College mailer a mystery

A mailer this week endorsing candidates for the Coast Community College District board of trustees appears to be connected to the Christian broadcaster embroiled in a legal dispute with the district over public TV station KOCE.

No one seemed to have heard of the group listed on the mailer — Taxpayers, Students and Educators for Coast Community Colleges — but the group’s sponsor, Marcus Lamb, shares a name with the president and chief executive of Daystar Television Network.

“On its face value, something doesn’t pass the smell test,” said candidate Jim Moreno, whose opponent was endorsed on the flier. “For some reason, they’re not indicating who they are.”

The flier urges residents to vote for David Boyd, who is running against incumbent Mary Hornbuckle, and Lu Tuan Nguyen, who is facing Moreno and two other challengers for an open seat. None of the language on the mailer mentions KOCE, with references keeping to maintaining low tuition; bolstering state and federal funds; and improving job training opportunities.

The bottom of the flier, however, identifies Lamb as the sponsor and includes the address of the campaign’s treasurer, Betty Presley and Associates, in Rancho Santa Margarita. A spokeswoman for Daystar said she did not know about the mailer, and Lamb was not available for comment. Betty Presley declined to specify whether the Lamb on the flier was the Lamb in Texas.

“I’m just the treasurer, and I don’t say anything,” she said.

Regardless, trustee Jerry Patterson said he had little doubt who was behind the advertisement.

“It’s a fairly innocuous mailer,” he said. “What bothers me is that it sounds like an official group, which it isn’t, and it sounds like they’re paying for it. I think it’s pretty apparent that Marcus Lamb paid for it.”

When the endorsement for Boyd and Nguyen arrived in the mail this week, it came as a surprise to many — including the candidates themselves.

Nguyen, a librarian at the Orange County Public Law Library, said he received a phone call last week from a man who claimed to be part of a political coalition. The caller, whose name Nguyen couldn’t remember, asked what his position was regarding KOCE. Nguyen replied that he felt the parties should resolve the case through mediation, and the man came to the library shortly afterward to take his picture.

The attention left Nguyen, who has led a low-budget campaign, both puzzled and flattered.

“It seems to me that when people think your approach sort of makes some sense and they give you some kind of approval, it gave me some strength of belief in my philosophy,” he said.

Boyd, the president of William Howard Taft University in Santa Ana, said he received a call last week from a “well-known political consultant” in Orange County who asked to take his picture at the office. He guessed that the consultant, whose name he declined to give, had read the essay on Boyd’s campaign website, where he criticized the district for withholding KOCE from Daystar.

Boyd added that he had never spoken with Lamb and had heard nothing about Daystar being behind the mailer.

“The only promises that I made to anyone are to work for improved disabled access at all district sites and work with other board members,” he said. “The KOCE Foundation and Daystar people need to resolve the KOCE debacle in a manner that’s fair to the students and the district.”