Tell the Sacramento Bee ...

The Save Sierra College group advocates recalling trustees Aaron Klein and Jerry Simmons, but the pair say the college has weathered the storm and gone on to success. (Yeah, right ....)

What's your take? E-mail ymckinney@sadcbee.com by 5 p.m. Thursday.

Limit responses to 250 words. Include name, community and a phone number.

Fresh Faces / New Hope for Sierra College

Grand juror seeks board seat
He blasted a trustee for accusing ex-president of money laundering.
By Edgar Sanchez -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:01 am PDT Sunday, July 23, 2006

As a member of the 2005-06 Placer County grand jury, Bill Martin helped write the panel's final report blasting a Sierra College trustee for accusing Kevin Ramirez, the college's former president, of money laundering.
The trustee, Aaron Klein, disagreed with the grand jury's findings and rejected its recommendation that he apologize for what it called unfounded allegations.


So, Martin says he decided to take action on his own.
He announced last week that he will run for the Area 5 seat on the Sierra College board, with a goal of "helping to restore community confidence" in the body. The seat is being vacated by trustee Dave Creek, who is moving from the area.

As filing opened for the Nov. 7 election, Martin appeared to be the first outsider to publicly declare an intention to run for the Sierra board.

Seats held by Sierra College trustees Barbara Vineyard, Nancy B. Palmer and Dave Ferrari also will be open for the election.

Vineyard and Palmer said last week they plan to file for re-election, but Ferrari could not be reached for comment about his plans.

Other winds of change also may buffet Klein and board President Jerry Simmons, both targets of a recall attempt by the group Save Sierra College.

"The current board is fractured," said Martin, 67, a retired engineering executive, former college instructor and eight-year Auburn resident.

"It's time to eliminate the destructive partisan politics that have infected the board," he said, expressing his belief that Ramirez was "publicly vilified" in a political maneuver that ended with his departure in January 2005.

Responding in an interview Thursday, Klein said, "Quite a few people like Mr. Martin have been critical of me, and once they peel back the onion a little bit and realize the tremendous reforms that were necessary at Sierra College, they begin to understand why the last year and a half has been such a difficult season of change.

"But this is a new day, and we have new leadership with Dr. Leo Chavez as our (college) president, and I'm looking forward to the next two and a half years of my term as we work with faculty and staff to make Sierra College even better," he said.

The Save Sierra College group contends that Klein and Simmons have wasted taxpayer money and tarnished the college's reputation through their "attack politics" and "negative" leadership -- charges that both deny.

The misspent money, the group said, included Ramirez's retirement settlement of $464,950, plus $54,750 spent on a national search for a new president.

On Friday, Simmons said the critics may not fully appreciate Sierra's recent successes, including its current ranking as "the No. 1 community college in California for the fourth straight year" in terms of associate degrees awarded.

"I believe (that achievement) is due to the hard work of our faculty and staff and the strong leadership of the board of trustees," Simmons said. "I think we're well on our way to becoming the No. 1 community college in America."

To Martin and others, Klein added Thursday, "I may not have done everything right, but I have stood for the right things: balanced budgets, better facilities planning and increasing access to college."

Placement of the recall question on the November ballot requires between 25,000 and 27,500 signatures by Friday, leaders of the recall drive have said.

"At this time, I'm not sure if we'll have enough to make it for November," Rocklin Mayor George Magnuson, head of Save Sierra College, said last week. "We've had a good response, but we haven't counted all the signatures yet."

Should more be needed, he said, the group will continue to circulate petitions for the next few months in hopes of triggering a special recall election next year.

If the recall fails, Simmons and Klein will be up for re-election in 2008.

Martin, a "decline to state" registered voter, said he supports the recall drive and, as a candidate, will call for Sierra's board to be more nonpartisan.

As chairman of the grand jury's school and libraries committee, Martin said he looked into allegations that Ramirez had laundered cash in connection with bond issues for the 20,000- student college. The grand jury later concluded the allegations were "utterly without merit."

He said he decided to run after seeing "the arrogance and unwillingness to acknowledge the injustice the board imposed on its former president and the resulting damage to the college."

Martin enters politics after a 35-year career in the design and development of electronic systems.

He has a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a master's degree in management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For 15 years, he taught mathematics at West Coast University and University of Southern California while serving as a departmental manager at Hughes Aircraft Co.

