Ruiz reelection has union squawking

Jeff Benson

Tuesday’s election didn’t change anything in the Coast Community

College and Newport-Mesa Unified districts, as six incumbents

retained their posts.

Coast Community College District trustee Armando Ruiz won his

reelection bid Tuesday night, just days after retiring from the post

to cash in on a loophole in state law allowing him to collect a hiked

pension.

With 40.8% of the vote, Ruiz fended off challengers Bonnie Castrey

and Diane Lenning, who pulled in 31.6% and 27.5%, respectively.

Because he retired Sunday, Ruiz won’t return to the boardroom until

Dec. 15, when his next term begins.

Castrey’s campaign was heavily backed by the district’s teachers’

union, the Coast Federation of Educators, and Ruiz said he believed

the controversy over his retirement was a ploy by the union to

install a more liberal candidate.

“I feel the voters had very good confidence in me, even though the

negative press I received from the union,” he said.

Castrey interpreted her loss differently. She said she believes

the majority of voters were opposed to Ruiz but split their ballots

between Lenning and herself.

The teachers’ union is not ready to give up efforts against Ruiz.

On Monday, Coast Federation of Educators President Dean Mancina

hand-delivered letters to the Orange County District Attorney’s

Office and Orange County Department of Education requesting an

investigation into Ruiz’s actions leading up to his retirement and

election. He also mailed a request to the Fair Political Practices

Commission and requested a temporary restraining order to bar Ruiz’s

certification as a trustee if he won the election.

In his letters, Mancina requested a restraining order be imposed

against the certification of Ruiz’s election until an investigation

can be completed.

Ruiz has been scrutinized by Mancina and fellow trustee Jerry

Patterson for running for reelection without notifying voters of his

intention to retire three days before the election.

“As you can see from looking at the results, 59% voted against

Armando Ruiz,” Mancina said. “A hard word to overcome is the word

‘incumbent.’ Only 41% of the public voted for the incumbent. We’re

very disappointed, but we tried our best to get the word out. We

didn’t know he retired until Friday night at 4:30. It’s such a

devious plan to not tell the public.”

By retiring from the board and his counseling job at Irvine Valley

College on the same day, Ruiz is eligible to cash in on a loophole in

state law that enables him to double-dip in both pensions and collect

a reported $120,000 annual pension rather than the $60,000 he would

have received had he retired on separate days.

Incumbents Paul Berger and Jerry Patterson also won reelection to

Coast’s board, with Berger defeating Alice Saltzman 56.9% to 43.1%.

Patterson ran unopposed.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District school board members Martha

Fluor, Dave Brooks and Dana Black also ran uncontested Tuesday and

will begin new four-year terms.

The Newport-Mesa board has remained intact since Linda Sneen and

Tom Egan joined in 2002 and will continue with the same members

through 2006.

Black said it’s a relief to continue working with the same board

because each member helped draft the district’s strategic plan for

2005 to 2010 and will vote on its implementation at Tuesday’s

meeting.

“We’ve done all the hard work by doing the restructuring of the

district and by getting the decks in order, getting teacher salaries

to be competitive and getting Measure A implemented,” Black said.

“Now, by making some really great changes, it would be sad not be a

part of it.”