John Hanna, VP of the RSCCD Board and Government Affairs Director/Special Counsel at the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters
John Hanna, the V.P. of the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Board of Trustees, is so desperate to hang on to power that he has unleashed his most corrupt associates in order to reelect the RSCCD Trustees who are up for reelection – and their ally Zeke Hernandez who is running for the seat that Jose Solorio vacated.
Now we know why Hanna pushed so hard for union-only project labor agreements for the RSCCD’s two bond measures. Those PLAs ensured that all of the bond-related construction work was done by union contractors – and now Hanna is squeezing the unions and their contractors for donations to his chosen Trustees.
By the way, since the passage of those PLAs Hanna has become the Government Affairs Director/Special Counsel at Southwest Regional Council of (Union) Carpenters. Talk about Quid Pro Quo!
Hanna was also caught on video shoving and pushing a young Bernie delegate Shawnee Badger, at the 2016 DNC Convention. Badger was peacefully protesting and had every right to be where she was. Hanna was elected to protect the rights of college students at the RSCCD – and this is how he treats our young people? He has become a union thug!
BTW, guess who is in charge of spending all that ill-gotten booty? None other than Gary Crummit, who is spending the money via his Political Action Committee, OC Vote. Crummit is probably the last guy on the planet that Hanna should be in bed with, given his sordid record.
OC Vote PAC mailer for Claudia Alvarez
Crummitt has been previously fined by the FPPC for failing to include disclosures on political campaign mailers. And so it should come as no surprise that he has apparently done that again with mailers touting Hanna’s allies, Claudia Alvarez, Zeke Hernandez, Arianna Barrios and Nelida Yanez. (Unless Crummit filed Form 497 forms to disclose these in kind contributions – which if he did the voters won’t have access to until way after the November election).
Crummitt also showed up on a watchdog list of bad campaign treasurers! It figures that he is serving as the campaign treasurer for former RSCCD Trustee Mark McLoughlin who is running for the SAUSD School Board this year. Birds of a feather!
OC Vote PAC mailer for career political hack Zeke Hernandez
Crummit by the way is a known associate of political consultant George Urch, whose names appears on several of Crummitt’s financial disclosures (Google Crummitt and Urch for more info.). Urch was retained by the RSCCD’s public relations firm, Townsend PR to handle the media inquiries regarding the controversy when the RSCCD Trustees supported efforts to provide consultation in Saudi Arabia despite that country’s mistreatment of women and minorities.
The efforts that have gone into the re-election of Alvarez, Barrios and Yanez as well as the election for Hernandez is unprecedented. The RSCCD incumbents appear desperate to retain control. One has to wonder why?
OC Vote PAC mailer for Nelida Yanez
Hanna by the way is using contractor union money against the candidates favored by the Rancho Santiago Community College District’s Faculty Association. In so doing Hanna has fomented a war between unions.
The Faculty Association is so fed up with Hanna and company that they recruited mostly Republican candidates to take them on. Sad to say the Democratic Party of Orange County is entirely in bed with Hanna and his corrupt associates.
The RSCCD Board of Trustees, under Hanna and company, has incurred massive construction cost overruns (mostly due to the union-only PLAs), wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars on questionable travel expenditures (including five star hotels, limos and pricey gourmet meals) and supported the ridiculous Saudi Arabian consulting contract. They all need to get booted out of office this November!
Please do not fall for Hanna’s machinations! Vote for these RSCCD challengers instead:
Area 1 – Santa Ana City Commissioner Matthew Schauer has our endorsement. Please do not vote for career political hack Zeke Hernandez!
Area 3 – Please do not vote for the incumbent, Nelida Mendoza Yanez. She is part of the RSCCD Board majority that has blown millions of dollars on construction cost overruns and wasteful travel spending. She also supported the ridiculous RSCCD consulting program in Syria – a country that persecutes and mistreats women and minorities. There are two challengers for this seat – Thomas Gordon and Tony Tapia. Take your pick. Either one would be preferable to Mendoza Yanez.
Area 5 – Please do not vote for the incumbent, Claudia Alvarez. Like Mendoza Yanez she took part in blowing millions of dollars in construction cost overruns and she supports the district’s money-wasting venture in Saudi Arabia. Alvarez has two challengers. Steven Nguyen is a member of the OC GOP Central Committee and has been endorsed by the OC GOP. Cecilia Aguinaga has a long history of advocating for students in the area and is a former employee of the SAUSD. Vote for either one and you will be doing us all a big favor.
Area 7 – The Hanna cabal is promoting incumbent RSCCD Trustee Arianna Barrios, a lobbyist who supported the ridiculous consulting contract in Saudi Arabia. We urge you to vote instead for Rudy Diaz, a retired engineer who stands against the wasting of taxpayer money!
Not entirely in bed. I pulled both Zeke’s and Alvarez’s endorsements from the consent calendar, but didn’t get many votes against them. John Hanna still has tremendous sway within the party.
I think that Nelida Yanez would be fine once she’s in better company. Until then, her dissent on the board would simply be self-defeating. So you should cut her some slack. Obviously, I can’t comment on the other races, except to say to PLEASE get rid of Kris Murray’s PR flack Barrios!
Amen to that!