Reception to Save Sierra College

Please help efforts to recall Aaron Klein and Jerry Simmons by attending the "Recalling Simmons and Klein Evening Reception"

Wednesday, July 26, 2006
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Granite Bay Country Club
9600 Golf Club Drive,
Roseville Parkway and Golf Club Drive,
Granite Bay, CA
$ 95 per person

Sponsorships Available:
$2500 Gold Sponsorship
$1000 Silver Sponsorship
$500 Bronze Sponsorship

Please r.s.v.p. to Alycia at 916-645-8961 by July 24th
Make checks payable to:
The Committee to Save Sierra College
c/o 3842 Rawhide Road, Rocklin, CA 95677
Campaign I.D. # 1286925

Host Committee
Robert Weygandt, Placer County Supervisor
Mayor Ray Sprague, City of Lincoln
Jim Holmes, Placer County Supervisor
Tom Cosgrove, Lincoln Councilmember
Alex Ferreira, PCWA Boardmember
Primo Santini, Lincoln Councilmember
Mayor George Magnuson, City of Rocklin
Spencer Short, Lincoln Councilmember
Peter Hill, Rocklin Councilmember
Bruce Dear, Placer County Assessor (partial list)

Bunk and Debunk

Aaron Klein is already setting the stage for his next run for office with exaggerations and false claims about his "many accomplishments" as Sierra College Trustee on his new website. Find out the truth at: Bunk and Debunk

Don't let Klein and Simmons get away with these lies. Help recall them. Find out how by going to: savesierracollege.com

Candidate hopes to repair image of college

The Union
By Lindsey Croft
July 19, 2006

Bill Martin says the Sierra College board of trustees needs to repair its reputation after what he described as a year of controversy for the Rocklin-based community college.

Martin, a retired engineering executive and former college instructor, is intent on restoring the community's confidence in the board by running for one of its soon-to-be vacant seats.

"The first thing that has to be done is remove the sense that the board is politicized," said Martin of his planned course of action. "It isn't necessarily an overnight thing. I just want to be there long term to help them get back on track."

Martin was first interested in becoming a trustee when he saw the board becoming increasingly political.

"I'm determined that partisan politics shouldn't play a role in how the college is managed," Martin said.

The hopeful trustee believes partisan politics have caused great difficulties for the college - a loss of support for public bonds and suffering dissension between faculty and staff is evidence enough for Martin.

He hopes to fill the seat of Area 5 Trustee Dave Creek, who is retiring and moving out of the area. Martin said he has already obtained an endorsement from Creek.

Martin seeks to change the equilibrium of the board, along with the support of fellow board member Barbara Vineyard. "I may be part of the minority for two years, or I may be part of the majority immediately," Martin said. "I want to be a spokesman for a collaborative and nonpartisan decision making."

With a background as an engineering executive, Martin believes his expertise and experiences in his field will be of value to the board.

"If you don't deliver a product at a price, you get fired," he said. "You have to deliver a product at the right price and a product that works."

The toll at Sierra College

Re "Sierra College woes," letter, Sacramento Bee
June 21, 2006

I joined the effort to recall Jerry Simmons and Aaron Klein from the Sierra College board of trustees for substantive reasons. They have damaged the college and risked its accreditation and future vitality.

They have caused a highly qualified president to resign; intimidated administration and staff; tried to quiet the student newspaper; received a vote of no-confidence from the community in the bond measure failure June 6; scoffed at Placer County grand jury findings that their charges against ex-President Kevin Ramirez were groundless and without merit; failed to heal the damage from their actions with the community, college and Ramirez by apologizing.

Since joining the recall effort, I have been amazed at the deep-seated and pervasive nature of the problem. People have come up to me when I am gathering petitions to tell me their experiences with Simmons and Klein. These members of the community are teachers, administrators, student leaders and staff at Sierra College. Lifelong Republicans tell of being accused of being left-wing radicals because they are left of Attila the Hun (read Jerry Simmons). Stories abound of people being intimidated by these two.
Simmons and Klein must go!

-- Steven C. Phetteplace , ColfaxChairman, Simmons-Klein Recall Committee

The toll at Sierra College

Jerry Simmons' strange apology

Re "Recall backers plan rally Saturday," June 16: At the last Sierra College board meeting, Jerry Simmons apologized to the community and to the academic senate and classified senate presidents for his trusteeship.

