ELECTIONS ’88 : ORANGE COUNTY : Union Seeks to Oust 4 Incumbents in Saddleback College District Race

Hoping to duplicate its 1985 success at the polls, the teachers union in the Saddleback Community College District is seeking to oust all four incumbent trustees up for reelection this year. Unhappiness over contract negotiations is a major reason the union wants a new board majority, the union president said.

But one incumbent trustee charged that the union is seeking revenge because she and other incumbents last year bucked the union on a key issue.

Saddleback Community College District governs Irvine Valley College in Irvine and Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, two of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state.

In 1985, the Saddleback Community College District Faculty Assn. succeeded in ousting two incumbent trustees seeking reelection. One incumbent did not seek reelection that year. The three new trustees all had union backing. The union’s goal in 1985 was to elect a new board majority and thus force the trustees to fire Chancellor Larry Stevens, whom some teachers branded as “dictatorial.”

The 1985 election victory produced what the faculty association wanted. Stevens resigned shortly after the new trustees took over. Despite the new board majority, friction between board and union members resurfaced.

“If we (in the faculty association) control a board majority, it’s news to me,” joked Robert Kopfstein, a Saddleback reading professor and former union president.

This year, the faculty association has targeted for defeat incumbent trustees Harriett Walther, Shirley Gellatly, Robert L. Moore and John C. Connolly. Ironically, Gellatly was elected with union backing in 1983. She still has the support of many of the teachers, Kopfstein said. But he said a union referendum found that a majority of the teachers chose to endorse former Trustee Larry Taylor, who is seeking his old seat and running against Gellatly.

The association has endorsed Donald K. Smith over Walther, Jean Hobart over Moore, and John S. Williams over incumbent Connolly and another challenger in Connolly’s district, Todd Henry.

Walther said she thinks a major reason the union wants to oust the incumbents is that she and others on the board voted last year to switch the trustee election from odd years to even. At the time, the board said the move, enabled by a new state law, would save the college district money and allow more people to vote. The trustees noted that few voters turn out in off-year elections.

Union Opposed Change

But the teachers union strongly opposed moving the election dates. Walther charged that the union’s hidden reason for wanting off-year elections was so that “special-interest” activity could dominate the trustee races. Union officials denied the accusation, saying education races are overlooked by voters in big elections such as this year’s.

“I was called by a representative of the faculty association and told that if I would change my vote and vote to keep the off-year elections, the association would endorse me and I would be ‘guaranteed’ reelection,” Walther said. “I did not change, and you see the result.” Walther declined to name the person who called her.

Carl Christensen, a history professor and current president of the faculty association, said that whoever talked to Walther had no authority to speak for the union. “We don’t dispute her story, it’s just that the person who called her was not talking for our association,” he said.

Christensen said that more than the change of election dates figured in the union’s decision to seek new trustees. He said the association is unhappy because a new contract granting teachers a pay raise has not been negotiated. Meanwhile, Christensen charged, the board has given big pay increases to administrators.

Trustees are elected districtwide but must live in the geographic district they seek to represent.

In Trustee Area 1, Walther, 55, has been the incumbent since 1977. She said the biggest problem facing the college district is management of student growth “so that programs, staff and facilities keep pace with student needs for academic and career instruction.”

Smith, 45, an educational psychologist, said he believes that teacher salaries and the district’s overall budget are major problems. He said he would “evaluate needs versus wants, both from the administration views and the teachers’ perspective.”

In Trustee Area 3, Gellatly, 46, the incumbent since 1983, said the major issue is implementing a community college reform law passed by the Legislature this year. The law requires fewer part-time teachers. Gellatly said that lowering the ratios of part-time teachers in the district would be costly but that she believes in it strongly.

Taylor, 74, served as a trustee from 1974 to 1983. He said the district’s biggest problem is “growth and how to serve the enrollment and needs which it will bring while living within available finances.” He said that to alleviate budget problems he would “work with the other community colleges and especially with state legislators and the governor.”

In Trustee Area 6, Moore, 47, has been the incumbent since 1979. He said money is the district’s biggest problem. “We need more money to meet the increasing needs of the growing population.” He noted that the incumbent board had found one avenue for increasing money by leasing 20 acres of unused land at Saddleback College.

Hobart, 45, a lawyer, sharply criticized Moore and said Moore is one of the problems in the district. Moore “fails to attend board meetings and he is unable to deal in a productive manner in negotiating disputes,” she said. “Saddleback College District has a major increase in enrollment of 15%, and at the same time the board is cutting classroom supplies by 28% in some departments.” She said she would come to the board “with an open mind” and be “a good problem-solver.”

In Trustee Area 7, Connolly, 46, has been an incumbent since 1978. He said the district’s biggest problem is “to maintain the high degree of excellence established in all aspects of the college” and “continually to update our programs based upon the needs of the citizens of the district of all ages.” He pledged to “maintain the atmosphere of collegiality among all members of the district.”

Williams, 37, an Orange County deputy marshal, said the major issue is “whether this board will place quality education at the forefront of its priorities.” He favors “increasing the number of full-time faculty members, streamlining the administration into a lean, effective model and compensating faculty so that the college can recruit and retain top-notch instructors.”

Henry, 23, an education adviser, said the district’s biggest problem is that it “needs additional funding from both the state and federal government.” He said he would “support bipartisan efforts in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to appropriate more money for higher education.” He said he would “play a more active role in responding to the needs of district residents than the present board members.”

SADDLEBACK COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES Nine candidates, including four incumbents, are running for four seats on the Saddleback Community College District Board of Trustees in the Nov. 8 election.

Trustees are elected districtwide but must live in the geographic district they seek to represent.

Area 1