Steven J Frogue

College Trustee Steven J. Frogue, facing a second recall campaign over his controversial views and battles with faculty members, denounced the effort Friday as a "witch hunt" and "McCarthyism in plain view." Frogue, a trustee and former president of the South Orange County Community College District, predicted the second effort would end in failure, despite recall proponents' plans to use paid petition gatherers through a firm specializing in political campaigns.

Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the county Republican Party for the past 15 years, was appointed Wednesday to fill the vacant trustee seat on the South Orange County Community College District. The board voted 4 to 0 to appoint Fuentes, with Trustees David Lang and Marcia Milchiker abstaining. Student Trustee Jason Wamhoff, who has an advisory vote, also supported the GOP chief.

More than 15,000 signatures short, community activists conceded Thursday that they cannot gather the support they need in time to force a recall vote in June against a controversial community college trustee. Instead, the Committee to Recall Steven J. Frogue will launch a new petition drive aimed for the November ballot. "None of us see it as starting over from scratch," said Deborah Evans of Mission Viejo. "We know a lot more. We know where the supporters are and how to get to them."

Steven J. Frogue, who survived two recall attempts amid allegations that he was anti-Semitic, has resigned from the South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees. In a four-sentence letter to board President Nancy Padberg dated Sunday, Frogue said his resignation would be effective Friday, five months before the end of his second term. "It is time for me to move on to new challenges and new opportunities to serve in other capacities," he wrote.

The Anti-Defamation League plans to ask South Orange County Community College District trustees to tone down public meetings that recently have been marked by angry disputes and vitriolic comments, some of which have offended local Jews. Amid a continuing furor over Trustee Steven J.

His supporters call him a friend of the teacher, a benevolent caretaker of local schools, a loving father and family man. His opponents call him a demagogue, an eccentric, a flake. Too often, they say, he articulates the marginal and irrelevant. His most vocal detractors accuse him of being an anti-Semite who often takes aim at Jewish organizations and who questions the severity of the Holocaust--charges he denies and labels as "scurrilous." To the casual observer, Steven J.

Steven J. Frogue, the trustee targeted for recall from the South Orange County Community College District amid allegations of anti-Semitism, defended himself for the first time in months Tuesday night. Before an overflow crowd at a heated trustees meeting, Frogue said in a prepared statement that he was speaking out "because radical groups are using the public comment section of these meetings to disseminate lies and demagoguery. I fear their tactics will become desperate and dangerous."

Controversy flared again Tuesday at a board meeting of the South Orange County Community College District, as critics of Trustee Steven J. Frogue accused him of ethnic insensitivity. About 70 people packed a room at Saddleback College, many of them anti-Frogue partisans who support a proposed recall of the longtime history teacher at Foothill High School in north Tustin.

An author who espouses the view that Israeli intelligence officials were involved in the John F. Kennedy assassination addressed trustees of the South Orange County Community College District on Monday on behalf of a support group for Trustee Steven J. Frogue, the target of a recall. Last year, Frogue invited the author, Michael Collins Piper, and others for a seminar on the assassination of President Kennedy, including Piper's view that Israeli agencies played a key role.

The organizers of a campaign to recall a controversial community college trustee have missed the deadline to qualify for the November ballot, but they say they will continue their effort to force a special election. "We are determined and we are quite confident that we will succeed," said Harriett Walther, a spokeswoman for the Committee to Recall Steven J. Frogue.

South Orange County Community College District officials and spiritual leaders gathered Thursday for a breakfast called by embattled Trustee Steven Frogue as a way to heal the board's divisiveness of the past few years. Frogue, who was the subject of a failed recall attempt in the fall, suggested the breakfast idea at the district's February board meeting and envisioned it as one in a series of such gatherings throughout the year, said Pam Zanelli, a district spokeswoman.

Amid a burgeoning controversy over college Trustee Steven J. Frogue earlier this year, one of his ardent supporters stood during a meeting recess and loudly voiced a prediction even more chilling than the frosty air outside. "We're headed for a bloody race war in this country," said the supporter, a friend of people with ties to white supremacists, "and I can't wait."

The campaign to oust community college trustee Steven J. Frogue has failed for lack of valid signatures on the recall petitions, county election officials said Thursday. "I'm disappointed but I'm not shocked," said Peggy Thomas, director of the committee formed last year to recall Frogue, a trustee with the South Orange County Community College District. "If the worst thing to come out of this is that we've raised awareness of Mr. Frogue and his dealings, then we've been very successful."

Leaders of an effort to oust Steven J. Frogue from his college board seat said they will file petitions today to force a recall election, while the embattled trustee charged that the broad coalition arrayed against him is engaged in a campaign of "lies, smears and demagoguery." A recall committee official said Monday that more than 50,000 signatures will be filed before today's 5 p.m. deadline for returning recall petitions.

The Orange County Republican Party and the Democratic Foundation of Orange County hope to raise $40,000 this month to help recall South County college district Trustee Steven J. Frogue. The money will come from a bipartisan fund-raiser Sept. 19 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, said county GOP Chairman Michael Schroeder. Guests will be charged $100 each. Frogue, accused of making anti-Semitic and racist remarks, has been the target of a recall attempt for more than a year.

The organizers of a campaign to recall a controversial community college trustee have missed the deadline to qualify for the November ballot, but they say they will continue their effort to force a special election. "We are determined and we are quite confident that we will succeed," said Harriett Walther, a spokeswoman for the Committee to Recall Steven J. Frogue.

Leaders of an effort to oust Steven J. Frogue from his college board seat said they will file petitions today to force a recall election, while the embattled trustee charged that the broad coalition arrayed against him is engaged in a campaign of "lies, smears and demagoguery." A recall committee official said Monday that more than 50,000 signatures will be filed before today's 5 p.m. deadline for returning recall petitions.

Steven J. Frogue is expected to survive an effort to oust him as president of the South Orange County Community College District, with a fellow trustee who represents a possible swing vote saying Wednesday that he intends to support Frogue. "Has Steve made any illegal, unethical or immoral decisions? No," said John Williams, the board's vice president. "Has he done something illegal, unethical or immoral? No. Has he done something unpopular or brought forth unpopular ideas?"

An author who espouses the view that Israeli intelligence officials were involved in the John F. Kennedy assassination addressed trustees of the South Orange County Community College District on Monday on behalf of a support group for Trustee Steven J. Frogue, the target of a recall. Last year, Frogue invited the author, Michael Collins Piper, and others for a seminar on the assassination of President Kennedy, including Piper's view that Israeli agencies played a key role.

The Orange County Democratic Party this week supported the recall of Steven Frogue as a trustee on the South Orange County Community College District board, saying it must "stand up against bigotry and anti-Semitism." Though Frogue has repeatedly denied he is anti-Semitic, Jeanne Costales, Democratic Party chair, said the party's Central Committee has unanimously backed the recall of the embattled trustee. A recall petition this year failed to get enough signatures, but another has been started.