New College Trustee Maddox Tells Plans

The newest member of the Rancho Santiago College Board of Trustees attributed his victory this week over incumbent board President Vernon S. Evans to strong grass-roots support.

Charles W. (Pete) Maddox, who for years has been a board critic, said voters are ready for some changes in the community college district.

Evans, 61, was appointed to the board in 1980 and was elected to four-year terms in 1982 and 1986. He declined to comment on his defeat, but said, “I wish the board, the college and the faculty the best of luck.”

Maddox, 42, ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the board in 1983. But his latest campaign was boosted by the endorsements of the college’s 250-member teachers union and the 150-member classified employees union. The two groups contributed a total of $12,000 to Maddox’s campaign.

“I have tremendous respect for education,” Maddox said. “I want to change the fiscal priorities at the college from wasteful spending practices that don’t benefit education to prudent spending practices that do.”

Maddox said that as a member of the seven-member board he will push for the relocation of El Mercado, the college’s controversial swap meet, because he says it is bad for the neighborhood.

“Having the swap meet at Bristol and 17th streets is completely inappropriate,” Maddox said.

Maddox also wants the college to end its contract with the Santiago Club, a nonprofit philanthropic organization that runs the swap meet and gives a percentage of the profits to the college.

During his campaign, Maddox charged that Rodolfo Montejano, a fellow board member and founder of the Santiago Club, has controlled board policy for many years. Maddox maintains that the club’s association with the college is a conflict of interest.

Montejano resigned from the Santiago Club’s board earlier this year and announced plans to move to Indiana.