Greater Orange News Service

SPECIAL REPORT

The embattled arrogant politicians of Orange Unified's Surridge Majority appear to be now taking ideas straight from the playbook of the last politically arrogant OUSD Board that  finally pushed the Greater Orange community too far back in 2001.

That 2001 OUSD Board-known as the Jacobson Majority-also arrogantly tried to push their  personal political agenda onto what they too thought was a disengaged public. Then, just as now, that public that was finally pushed so far that they saw those trustees for what they were- arrogant politicians with a personal non-educational political agenda- not public servants of the people who elected them. 

In 2001, those arrogant politicians were ultimately recalled by the voters, but not  before spending millions of educational dollars while using the powers of their office to try and thwart the will of the voters on what one famous Recall bumper sticker of the times called  political "lawsuits, lawyers and litigation" .

"Provisional Trustee" Salas

Fast forward to 2015- welcome back dirty politics-again under control of small group of arrogant politicians with a personal political agenda.  Less than a week ago, those politicians  engaged in an obvious arrogant corrupt bargain and appointed a little known, obviously unqualified person, who today remains a mystery not only to the citizens in the trustee area he serves, but to the citizens of the larger Greater Orange Community.   A community he admits he recently moved to, knows little about and needs to have school administrators provide him with telephone numbers of local PTA members. (click on SALAS application )

What appears clear to long-time OUSD observers is that California Brown Act violations in the mysterious appointment of an unknown and unqualified candidate and bungled process obviously took place.

While having Surridge lead the appointment of the mystery man Greg Salas in the face of the overwhelming evidence of  Salas being unqualified is not a surprise, what is more troubling is that long time OUSD Trustee Rick Ledesma and the ultra patriotic former U.S. Marine and Trustee Mark Wayland followed suit in this political corrupt bargain.  It was clear to those at the Monday September 22nd OUSD appointment meeting that Wayland audibly wrestled with his conscience when his name was called to vote, but ultimately cast his vote for Salas and in so doing let down the democratic process he has fought most of his adult life to preserve.  

When the audience gasped  at Wayland's struggled vote, it  was clearly the shock of seeing this patriotic warrior  who fought to protect the ideals of our nation, fail to protect those ideals in his own hometown and community.

After the political vote to support  the mystery man Greg Salas,  the meeting was quickly called to an end, as the four trustees and Salas left the room and any chance they then had to explain to the shocked community why they selected this mystery man-no one knows- over the candidate the community had  overwhelmingly come to the meeting  to support - a respected community  leader who is well know, well trusted and  well respected- not just in Anaheim Hill's Trustee Area 1-but across the Greater Orange Communty.

Since that corrupt vote, Greater Orange has exploded with indignation at the arrogance of the politician's 4-2 vote.

Now, after a week to make up slick reasons for voting for the unknown Salas, those arrogant politicians now want to "explain" why they voted for Salas at another "Special Meeting" this Thursday October 1st.* After this political theater,  the politicians will then vote for a "resolution" against  a Special Election-which they could have easily avoided- as too expensive.**

* The meeting is not expected to be videotaped by OUSD, but California law allows public videotaping of all public meetings

  **OUSD currently has a surplus in excess of $70 million

The organizers of  the Nullify Petition drive have calculated the cost  of  the Special Election to be about $5.00 a voter, a price which hundreds of voters who have already signed the Nullify Petitions agree is a small price to pay for democracy and to nullify the arrogant political injustice of September 22nd. 

Which is what these four arrogant politicians continue to  not understand or comprehend.

Citizens of Greater Orange have routinely used the petition process to call for elections as the "price" of controlling arrogant politicians  and  safeguarding local democracy.  

Over the past two decades, Greater Orange citizens have never shied away from using the petition process to correct the excesses of numerous arrogant politicians -and now in 2015,  as a wave of anti-politician sentiment is sweeping the nation, it is apparent that the citizen's of Greater Orange are on the verge of again telling OUR local arrogant politicians that they have gone too far and in America, it is the majority of voters who are in charge- not four arrogant politicians who disregard the will of the people.

NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING Thursday OCTOBER 1, 2015

6:30 pm  OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM

Public Comments from the audience will be heard.

For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD AGENDA

SPECIAL REPORT

is an independent news service of

Orange Net News /O/N/N/

Voice of Orange County reports Deborah Pauly

arrested for alleged DUI

The Voice of Orange County reports  that former Villa Park Councilwomen Deborah Pauly and current candidate for the 65th Assembly District was arrested on a DUI earlier this month on September 12 at 1:24 am after hitting another vehicle in her Porsche.

