Frogue Critics to File Recall Petitions Today

Leaders of an effort to oust Steven J. Frogue from his college board seat said they will file petitions today to force a recall election, while the embattled trustee charged that the broad coalition arrayed against him is engaged in a campaign of “lies, smears and demagoguery.”

A recall committee official said Monday that more than 50,000 signatures will be filed before today’s 5 p.m. deadline for returning recall petitions. No date has been set for an election, which could cost $500,000 to $750,000.

At an unusual news conference Monday over the tumult around him, Frogue vowed to stay on the job at the South Orange County Community College District.

Frogue said he will file a voter fraud complaint with the Orange County district attorney’s office. He contends that signature gatherers engaged in improper techniques, including taking signatures from people they knew already had signed petitions.

Any information provided by Frogue would be reviewed, Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Maurice Evans said.

Frogue, as college board president last year, angered students, faculty and Jewish groups when he advocated holding a seminar on the John F. Kennedy assassination that would have included speakers who have been denounced as anti-Semitic. The seminar idea in large part led to the recall effort.

In stormy meetings and public appearances in the months that followed, Frogue was accused of minimizing the Holocaust and of chastising Jewish groups and leaders. He repeatedly denied those charges, yet each time, others stepped forward to demand he resign.

His foes now include students, faculty, other board members and Democratic and Republican political leaders.

But Frogue, a two-term college trustee and high school history teacher, insists the reason for the recall is that a small group of professors is angry over being deprived of a coveted system that gave them full-time pay for part-time teaching.

“These are phony charges of racism made by political alchemists including the Democratic and Republican parties who think they can transform lies into truth simply by screaming and repetition,” Frogue said.

The news conference was chaotic and unconventional, a hallmark of functions associated with Frogue. The trustee lashed out at reporters and sparred with opponents who shouted questions and challenges.

“Did the [Anti-Defamation League] kill President Kennedy?” one asked.

“I don’t know,” Frogue answered. “And I never said that.”

During rambling, sometimes reflective answers, he said he still believes it would be a good idea to hold the seminar on the Kennedy assassination featuring speakers who blame the slaying on a faction of Israeli extremists.

“It would have been a very good seminar,” Frogue said.

He said the current board president, John S. Williams, did not urge him to step down despite being asked by recall leaders to do so. Williams could not be reached for comment Monday.

But others insisted his resignation would be in the best interests of the district, which oversees Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Irvine Valley College.

“It would be simpler for the district if he would resign,” board member Marcia Milchiker said. “We all have a need to move on--including him.”

Said Irvine Valley College anthropology instructor Wendy Phillips: “He’s caused this district so much anguish and pain. It’s really disappointing he didn’t take the high road for once and step down.”