Newcomer wins seat with college trustees

Two incumbents held on to their seats in the Coast Community College District Board of Trustees, but one longtime member dogged by controversy over the past few years has fallen to a first-time challenger.

Armando Ruiz, who has in recent years been a target of calls to resign and an unsuccessful recall petition, lost to challenger Lorraine Prinsky 36.6% to 43.8%, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

A third candidate, Don “Coach Doc� Apodaca, got 19.6% of the vote.

The other two seats up for election had incumbents Mary Hornbuckle and Jerry Patterson winning solidly.

Ruiz has been accused by opponents of taking advantage of pension loopholes ever since 2004, when he retired from his post on Oct. 31, after ballots were printed, then won reelection as an incumbent two days later.

Retiring the same day he ended another state job at Irvine Valley College allowed him thousands more dollars per year in pension money than he would otherwise receive.

Efforts to reach Ruiz for comment Wednesday were unsuccessful.

His replacement, Prinsky, is a Huntington Beach resident who teaches at Cal State Fullerton.

She said she worked very aggressively to introduce herself to voters throughout the district that includes Orange Coast College, Golden West College and Coastline Community College — and to keep saying Ruiz had what she called “ethical problems.�

“One [reason I won] is my qualifications, and my long experience in higher education and my doctorate,� she said. “I knew going into this that running against an incumbent, it’s not enough to show how you’re qualified. You have to explain why your opponent isn’t, and I had lots of examples.�

Prinsky said that while she was interested in changing the balance between part-time and full-time faculty when she started running, the top issue for her would be navigating through state budget cuts.

“That’s something we’re going to have to deal with and I’m going to have to deal with,� she said. “I don’t want to see classes cut.�

It wasn’t the first challenge against Ruiz, who was the target of an unsuccessful recall effort and calls to resign by people including fellow Trustee Patterson, Newport-Mesa Unified School District board President Martha Fluor, the faculty union and others.

Ruiz has called Patterson’s opposition to him an effort to gain his own majority on the board.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at [email protected].