Her arraignment is set for October 26.  The full story with with alleged comments during the arrest can be seen her: DUI for PAULY

SPECIAL REPORT

Greater Orange residents organize for petition drive

The petition drive to nullify and repeal  the 4-2 vote of the Orange Unified School Board to appoint the unknown Greg Salas as the Area 1 "Provisional" Trustee continues to pick-up steam since Monday's shocking disregard for the near unanimous call of  long-time community leaders across the Greater Orange communities for the appointment of long-time Anaheim Hills community and education advocate Andrea Yamasaki. (see below for information on where to pick-up petitions).  

Outrage has grown across Greater Orange as the news has spread on Social Media that the Monday meeting- full of questionable legal issues- was not video recorded.  With no recording, none of the twenty-nine of the 33 pubic speakers who gave overwhelming support of those at the meeting for Andrea Yamasaki is available for broadcast. 

In the 2001 Orange Recall cable broadcasts of the Board meetings were part of the Recall Issues. The Reactionary Marty Jacobson  Majority that controlled the OUSD Board refused to let the community see the dysfunction and angry Public Comments during the OUSD Board Meetings.   After the 2001 Recall- Board Broadcasts were one of the Recall Reforms instituted by the newly elected 2001 Citizen's Board winners of the 2001 Recall. 

Since 2001 the OUSD Board Meetings have been recorded and broadcasted- as well as available for purchase by the public.  Ironically, it was Trustee Rick Ledesma- who regained his seat  in the 2001 Recall (after losing it to a Jacobson puppet) that fought to save the Recall Reform Board Broadcasts during the Rocco Years. The  Board at that time did not want the community to see the antics of then Trustee Steve Rocco and tried to end the broadcasts.  Ledesma was successful in saving the broadcasts when community leaders across Greater Orange rallied to support him.  On Monday, Ledesma joined the other three male trustees to appoint Greg Salas-without a broadcast record.

Not only are the comments from the twenty-nine speakers from across Greater Orange Unified that addressed the Board each outlining the qualifications and personal stories attesting to the character and deep community and educational connections of  Andrea Yamasaki lost, but so too are the three-minute candidates' statements of qualifications to the Trustees.  It was clear to the audience that listened to the statements at the Monday September 22 Special Meeting that there were some very qualified candidates. Greg Salas was not one of them.  The bumbling Salas statement included his testament of personal qualifications being that he had family members involved in education, he also admitted that he knew nothing about OUSD and that he just visited two schools after applying for the position, and he admitted he just recently moved to the area.

After the vote to appoint Salas, he quickly left along with the Trustees that comprise the Surridge Majority who voted for Salas: Timothy Surridge, Mark Wayland,  Rick Ledesma and John Ortega.  

Recall Petitions will be available this weekend at: 

Sunday, September 27

At Canyon Rim Elementary School, in the parking lot

1090 S The Highlands

Anaheim Hills

8:30 - 9:30am

For more information click on : OUSD in CRISIS

ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:

the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/

ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE

and the

Greater Orange News Service

are independent news services of /O/N/N/

Greater Orange community leaders stunned

Shock

and Awe

A stunned full capacity board room full of supporters of long time Anaheim Hills resident and community leader Andrea Yamasaki watched four Orange Unified Trustees vote to provisionally appoint Anaheim Hills new-comer Greg Salas to the post of Area 1 Trustee. The vote came after over an hour of overwhelming accolades for Yamasaki from every segment of the Greater Orange community. Not one person spoke on behalf of Salas.

The Salas appointment came after a bungled appointment process that saw a paper screening that had eliminated 5 candidates apparently over ruled by a legal decision sometime over the weekend. The process appeared to have left even the OUSD Trustees confused as  Superintendent Michael Christensen answered questions from Trustee Kathy Moffat  about the new agenda that he stating was posted at 6 pm on Sunday night.  

After the new agenda was passed 5-1 ( Moffat voted against it), public comments were taken. Thirty three speakers spoke before the Trustees.  Twenty-nine speakers from across Greater Orange Unified addressed the Board each outlining the qualifications and personal stories attesting to the character and deep community and educational connections of  Andrea Yamasaki.  One speaker attested to both Andrea Yamasaki and Kenneth Rulon qualifications. Three speakers addressed the selection process. One speaker was candidate Victoria Weber, who was initially paper screened. She addressed the Board saying that she wanted to make her statement of qualifications in case she was not able to make it later in the meeting.

