Candidates Offer Fixes for System’s Problems

District finances, student enrollment and outreach with other institutions are among the key issues in the April 13 election for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees.

The 16 challengers and two incumbents vying for four seats all say there are serious problems confronting the district. But the incumbents--Georgia Mercer and Julia Wu--say the district is on the road to recovery.

“Our latest fiscal report shows there is an $11-million surplus,” Wu said.

The district in August had projected a $13-million deficit.

Nearly all of the challengers, however, voiced disappointment with district finances and urged the forging of better links between the community colleges and their surrounding communities, businesses, feeder high schools and four-year universities.

And while praising a recent board decision to give campuses more autonomy, several candidates said they did not trust the existing board to properly implement the decentralization plan.

Trustees are paid $24,000 annually for four-year terms to oversee a nine-campus community college district--the nation’s largest--beset by falling enrollment, administrative instability and financial mismanagement.

Critics say unions dominate the system, and that they stifle efforts to streamline the work force and rein in salaries and benefits. During the current campaign, as in past elections, labor has been generous, contributing nearly $100,000 to candidates thus far.

More than half the candidates--10--are vying for the District 1 seat vacated by Gloria Romero. That was the only open seat when the race began. But incumbent David Lopez-Lee later dropped out of the race for the District 7 seat.

All seven seats on the college district board are elected at-large, which allows candidates to pick a race to compete without having to live in a specific district.

In the District 1 race, three candidates have raised substantial campaign funds. They are Cal State Los Angeles professor Sylvia Scott-Hayes, Evelyn Metoyer-Williams, a principal with the Los Angeles Unified School District, and Peter Ford, a Beverly Hills businessman and former local talk-show personality.

As of Friday, Scott-Hayes had raised about $20,000 for her campaign and Evelyn Metoyer-Williams had raised $42,000, most of it her own money. Ford had raised more than $30,000.

Scott-Hayes has been endorsed by Romero and the influential American Federation of Teachers College Guild, which represents the district’s faculty. Scott-Hayes said the board would benefit from her long experience with higher education and her link with the Cal State system.

Metoyer-Williams said she wants to build more bridges between the community colleges and other educational institutions. Metoyer-Williams said she would like to see concurrent enrollment programs between community colleges and local high schools.

Ford, endorsed by the college district’s Administrators’ Union, Teamsters Local 911, said he would focus on district finances and touted his entrepreneurial background.

“My whole plan is a business plan,” Ford said.

But Ford’s candidacy worries Carl Friedlander, president of the union representing district professors, a chapter of the college teachers’ guild.

Friedlander said he is concerned Ford holds extremist right-wing views, citing a radio talk show Ford formerly hosted on KIEV-AM (870).

Ford acknowledged guests on the show included white separatist Randy Weaver, who was involved in a shootout with federal agents in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Jack McLamb, a former Phoenix policeman and self-styled militia recruiter.

Ford described McLamb as “a wonderful man,” but declined to discuss the matter further, saying it was not relevant to the college district race.

Other candidates for District 1 include Nancy Pearlman, Richard Groper, Marilyn Grunwald, Addie Miller, Gilbert Carrasco, Sesar A. Carreno and Maria “Lou” Calanche.

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In the District 3 race, Wu faces two well-financed challengers--Jules Bagneris, pastor of Walker AME Church in Los Angeles, and Glendale Community College professor Mona Field, president of the Glendale faculty union.

“She [Wu]is not in touch with the day-to-day work of the college district,” said Field, who is also the vice president of the California Federation of Teachers. “And after 12 years . . . it’s time for new blood.”

Field said raising morale, repairing shoddy campus buildings and building positive relationships between labor and management will be her priorities if elected. Field, who has raised $30,000 for her campaign, is backed by the teachers’ union.

Bagneris is a community activist who has pushed for enterprise zones in Pacoima, East Los Angeles and Watts. Bagneris said he would like to “put the word ‘community’ back into community colleges.”

“Symbolically, we could do it by changing the signs on the freeway,” said Bagneris, adding that a freeway sign for Los Angeles Trade Technical College omitted the word “community.”

Bagneris has strong support from the African American community. Bagneris, like Field, said Wu has been ineffective. But he also described Field as a faculty union “operative whose hands are tied and whose voice is muffled.”

Bagneris, however, received campaign contributions totaling $24,000 from the college administrators’ union. Nevertheless, Bagneris said he “would cut against the private interests and [be] on the side of the public interest.”

Wu has the advantage of incumbency and strong backing in the Asian American community, which has helped her raise $35,000.

Wu, a librarian, said she helped institute the district’s automated library system and also counts a nonresident student fee among her successes. If reelected, Wu said raising money for the district would be her main concern.

The only trustee from the San Fernando Valley, Georgia Mercer of Tarzana, is defending her seat against Gordon Murley, a Valley homeowner advocate, and Jonathan Leonard, a fire commissioner.

Mercer was appointed by the board after trustee Kenneth Washington died.

Mercer, who ran unsuccessfully for a Los Angeles City Council seat in 1997, said she tapped her past supporters for contributions and has raised $70,000 thus far. She has been endorsed by the faculty union and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.

Mercer said she wants to build confidence in state legislators who, she says, have been reluctant to allocate more money to the Los Angeles district.

“It’s time we got more money from the state. We’ve got 120 legislators in Sacramento and 30 of them have a community college in their districts.”

Murley has raised $4,000 and Leonard has collected less than $1,000.

Favored in the race for Lopez--Lee’s seat is Warren T. Furutani, who has raised $47,000 and has support from the college teachers’ guild. Furutani, a Gardena businessman and former LAUSD board member, is a senior member of Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa’s staff.

Influential in Southern California’s Asian American community, Furutani said he would like to put the district’s financial affairs in order and prepare the system for “Tidal Wave II”--a baby boomlet expected to dramatically increase college enrollment by 2005.

His opponent, Mark Isler, a former public school teacher and business owner, said he would “be a cheerleader” for the district if elected. “No one understands what a great resource we have out there,” he said.