In the e-mails that he was unaware would be made public, Simmons did not deny attempting to have vocal college employees critical of his behavior disciplined. In the articles prior to his failed supervisor bid, he admitted to requesting that the classified senate president be disciplined for illegal behaviors, which, as it turns out, were not illegal at all. Nevertheless, when I read his response on the recall petition, he stated "the allegations of 'silencing critics' and 'threatening staff' are entirely false and concocted to harm my campaign for supervisor."

Simmons refused to resign as board president because he believes that he can work with the new president of the college despite his inability to work with the past two presidents. For what has Simmons apologized? For being exposed? I support the recall of Simmons and fellow trustee Aaron Klein. Information and recall petitions can be downloaded and signed at http://www.savesierracollege.com/ .

- Jon Naylor, Citrus Heights

Sierra College recall effort heats up

The Union: Committee aims to remove board president, board member

By Soumitro Sen, soumitros@theunion.com
July 4, 2006

The political ambiance at Sierra College has been turbulent since early 2005 in the wake of the seemingly forced retirement of former President Kevin Ramirez. But the situation has reached a climax now, with residents and members of the college community actively seeking the recall of the president of the college's board of trustees, Jerry Simmons, and board member Aaron Klein.

In May of this year, community members formed a "Committee to Save Sierra College." The committee members - from the college and the community - are now gathering 27,000 verified signatures of registered voters for both Klein and Simmons to put the recall on the November ballot.

The committee's Web site, www.savesierracollege.com, gives detailed information on the recall and allows people to download a petition, sign it and mail it back.

"A recall is not easy at all; it is the hardest thing to do politically," said Anthony Maki Gill, volunteer and fundraising chair of the committee. "But it is necessary because Jerry Simmons and Aaron Klein have no intention to resign, and if they are not going to remove themselves, then the community needs to do that."

Maki Gill said the campaign is gradually taking hold.

"The alumni, the retirees, are involved in the effort," he said. "We have Republicans and Democrats working side by side to remove these people."

The committee members are taking numerous steps to reach the public.

"We are going to celebrations, events, (standing) in front of grocery and drug stores," said Joe Medeiros, a professor of biology and ecology at Sierra College for 16 years. "It is easier if you wear a Simmons and Klein recall T-shirt. People then gravitate toward you and want to sign."

The easiest way to participate, Medeiros said, was to sign an online petition and mail it in.

"At least 25 percent of our signatures are coming from the Web site," he said.

Klein and Simmons are not amused at the upsurge of public opposition.

"This is now the second time that the same people have put a recall effort together (the first one was abandoned in early 2005)," Klein said. "The sequel is more of a flop that the original. It doesn't have any more momentum than the original had, and I think it's going to die out.

"We have the first balanced budget in four years. We are a No. 1 community college in granting degrees in California, and that's all because of our dedicated faculty and staff and strong leadership on our board of trustees."

But those who support the recall do not buy into Klein's optimism.

"The reason that they (Klein and Simmons) are here is politics - not any true interest in allowing Sierra College to do its work," Medeiros said. "This is evident by the fact that they marched into the college and forced the resignation of a beloved president. They asked no question of the faculty, staff and students. They took no time to learn about the college, its mission, and its accomplishment."

Despite strong resistance from his colleagues, Simmons said he was bent on completing the work he was elected to do.

"I am focused on continuing to improve Sierra College, in our efforts to increase facilities' expansion at the Grass Valley campus," he said. "This recall effort is only going to distract the attention from the focus of completing our Grass Valley campus expansion.

"The planning process for the Grass Valley campus is currently under way and the construction will begin shortly. It is essential that we have the continuity of leadership to make sure there are no delays during the construction process."

Simmons, who was urged to step down as president at a board of trustees' meeting on June 13 but was retained by a 4-3 vote, said a "few employees are constantly advocating for division and confusion" and that he was disappointed at the attack they made on his character.

"I am young," he said. "I am not an experienced politician. I ran for the community college board because I attended a community college and I benefited personally from the educational program there. So I wanted to give back to the community college system that made such a difference in my life."

To contact SOUMITRO SEN, e-mail soumitros@theunion.com or call 477-4229.
Committee aims to remove board president, board member