Planning, Placer and Shenanigans

Placer county, which is the county adjacent to Sacramento, is having lots of fun this year. It is the most republican of counties in the state and it is in disarray. There is the fight for the congressional seat of John Doolittle, the sanctimonious little snot who reeks of sleeze. Doolittle's record is trivial - he is an insider in Congress but his legislative accomplishments are few while his pronouncements are many. He has a war chest of more than $1 million. Doolittle's biggest marks in his career have been his donors. His wife serves as a consultant for his campaigns and pockets 15% of the campaign contributions as a "managment fee" - in any other profession that would be called a mild form of extortion.

Then there is the fight in the supervisor's race. Robert Weygandt is the current supervisor. He is being challenged by a guy named Jerry Simmons, who is a local attorney. Weygandt is being targeted, in part, because of his opposition to a proposed university in the area. About 5 years ago a major developer in the area proposed to create a new university in the area on 1100 acres of land - which was technically outside of the current limits of development. Placer is a fast growing region - so the development into that area is inevitable. Putting a new university outside of existing areas is probably a good idea - it allows the university to develop before other things grow up around it. The proposed structure of the university was unique. The donors proposed to give the land to the university in two parcels - the first would be for the university - that would be a big footprint for a university (about four times the size of the land in my alma mater University of the Pacific) but the second parcel would be sold off and developed to help finance the construction of the new campus. Thus, with no use of taxpayer funds the region would gain a project that could add luster to the area.

Weygandt asked why the donors simply could not offer a different parcel of land. It was an odd suggestion. There are good reasons to locate a campus where it was proposed to be located that will help the campus grow as there were good reasons to locate Sacramento State University on the edge of town when it was first being built. But Weygandt seems to think that the financial structure (which in my experience is unique) could be replicated to some other parcel of land in the county. That is absurd.

Weygandt used every tactic he could to delay or frustrate the project - even though he said he supported it. He was abetted by the local planning staff who seems to think of these things in pristine terms. The process to develop a new university proceeded a bit. A local committee of community volunteers and civic leaders was formed. They went on a national search to find the right group. They found the Christian Brothers and began to proceed. But then the Christian Brothers closest campus ran into some problems. They had accepted a large donation from a donor who proved to be unreliable. The brothers pulled out. The opponents of the new campus claimed they pulled because of the problems on the Moraga campus. Supporters of the new campus claimed they left because of the extended period of review. The truth probably lies somewhere in between the failed donation did cause some real problems on the Moraga campus - but the delays in the process certainly frustrated the Christian Brothers. People like Weygandt seem to have no conception about a reasonable process for planning a gift that would pay the region back for the next couple of centuries. The Christian Brothers staff (from the province and from the college in Moraga) were stretched thin and the inordinate delays were simply becoming unreasonable. Weygandt keeps claiming that he has met with supporters of the new campus 40 times in trying to resolve the issues. A logical interpretation of his actions could see that those 40 meetings were actually attempts to delay and frustrate the process of figuring out how to accept this generous donation.

In the middle of this process, the university committee formed an effort to do an advisory vote on the proposed campus. That measure passed by a 60%+ vote. The advisory vote was done in part because Weygandt dismissed the results of a poll which showed that a high majority of the voters in the region wanted the campus plan to proceed with all deliberate speed. Weygandt simply said, the advisory vote has no effect on me, we will continue to talk this thing to death. Simmons, by the way, was the chair of the advisory measure campaign.

Weygandt is a registered republican. In Placer this may be like the old time social democrats in the south. The Placer County GOP endorsed Simmons in the supervisor's race. Weygandt is also an odd member of the GOP - he contributed to the re-election campaign of Diane Feinstein.

Then there is the Sierra College controversy. Sierra was a pleasant little community college campus in Rocklin. It is rural. It has a moderately good record of getting its students to transfer - but then it also has a lot of kids who might have the propensity to transfer. It had a president named Kevin Ramirez, who by most accounts had been a pretty good leader, although there is some evidence that he was growing a bit tired in his job. His budgets were unbalanced (caused in part by state revenues) and his educational vision was limited. Like most community colleges in the state, this one had some good elements but it also had some developing problems. For some good and bad reasons, a new group of trustees got on the board and forced Ramirez out. That cost the district several hundred thousand dollars in severance payments. That seemed like a silly move at the time. Now some supporters of Weygandt, a week before the election, have signed a petiton to recall Simmons and a couple of other trustees from the Sierra board. Prominent in the fight are politicians who are friends and supporters of Weygandt's - of course Weygandt denies any knowledge of the effort and its timing (one wonders whether this recall effort will really go forward after the primary election or whether it was designed to simply throw some smoke up right before the election). The new trustees seem to have done some positive things during their tenure. And indeed, the change in leadership might well have moved the college along to new things like a new nursing program.

The county is a great place but its politics are unsettled. The Sacramento Bee supported Weygandt so of course gave the recall effort prominence. One would hope that the county will eventually settle down. The Placer University project is an important initiative that should be moved forward. Sierra needs to continue to move forward. With leaders like Wyegandt and Doolittle that does not seem likely.