A LOOK AHEAD * With the L.A. Community College District board defiantly rejecting three well-connected candidates, the . . . : Search for Mission College Chief Takes Political Turn

A routine presidential search for Mission College in Sylmar has turned into a politically charged brawl between local Democratic politicians and the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees.

At stake is the leadership of the district’s smallest college, serving one of the city’s poorest areas. The row began after the board rejected three candidates for Mission’s top post and voted to reopen the search.

Among the rejected finalists was Saeed Ali, an aide to state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) and a liaison for the Legislative Latino Caucus in Sacramento. The other two contenders, Illinois Central College Vice President Bettsy Barhorst and Valley College Vice President Susan Carleo, also were recommended by an advisory committee appointed by the board.

Ali, a former Glendale Community College teacher, was favored by Assemblyman Tony Cardenas and state Sen. Richard Alarcon, both Sylmar Democrats. They said Ali’s familiarity with Latino politicians in Sacramento would have improved Mission’s standing, since it serves a predominantly Latino community.

“Was he my favorite candidate? Absolutely,” Cardenas said last week. “He’s demonstrated the kind of balanced background that Mission College needs to grow and work with Sacramento.”

But some trustees said Ali’s political connections worked against him, as well as his lack of administrative experience. The board has never hired a president who had not first been a college vice president, district officials said, and few trustees believed he was qualified to run a community college--especially one with a past as checkered as Mission’s. Its last president, William Norlund, retired last month after community groups blocked his attempts to expand the 6,600-student, 22-acre campus.

“I think it would have been a very bad thing to have had political people controlling our personnel at Mission College,” said Kelly Candaele, the board’s president. “The loyalty of the president has to be to our board and our chancellor. It can’t be to other elected officials who might have other agendas.”

Board Vice President Georgia Mercer said Mission is doing fine without interference from legislators: “We’ve turned the corner fiscally, we’re building a new building to accommodate more students, we’re increasing our enrollment--so back off.”

But the legislators are planning a news conference this week at Mission in which they say they will ask the state community college chancellor to investigate the presidential selection process.

Alarcon said he was also dismayed by the board’s decision to appoint Thomas Oliver, Mission’s academic affairs vice president, as interim president.

“I think Tom’s a great guy, but frankly, he was part of this administration that blew the money,” said Alarcon, referring to $4.7 million in land acquisition funds that Norlund’s administration failed to use before three deadlines.

After a lengthy process led by Cardenas and assisted by Alarcon, the funding was added to Gov. Gray Davis’ 1999-2000 budget.

Alarcon also took issue with the board’s decision to appoint East Los Angeles College instructor Daniel Castro to an interim vice presidency at Mission. He said the appointment smacked of cronyism because Castro’s wife is a teachers union leader who has supported current and former trustees.

But trustee Sylvia Scott-Hayes said she would never have supported Castro had he not been qualified. “He has a good reputation as someone who does a lot in the Latino community. I have known him as an educator.”

Castro was among the 55 original candidates for the presidency, but wasn’t selected as a finalist by the board’s advisory committee.

Assemblywoman Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who left a community college trusteeship last year, said pressing the district to appoint Ali raised ethical issues.

“Eyebrows should be raised when legislators carry bills for colleges and then turn around and expect their staff members to be given cushy jobs,” she said.

Mission has struggled in recent years with alleged mismanagement, thinning enrollment and shrinking budgets.

A district deficit forced Mission to cut 30% of its classes in the fall of 1997, sharply eroding enrollment. Then campus officials were late releasing Mission’s 1998 spring semester schedule and enrollment dropped an additional 14%.

Norlund managed to increase Mission’s offerings and enrollment, but last November he accepted the blame for failing to use the $4.7 million in state funds for a badly needed campus expansion project before the funding deadline.

The initial plan was to create four new classroom buildings and 1,000 additional parking spaces on 30 acres occupied by nearby El Cariso Golf Course.

A new golf course of equal size was then to be built on land straddling the Pacoima Wash, but that plan was rebuffed by community members who use the wash as a recreation area.

The board intends to reopen the presidential search to broaden the pool of applicants. The original candidates can apply again, but it’s unlikely any of the rejected finalists would be hired, district officials said.