The bungled process resulted in invitations to the previously eliminated candidates to make a statement.  Candidate Kenneth Rulan stated he had no prepared statement because he "just got the call and email".  Two others, Dr. Roberto Flores de Apodaca and Barbara Christiano acknowledged that Yamasaki was the obvious choice from the overwhelming support she was receiving from the community and reached out to Yamasaki-with Flores de Apodaca pledging his support.

During his three minute rambling statement, Greg Salas ( who was a finalist in the paper screening)  stated he had just moved to the Anaheim Hills community two years ago. He said that since applying he had to "study" the issues of the district. He mentioned he started to visit some schools and mentioned Orange High School and Fletcher Elementary.  He mentioned he had children, but did not state what schools they attended.  

Of the original three paper screened applications- Salas was the only one hand written, with in-complete sentences and little punctuation. click on:  SALAS

The Salas Linked-In profile lists no local connections on the 12 connections he has (click on: SALAS LINKED IN ).

The actual voting process for selecting Salas also caused confusion. The process became that each Trustee would state their choice and the first one to get four would be provisionally appointed.   When Trustee Timothy Surridge's name was called and he stated "Greg Salas" an audible gasp went up from the crowd.  With each vote for Salas the gasp continued. Board President John Ortega, Trustee Rick Ledesma and Mark Wayland all followed Surridge and voted for Salas. Salas was elected with the four males voting for him.  The two women did not vote for Salas- Deligiani voted for her campaign manager and friend Chris Nguyen, Kathy Moffat voted for Andrea Yamasaki.

The community members in the room stayed shocked and bewildered at what they had just witnessed.

The vote was not a celebration even for Salas- he, his family  and the four Trustees who voted for him immediately left the room after the adjournment.   

Community organizers at the meeting who had anticipated the move by Surridge and his allies then immediately brought out  petitions to force a Special Election that specifically targeted the Salas appointment. In anticipation of  the Surridge move to deny the seat to the popular Yamasaki, separate petitions had been readied and brought to the meeting for the possible appointment of either Greg Salas or Christopher Nguyen. The petition drafting had been  coordination with the Orange County Registrar of Voters over the past few weeks.  The community has 30 days to collect about 1600 valid signatures.  The cost of a Special Election to Orange Unified would be about $5 per voter.  Orange Unified currently has a budget surplus in excess of $70 million

As the petitions where passed out in the OUSD Board Room a text message from the Greater Orange Community Organization * to its members simply read:  "OUSD's Surridge majority declares war on Greater Orange".

is a production of Orange Net News /O/N/N/

*/O/N/N/ is the communication committee of the Greater Orange Community Organization

Estimates are that just under 2,000 valid registered voter signatures will be needed to force a Special Election.  Long-time OUSD watchers who remember that the bulk of the signatures for the 2001 Orange Recall against a reactionary school board members came from the Anaheim Hills area see the 2,000 signatures as quickly being collected.

To view the Candidate Information sheet for each candidate click on their name below:

Chris Nguyen

Greg Salas

Andrea Yamasaki

_______________________________________________________________

NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING Monday September 21, 2015

Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM

OUSD SPECIAL MEETING: 6:30 pm

For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD AGENDA

http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/board/pdf/2015/agenda0921.pdf

For more information call the OUSD Superintendent’s office at 714-628-4040

For budgeting questions call Business Services at 714-628-4015

ARCHIVAL Information and direct news can be found at:

the Greater Orange News Service http://greaterorange.blogspot.com/

ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE

and the

Greater Orange News Service

are independent news services of /O/N/N/

SPECIAL REPORT

OUSD decides on Area 1 Trustee appointment process

OUSD Board decides to "paper screen" for candidates

The Orange Unified School Board tonight (9/15/15) in a Special Meeting voted to "paper screen" the candidates who have qualified for appointment to the OUSD Board to replace resigned Area 1 Trustee Diane Singer.

The candidates making it through the paper screening will appear before the OUSD Board on Monday September 21, 2015. That meeting will not be a formal interview. Each "eligible" candidate will give a 3 minute speech. The Board will ask the other candidates not be in the Board room while the other candidates are speaking, however, candidates legally maybe present if they wish to ignore that request.  Public comments of three minutes per speaker will also be heard by the Board.  

After the presentations, the Trustees will nominate and vote on nominated candidates in public. The first candidate to receive 4 votes will be appointed.

The appointment is provisional, residents have 30 days to circulate petitions that call for a Special Election. Only about 2500 signatures will be needed.

