Orange County Elections : Union-Backed Berger Leads Coast Incumbent

A besieged incumbent trustee in Orange County’s largest community college district appeared to be falling victim to a teachers union effort to dump him in Tuesday’s election, according to nearly complete returns.

The incumbent, the Rev. Conrad Nordquist, an Episcopalian rector from Costa Mesa, had been targeted for defeat by the union that represents teachers and staff employees in Coast Community College District. The district governs Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Golden West College in Huntington Beach and Coastline Community College, with headquarters in Fountain Valley.

Nordquist was the only one of the five incumbent members of the Board of Trustees facing a contested election this year. Although the faculty-staff union, the Coast Federation of Employees, American Federation of Teachers, Local 1911, had supported Nordquist in 1983, it sought his defeat this year because the union contended that Nordquist had frequently opposed the faculty.

Nordquist emphatically denied the accusation, saying he supported the faculty but refused to be a “rubber stamp” for the union.

The union endorsed Paul Berger, former principal of Marina High School in Huntington Beach. A third candidate in the race was Hal Roach, a Huntington Beach resident who is an administrator at Mt. San Antonio College in Los Angeles County.

Nearly complete vote returns showed that Berger held a steady lead over Nordquist and a significant lead over Roach.

Tuesday’s election in Coast Community College District culminated four years of political fighting within the district. In 1983, the teachers union became angry when the Board of Trustees laid off about 100 teachers and staff, citing state budget cuts. The union led political action that resulted in three new board members, including Nordquist, being swept into office.

The new board majority, with Nordquist as president, rehired the laid-off teachers and began replacing some top administrators and college presidents.

The teachers initially applauded the new board’s leadership, but strains between board and union became apparent this year. The most notable strain was in June, when the new Board of Trustees unanimously voted a 53% pay raise as part of a retirement package for Chancellor David A. Brownell. The raise for Brownell came a few months after the board had told the teachers that they couldn’t get a pay raise this year because of a tight budget.

Stung by public criticism of the retirement package, the Board of Trustees met in August and reduced the pay raise for Brownell to just 4%. The board also cut some of the benefits in the original retirement package. The union was still unhappy, however, and said Brownell was getting unusually good financial treatment in a year that the teachers were suffering the brunt of budget cuts.

Although all incumbents voted for the Brownell retirement package, only Nordquist was challenged by the union. “We made a mistake when we supported him the first time,” said Dave Jarman, president of the teachers’ unit.

Jarman accused Nordquist of failing to support the teachers during his tenure--an allegation that Nordquist emphatically denied.

Berger said his campaign did not aim to attack Nordquist but to stress Berger’s lengthy tenure in education. The third candidate, Roach, ran as something of a maverick, criticizing not only Nordquist but the overall incumbent Board of Trustees.

Roach said the board, including Nordquist, had wasted tax money on the Brownell retirement package, on trips and on new offices.