AESD trustee Mark Lopez, NOCCCD trustee Mark Lopez, & AUHSD social-studies teacher Mark Lopez.
Last month the usually-collegial Anaheim Elementary School Board (AESD) voted 3-2 to censure one of their trustees, six-year incumbent Mark Lopez (who was endorsed by this blog last year when he ran for a seat on the North OC Community College District, and hence won 67%-33% against rightwing “businessman” Steve Slawson.)
Skipping past all the boilerplate WHEREASes, that censure read:
- “…Whereas the AESD Board needs all five members to contribute to a positive working environment for colleagues on the Board and within the district;
- …Whereas Government Code Section 1099 prohibits individuals from holding “incompatible offices;”
- Whereas legal counsel has advised the Board of Education that the offices of school board member and community college board member are incompatible;
- Whereas Board member Mark Lopez was elected to the governing board of the North OC Community College District and was sworn into office in December 2024;
- Whereas Board member Mark Lopez has not resigned from the Board of Education of the AESD, despite his ethical duty to do so;
- Whereas as a result of Lopez’ refusal to resign, the Board may be required to initiate costly litigation to remove him;
- Whereas the continued participation of Lopez in violation of Government Code 1099 could subject Board actions to legal challenges;
NOW THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS: Based on the above recitals, the Board proclaims publicly that it disapproves of Mark Lopez’ conduct, and the Board censures Mark Lopez for his conduct.”
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Fighting words! From the Board chairman Juan Alvarez, backed by trustee Jackie Filbeck and brand-new trustee Julie Diep. Disagreeing were Mark himself, and his steadfast ally Ryan Ruelas.
Mark questions WHY the board would “be required” to remove him through “costly litigation,” and has a hard time envisioning any “legal challenges” brought against the Board on account of him being on two boards. The legal opinion that the two seats are “incompatible” is a gray area where lawyers disagree.
And what Ryan says, as an OG of district elections, is that neither he nor Mark have yet to hear from ANYONE in Mark’s district that they have a problem with him continuing to serve on AESD. Mark was elected overwhelmingly in 2018, and then in 2022 he had no challengers. No complaints, and also nobody coming forth to say “I want to do that job, appoint me!” By the way here is Mark’s district, in case anyone really DOES feel strongly about this one way or the other (it’s the blue part):
Julie Diep, who sided with Alvarez and Filbeck against Mark, had only been on the Board a couple weeks before filing to run in the special state senate race (in which she came in third this week.) Not the sign of someone who’s serious about the school board! Her input at January’s meeting was, first to congratulate Mark at “moving up to higher office,” and then decreeing that, “giving up your lower office, that is what we do when we get higher office.” The way Julie Diep thinks. And Mark says “I don’t even think of the NOCCCD board as ‘higher office.'”
I’ll give you this much: When I voted for (and endorsed) Mark last year, I assumed he’d resign his AESD seat when he won the NOCCCD seat, and the remaining AESD board would appoint his replacement – that’s what generally happens. And I don’t think he ever said he wasn’t gonna do that. Why DOES he want to serve on two boards, while teaching? It couldn’t be for the AESD stipend, which is only $400 a month, so I guess I won’t be using THIS image:
Well, when I asked Alvarez his side of things he told me to watch the January meeting and read the censure, which I did. When I called Mark he had a lot to say.
In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a lot of fucked-up shit going on in the world right now (my words not Mark’s) – the Trump-Musk takeover of the nation including the planned demolition of the Department of Education AND the war on immigrants, combined with budget shortfalls in the state. And Mark (who asks “don’t make me sound self-important”) firmly believes that his skills and experience are especially needed right now at AESD. Among other things he is a staunch fiscal conservative and budget balancer – remember, he first came onto the Anaheim scene as a protege of Tom Tait.
“Do you really have time to serve on two Boards, while teaching at Gilbert?”
“Well, I have been. In fact I’ve been doing more on the AESD Board these last two months than most of my colleagues.” He doesn’t feel good leaving that board to some inexperienced replacement AT THIS POINT IN TIME, although he allows that he probably won’t run for a third term on AESD next year. He’s not sure why the Board majority has it in for him, and especially resents them calling his choice “unethical.”
But they sure do want to get rid of him! And they’ve called an EMERGENCY MEETING this coming Monday night apparently to do just that. (Shades of Jordan Brandman’s “emergency” 2013 meeting to shut up Tait on the Angels Stadium giveaway.) SHOW UP if you care about this, to support or oppose double-trustee Mark, especially if you live in that BLUE area above! See you there!