Political operative Nguyen

Anaheim Hills opponents to one candidate, Chris Nguyen- who is politically connected to the majority of the OUSD Board under Timothy Surridge- are already organizing to circulate petitions if Nguyen is appointed. Appointment of Nguyen is likely seriously to distract Orange Unified just as it embarks on trying to pass a Facilities Bond in 2016.  Either by giving Bond opponents another voice on the ballot, or by having a Special Election thrust upon the community.  Click on : Nguyen's Political Connections

The OUSD board must select a candidate before midnight September 29th. Failure to do so will automatically result in a Special Election.

The Board decided to postpone the selection of the "process" to appoint a new Trustee at its September 10th meeting because a planned teleconference participation by OUSD Board President John Ortega did not take place. Tonight's Special Election was called to allow the Board to select the process.

NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING Monday Sept 21, 2015 6:30 pm

Next OUSD Board Meeting -OUSD BOARD ROOM

For AGENDA-CLICK ON: OUSD AGENDA

SPECIAL REPORT

ORANGE Unified Schools INSIDE

is an independent news service of

Orange Net News /O/N/N/

http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/board/calendar.asp

SPECIAL REPORT

With the Peralta Property and a future OUSD Bond Measure at risk......

Political Payback?

"Trustee Chris Nguyen" ? Will Anaheim Hills accept a right-wing Political Operative as their new OUSD school board member ?

In a Special Meeting on September 15, 2015, the Orange Unified School Board will decide on the process to select an OUSD Trustee from ten applicants  to fill the vacancy  in  OUSD Trustee Area 1 that is almost exclusively made-up of Anaheim Hills. The process must be completed by midnight September 29, 2015. 

(Click on Candidates)

The close-knit and politically moderate Anaheim Hills area has long prided itself on having OUSD Trustees who were involved community members with deep community connections and involvement in local organizations and their schools.  This time however, the residents of Anaheim Hills have no vote on their next Trustee.

The residents now face the prospect of a trustee appointed by the non- Anaheim Hills OUSD Trustees dominated by the Surridge Majority. That majority appear to be ready to appoint the architect of  Surridge's  political career- Political Blogger and Surridge's Political Consultant- Christopher Nguyen as the next Area 1 Trustee.

Heavily politically connected to OUSD Trustee Timothy Surridge and his allies on the OUSD Board, with no children and no experience in local community educational organizations, Christopher Nguyen's only connection to the local community is that he attended OUSD schools when he grew up in Anaheim Hills.

Nguyen founded the self proclaimed "right-of-center" OC Political Blog three years ago with high school best-friend  Chris Enami and like-minded political pal Erik Brown . When his blog first appeared,  its list of bloggers included numerous right-of-Tea Party locals including former Orange Councilman Jon Dimitru and Orange County Board of Education Trustee Ken Williams, plus , current OUSD Trustee Tim Surridge. 

Link: OC Political Bloggers

The "about" section of the OC Political Blog states*:

"This blog was created because of a void that existed in Orange County for a right-of-center blog that provided a consistent look into what was going on in the local political scene. As a result of this void, Chris Emami, Chris Nguyen, and Erik Brown got together and decided to do something about it, which resulted in the creation of OC Political."

* as of 9/12/15 Nguyen has deleted material in the past

For more information on OC Political co-founder Erik Brown Click on: Voyeur Bondage Club

Custom Campain's coordinated signs

 Chris Nguyen and Chris Enami have long tried to gain political control of their old school district. In June of 2008, the pair founded a political consultant firm called Custom Campaigns that has targeted seats on the Orange Unified Board.    In his  Linked-In account Enami describes himself and Custom Consulting:

I am one of the owners of a political consulting firm that specializes in electing school board members. Locally, I have worked to elect four of the current trustees on the Orange Unified School District Board of Education. Based on this, I have a very good knowledge of local schools in all of Orange County. 
 (Click on Enami)
Custom Campaigns lists their clients on the OUSD Board as: "OUSD Trustees Rick Ledesma, Mark Wayland, John Ortega, & Alexia Deligianni"

Nguyen's current* (* as of 9/12/15 Nguyen has deleted material in the past)  Linked-In profile lists him as "Co-founder and Partner" of Custom Campaigns and is full of political work and cnnections:

Nguyen's current* Linked-In "Skills" connections of endorsements from people who know him are listed in his profile as follows ( the number of  people in each category who "endorsed" his skills are denoted in parenthesis):   Politics (50); Legislative Relations (29); Public Policy (27); Policy (25); Political Campaigns (22); Policy Analysis (20); Legislation (13); Coalitions (11); Political Consulting (7); Grassroots Organizing (7); Government (7); Strategic Communications (7); Community Outreach (7); Public Affairs (7); Political Science (4); Political Communication (4); Public Administration (4); Speech writing (4); Constituent Services (4); Community Organizing ( 3); Community Development (3); State Government (2); Legislative Research (2); Foreign Policy (2); legislative Affairs (2); Economic Development (2); International Relations (2); Grassroots (2)

* as of 9/12/15 Nguyen has deleted material in the past

OUSD Trustee Alexia Deligianni is listed as an endorsement for Nguyen's "Skills" under both "Political Consulting"  and "Grassroots Organizing" on Nguyen's profile. 

