. Though they enroll 10 percent of all post-secondary students, for-profit schools receive almost a quarter of federal financial aid. But Department of Education figures for 2009 show that 44 percent of the students who defaulted within three years of graduation were from for-profit schools, leading to serious questions about one of the key pillars of the profit degree college movement: that their degrees help students boost their earning power. This is a subject of increasing concern to the Obama administration, which, last month, remade the federal student loan program, and is now proposing changes that may make it harder for the for-profit colleges to qualify.

See also: Financial Affairs: TV Documentary on For-Profit Colleges Will Hit Some Nerves—at Times, Rightly So (Chronicle of Higher Education)

You'll recall that, at Irvine Valley College, at least one administrator has urged faculty to allow the U of P to come into their classrooms to make their pitch.

See also: Troubles Grow for a University Built on Profits (NYT)

Capo recall on track

Capistrano district activists collect 32,000 recall signatures (OC Reg)

A group of Capistrano Unified activists attempting to recall two district trustees from office this November has collected more than 32,000 petition signatures per trustee from community members, about 50 percent more than the minimum number required to put the issue on the ballot, organizers said…. (Continued)

CUSD Recall Group Gathers over 32,000 Signatures (OC Progressive)

That’s right, Parents for Local Control sent out a press release that they’ve gone above and beyond the 2,000 signatures needed to recall Winsten and Maddox from the Capistrano Unified School District and done it in more than half the time required from the OC Registrar’s office, with no paid signature gatherers…. (Continued)