Nothing in Nguyen's skill set has to do with "education".  LINK: Nguyen Linked-IN*

* as of 9/12/15 Nguyen has deleted material in the past

The only education work listed in Nguyen's Linked-In resume profile is a four month stint at the DL Academy in Westminster as a "teacher".  The DL Academy  appears to be nothing but an after school tutoring center with the telephone listed (714- 726-7649) going directly to the personal cell phone of owner Duc Le - the "DL" in the "DL Academy".

There are no records that show Nguyen possesses a California Teaching Credential. 

As political consultants, Nguyen and Emani- and those associated with them-often stretch their resumes as a means of political advantage.  In March and April of 2012, Nguyen wrote a short series about the importance of candidate Ballot Designations.  Nguyen wrote:

As I said last week, “The most important thing a candidate does in a campaign may well be selecting a ballot designation.  That little phrase underneath a candidate’s name are the last piece of information that voters see before casting their ballots.  In low-profile races (like Central Committee, where you can’t even get a candidate’s statement in the sample ballot), that little phrase may well be the only piece of information that voters see before casting their ballots.”

LINK: Ballot Designations* (* link as of 9/12/15 Nguyen has deleted material in the past)

When running for OUSD Trustee in 2010 Nguyen used the Ballot Designation of  "Educational Policy Advisor".  In 2006 his Custom Campaigns partner Chris Enami tried to use "Teacher" as his ballot designation. He was brought to court by then Trustee Kimberly Nichols ( now Orange Councilwomen) where a judge forced Enami to change it.  Orange Net News covered both candidates attempts at deceiving the voters:

Candidate Chris Nquyen tries to Rocco-up his ballot description 

Three candidates have filed to run in Area 1: Anaheim City Planning Commissioner Harry Persaud; Anaheim City Community Center Commissioner and former OUSD LEGCO President Diane Singer; and California State Senate Legislative Aid Chris Nguyen. 

Nguyen has himself listed on the ballot as “Education Policy Advisor”. Graduating from USC in 2007 as a Political Science major, and from Stanford this year with a masters in Public Administration, Nguyen’s resume on Linked In shows five political internships over a period of two years and being a Legislative aide only since January 2009. While his resume is heavy on political experience, nowhere does his resume mention anything related to being an “Education Policy Advisor” as he describes himself on the ballot. When former controversial OUSD Trustee Steve Rocco won without campaigning, much of the credit was given to his ballot designation of “Teacher”. His opponent Phil Martinez was a very involved parent who listed his occupation as a Park Ranger. Those ballot designations are widely credited with Rocco winning, a lesson not lost on politicians.
Nguyen’s fellow Board member on the Orange Villa Park Republican Assembly (OVPRA), Chris Enami tried a similar tactic when he ran in 2006 against Trustee Kim Nichols. Enami a walk-on (after school) girls basketball coach tried to be listed as a “Teacher” on the ballot. Nichols went to court and won an order that forced Enami to remove the misleading moniker.
Obviously, Chris Nguyen did well in his Political Science classes as he tries to Rocco-up his ballot description for votes.

Custom Campaign 's coordinated signs

Link: ( the "live" link to his "real" resume in the ONN posting was deleted after the ONN story appeared) CHRIS NGUYEN OUSD CAMPAIGN

In 2006- Custom Campaign's Chris Enami's deceptive OUSD ballot designation and his loss in court are reported on here:

Now the incumbent, OUSD Trustee Kim Nichols faces two challengers this November. One is Chris Enami who filed for election with the ballot designation of “teacher”. After the surprise election win two years ago by Steve Rocco (which many experts attribute to his election ballot designation of “Teacher”) Nichols was not about to let the “teacher” ballot designation for Enami go unchallenged because he is actually a walk-on girls basketball coach, not a California Credentialed teacher. In the court challenge, Enami would be represented by none other than Education Alliance founder Mark Bucher. In this second court challenge, Bucher again lost to Nichols and Enami was ordered to change his ballot designation. It now reads the more accurate “Coach/ Sports Program Director” description.

Link: CHRIS ENAMI OUSD CAMPAIGN

For more information about Mark Bucher's Education Alliance click on: LA Times

 Enami's 2008 election loss to moderate Republican Kim Nichols (now an Orange City Council member) led Custom Campaigns to target her again in the next election. In 2010, Custom Campaigns recruited one of their original OC Politcal bloggers-Timothy Surridge to run against Nichols. Surridge who had a brief career at Salem Lutheran School could use the ballot designation as Teacher in his run against incumbent Nichols.  Nichols lost the race and Nguyen's Custom Campaigns used that win as a recruiting tool for more campaign work.

In an "analysis"  by Nguyen's firm Custom Campaigns management of the 2010 Tim Surridge campaign for OUSD Trustee is titled 2010 Orange Unified School Board Election Tim Surridge Defeats Kimberlee Nichols .  The report outlines the Nguyen firm's campaign to defeat moderate Republican Nichols with his political ally and client Tim Surridge. The report begins with:

In 2010 Tim Surridge was a relative unknown in political circles and faced off against Kimberlee Nichols, a well funded incumbent who had served on the Orange Unified School Board for over 9 years. Surridge also got into the race extremely late, filing paperwork on the last day of filing with no money raised for his campaign at that point. In political circles nobody expected Surridge to break 40% of the vote. Early polling showed that Surridge trailed by a substantial margin at the beginning stages of the campaign: Nichols 33% Surridge 11% Undecided 48% Refused 8% +/- 5% Strategy Knowing this information going into the campaign it became clear that this would require a nearly flawlessly executed campaign to win.

LINK to full report* click on Surridge Case Study

* link as of 9/12/15 Nguyen has deleted material in the past

Nguyen's right-of-Tea Party views can be seen in his blog postings on his OC Political Blog.  From support of anti-vaccine crusaders, to political-ally Orange County Board of Education Trustee Ken Williams leaser of OC Common Core Deniers, to his anti-public education postings about private for-profit charters, anti-union law-suits. His anti- school bond views are in-line with the only OUSD Trustee to sign the anti-OUSD Measure K ballot measure agreement friend and political ally OUSD Trustee Dr. Alexia Deligianni.

In a recent three part series Education Revolution in Orange County on his blog, he writes glowingly about Trustee Ken Williams and among other things the approval from the OCDE for the appeal of Unity College Charter School petition that was denied by the OUSD Trustees on a 3-3 tie vote (Surridge, Ortega,  Ledesma-Yes; Moffat, Singer Wayland-No Deligianni absent). 

See all of Chris Nguyen's posts here: (hit previous at the bottom for pages of older posts)

click on: Nguyen's own words* 

* link as of 9/12/15 Nguyen has deleted material in the past

Nguyen's political appointment could have dire consequences for the future of the Peralta Property and plans for a new 2016 OUSD School Bond effort.  Reports circulating throughout Greater Orange are that a political appointment of  Chris Nguyen is unacceptable to the Anaheim Hills Community and that a group is ready to join with community advocates across Greater Orange to petition for a Special Election-which will again throw the Greater Communities into the center of a political firestorm. It is estimated that 2,500 valid signatures from registered voters  in OUSD are needed to force a Special Election. The signatures must be turned in within 30 days of September 15th.

OR maybe Other Candidates with political baggage ?

Dr. Roberto Flores de Apodaca: paid expert witness in a controversial child sodomy case with Judge facing recall

Dr. Flores de Apodaca also applied for the Area 1 Trustee position. Professor of Psychology at Concordia University Irvine, Dr. Flores de Apodaca is presented in 2008 on the college's website for recruiting faculty as follows:

"Dr. Roberto Flores de Apodaca believes he found real academic freedom when he joined the faculty of Concordia University, Irvine.

“It’s been wonderful!” is how he describes seven years of teaching at Concordia. “It has been an absolute blessing to be here in every regard, especially being surrounded by fellow Christian teachers and administration.” A clinical psychologist by training and a professor of psychology at Concordia, Irvine, Flores taught for 23 years at a public university, finding few people of faith in the social sciences. Considering themselves scientists and above the “muck” that faith represented, they often equated it with superstition."

link: Concordia  

Concordia is affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS)- the same church organization the local Salem Lutheran School that OUSD Trustee Timothy Surridge once worked for and where his wife Shelly currently teaches. According to Shelly Surridge's biography on the Salem School website, she received both her BA and MA from Concordia Universities.

Very public controversies have erupted over a controversial LCMS tenet that prohibits clergy from worshiping with other faiths. This led to a recent controversy when  the President of the LMCS told a Connecticut pastor of the LCMS to apologize for participating in an interfaith vigil for the 26 children and adults killed at the Newtown Connecticut elementary school  Sandy Hook by a gunman.  In another controversial incident 12 days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, a LCMS pastor in New York was suspended for praying at an interfaith vigil for the 2700 victims and their families. Click on: LCMS

.

Dr. Robert Flores de Apodaca has often been hired as an expert witness in court cases, including numerous high-profile murder cases.  In the summary of his paper Risk Assessments in Violence and Sex Cases; Current Practical Advice for Attorneys Employing Mental Health Experts  he writes on the need for physiatrist to testify about convicted defendants "Risk Assessments" when a judge or jury is in the penalty phase of the trial:

"Risk Assessments, however, can be quite useful in the Guilt Phase, plea-bargaining negotiations over the “weight” of a case. They provide an objective basis for arguing how much of a risk a given Defendant represents, and what kind of adjudication makes sense. Risk Assessments are perhaps most useful in the Sentencing Phase, when they provide Judges with a clear sense of the level of risk a Defendant poses and which factors (e.g. substance abuse counseling, anger management training, etc.) can be addressed in managing the level of risk he poses, going forward."

click on: American International Journal of Social Science Vol.4, No. 1; Feb 13, 2015

In 2009 Flores de Apodaca  was an expert witness in the trial of two Fullerton Police Officers over the death of a homeless man named Kelly Thomas. In an LA Times article about the trial that included information about Dr. Flores de Apodaca's testimony, then Orange County D.A.'s chief of staff commented on the strategy of the doctor's testimony about the victim:

"Susan Kang Schroeder, the D.A.'s chief of staff, said the efforts to paint Thomas in a negative light are par for the course.

"It's normal defense 101 playbook to put the victim on trial instead, so they can divert the jury's attention away from what their clients did," she said"

Link: LA TIMES

In April of this year, Dr. Flores de Apodaca was involved in the trial and controversy over Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly's reduced sentence for 20 year-old Kevin Rojano-Nieto after being convicted of sodomizing a 3 year old.  An Orange County Register article about the out cry against the judge included information about Dr. Flores de Apodaca's expert testimony about the convicted rapist:

After the jury’s guilty verdict in December, Kelly used an independently-appointed psychologist to aid in his sentencing decision, Puthawala said. The psychologist, Dr. Roberto Flores de Apodaca, found that Rojano-Nieto was not a pedophile and not a sexual predator. Testing revealed a low risk for recidivism, he [Flores de Apodaca] said.

 Link: OCR on Flores de Apodaca testomony

The outcry over the reduced sentence has resulted in a recall attempt against Judge Kelly that has until December 31, 2015 to collect signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Link: Recall Judge Kelly

Colton corruption, sex and drugs controversy-plus law suits
Twice fired Police Chief Kenneth Rulon
Candidate Kennth Rulon -now owner of Ken Rulon and Associates in Anaheim was twice fired from two Southern California cities as Police Chief amid controversy.

Rulon served as the City of Colton Police Chief from June 2003 until April 2007.  After being fired from that post, Rulon sued for wrongful termination. Rulon  lost the law suit in a trial that riveted the Inland Empire with details of  city officials embroiled in a web of corruption, drugs, sex and details about the allegations about the Rulon firing.

In a 2012 Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper story published across the state in its sister papers,  the following details were published:

Attorney John Higginbotham, who is representing the city and [Colton City Manager] Parrish in the lawsuit, said Rulon was fired after a mutiny arose in the Police Department against Rulon in the wake of the [Colton Councilman ] Hernandez credit card allegations. Rulon's secretary complained he was sexually harassing her and rank-and-file officers accused him of retaliatory behavior and running the department with an iron fist.

Higginbotham argues that Rulon covered up for Hernandez and was his good friend. He said Rulon knew of the allegations as early as 2005 and sat on reports, demanding all officers report directly to him with any information on the matter and not to tell anyone else about it....

Hernandez pleaded guilty in January 2008 to 24 felony counts for charging roughly $5,500 on his city-issued credit card for unauthorized motel stays and calls to telephone sex lines from December 2004 to May 2006.

It was later learned that Hernandez had been abusing methamphetamine and rendezvousing with a man he had been having an affair with at the motels. Authorities were also investigating Hernandez at the time for methamphetamine sales.

Click on: Colton Councilwoman testified in wrongful termination trial

A press release  from the winning law firm in the Colton trial reported that 18 Colton police officers testified against Rulon:

In addition, Rulon was accused of sexual harassment by his secretary and retaliatory behavior against rank-and-file officers. Eighteen current or retired police department employees testified for the city during the trial, saying they were often embarrassed by their chief’s unethical behavior and his rampant vulgar comments about women

Click on Press Release

In a court report on the trial ( see link below) included this information about the testimony against Rulon:

Inflammatory Evidence of Which Parrish Was Unaware Rulon has identified the following evidence as improperly admitted and prejudicial “character” evidence:

·       Testimony from a Colton police officer that Rulon admitted having an affair with a partner’s wife while Rulon was a police officer in a different city;

·       Testimony from police personnel that Rulon had made a crude sexual remark about a young woman he had seen in her car while stopped at a traffic light and that he had suggested to some officers that they have sexual relations with an unattractive woman police dispatcher to “keep her happy”;

·       Testimony from several Colton officers that Rulon had used abusive language to and about his wife in the presence of other officers and their wives;

·       6 Testimony from three witnesses that Rulon used extremely vulgar language to refer to women;

·       Testimony that Rulon threatened various individuals with physical violence and challenged people to fights.

Click on: Rulon trial 

Click on: Former Colton police chief losessuit

While Rulon was involved in his $10 million suit against Colton, he was hired by Montebello as their police chief in July 2010. Rulon served two days before being fired.

The reason for the firing was never revealed.  Click on: Rulon fired

According to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune  newspaper account, Rulon then filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the City of Montebello:

Rulon, who served as Montebello's Police Chief for two days before he was fired at a contentious City Council meeting in July 2010, last year filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming a breach of contract.

Rulon and the city settled the law suit before trial for $130,000. CLICK on Rulon suit

The Montebello scandal had far reaching consequences. A Whittier Daily News newspaper report in August of 2010 reported:

A former co-worker of the interim city administrator and the city's police chief  [Rulon] for two days was also being paid by the city to provide investigative services, according to documents.

Former Interim City Administrator Randy Narramore resigned last month amid an uproar spurred by his decision to hire former Huntington Park Police Department co-worker Ken Rulon as Montebello police chief.

But according to documents, Rulon was already working for the city and has billed a total of $6,116 for performing a "confidential investigation" and background investigations on potential employees.

Narramore and Rulon didn't return phone calls Tuesday.

City Council members Art Barajas and Christina Cortez said they don't yet know why the city retained Rulon's services.

"We're trying to find out what we were paying Mr. Rulon  for," Barajas said. "Right now nobody seems to know what it was for, so that's what we're asking."

Cortez said she asked that payment to Rulon be held by the city pending further inquiry.

"We want full transparency and backup documentation for any item that is paid out by this city," she said.

Link: Montebello fallout

In 2013, Rulon lost an appeal with the Board of Administration for the CALPERS retirement system to purchase five additional years of service. According to CALPERS documentation Rulon had 60 days to pay almost $215,000 when filing his "election form". After the deadline passed Rulon requested an extension to the deadline. The whole story -which reads somewhat like a Shakespeare play can be accessed here: click on CALPERS DECISION

Other 6 Candidates for OUSD Area 1 position

The six other candidates for the trustee position are:

Andrew Fisher is a retired Orange Unified school principal who served at a number of the district's schools.

Allan Trudell is the retired Public Information Officer for Garden Grove Unified School District and is a well known writer of letters to the editor commenting on various issues.

Victoria Webber is a well known Greater Orange community member who not only has been involved in numerous education related and community organizations, but also worked for Orange Unified in various positions including a stint as the Executive Secretary in the office of the Superintendent for two superintendents.

Andrea Yamaski- is a well known community member who has served the Anaheim Hills community in numerous roles and has business experience. Currently the Canyon Hills PTSA Vice President for Programs, she has also served as the CHS-PTSO President and othe positions since 2009; various positions including Vice President of  the Orange Community Council of PTA/PTO's; Board member of CARE- OUSD bond measure grass roots organization; various Board positions with the American Cancer Relay for Life; various positions over six years in the El Rancho Charter PTSA in various positions; 21 years of volunteer work for the Nohl Canyon School Association in numerous roles; her private sector work included- 4 years as office manage for the Greater Los Angeles Asian Pacific American Legal Center and 5 years as in Advertising Sales Assistant positions for VOUGE Magazine and Self Magazine.

NEXT OUSD BOARD MEETING Tuesday Sept 15, 2015

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