EMERGENCY MEETING on the BURNING MARK LOPEZ PROBLEM
MONDAY March 3, 6pm
AESD District Office, 1001 S East St
In Years Past, Joanne Barnett was a member of (then) Anaheim City Elementary School District Board of Trustees, at the same time, she was Elected to the AUHSD Board of Trustees.
Lew Overholt,was Elected to the Anaheim City Council, wile simultaneously, holding a seat on the Anaheim City Elementary board and tell his term was up there and then just full-time to the city council after that.
In the ’90s, Lou Lopez was elected to the AUHSD Board, told me personally as he was being sworn in to the school board that “watch me in 2 years I’m running for Anaheim city council” which he was successful.
He’s a protégé of Denis Bilodeau, so…
“And what Ryan says, as an OG of district elections, is that neither he nor Mark have yet to hear from ANYONE in Mark’s district that they have a problem with him continuing to serve on AESD.”
Irrelevant.
Do the two boards have dual control over any students? (And maybe: Do they compete for the same pile of money?)
Basically, the rule (IIRC) is something like that you can’t sit on two separate elected boards if they control at least some of the same people.
Elementary and Community College? I wouldn’t think so.
No, you might not. But the idea has certainly alienated his colleagues and rightfully so.
What’s the real motivation, loneliness? There is a psychological addiction for some to holding office. A sad validation is involved..
Then how does Bilodeau get a paying OCWD gig while being on the Orange City Council (not to mention supposedly “working” full-time for the County)?
Someplace there is a legal definition that is more descriptive.
It should be clear. One elected job at a time
Here’s another idea: You can’t be an elected if you are employed by a government agency.
Well I have known Mark Lopez for at least five years now. Mark has always been a good honest stable man. As far as being a member of one board interfering with being a member of another board I would go with the evidence, has mark’s attendance at board meetings been compromised? Has Mark’s ability to produce the work product necessary in his position on the school board been compromised? Is there evidence of a conflict of interest with holding a position on the two boards. These seem like easy questions to answer. Answer these questions straight up. Everything else is BS.
Wes, it’s a matter of what the law says.
Hold all public meetings on Tuesday evenings!
Then how will you and I attend them all?
I just saw this and I am trying to catch up, so forgive my ignorance here. First of all, I make no secret of my mama-love of Mark Lopez, and our family has supported every office he has ever pursued. But this….he was sworn into the college district ages ago, but I didn’t realize he had not left the AESD!!! WTF?!
Your readers’ opinions about whether YOU think this is an Incompatible Office are adorable, but as Zenger says, irrelevant. NO WAY would the school board be doing this unless their lawyers had advised them to do so. Come on, we know the board members, they are decent people who want what is best for our kids and are SUPER careful about money, they would not be threatening expensive legal action unless there was a serious legal problem being created for the District by Mark’s continuing in that seat.
Vern, you say in the article that, “The legal opinion that the two seats are “incompatible” is a gray area where lawyers disagree.” Do you have case law that upholds Mark’s position, that you can share and give me more background so I can catch up, please? I don’t see anything prior on OJB but it sounds like this may have been going on for a while, so is there documentation I can see?
“Incompatible Offices” is a legal term with a specific legal definition, and the Attorney General enforces it when an individual or entity files a complaint. Curt Pringle was found to be violating this law for sitting on High Speed Rail Board AND OCTA and Mayor of Anaheim. (some of us spent a LOT of time studying Incompatible Offices during the HSR fight, not that anyone around here would drop a dime to the AG on Pringle or anything) but the issue is NOT about Mark, it is about the seats being held, it always is. If the lawyers determine he is serving in Incompatible Offices, I believe the District could be subject to litigation. example: If a contract was being let for construction or repairs of a new school building or such, and the losing bidder wanted to be a jerk. I think they could sue the District if Mark was the deciding vote. I don’t want my taxes funding a legal defense on this, nor do I want the students having amenities or services delayed or cancelled because of a grudge lawsuit from someone who doesn’t like a ruling by the Board.
Someone fill me in please? I’m pretty confident the District is acting on legal advice and not their gut feelings, I always felt like they were all friends even off the Board, so this is tragic.
There seems to be a lot of unknown factors here, and since the meeting is tonight I suggest we sit back and watch the meeting, and see what the District lawyers have to say A bunch of people showing up to scream about issues I doubt any of us have details on seems like a needless conflict for people who are doing something i doubt any of them want to be doing. If Mark has a legal defense, I believe wholeheartedly in his ability to communicate it without us. And if the Board is acting on legal advice, our opinions aren’t going to move the needle anyway. No way would I step into the middle of this one, no matter how I feel about anyone involved. This isn’t politics, it’s legal. My 2 cents.
Cynthia, with due all due respect for your “mama love,” I have formed a very different opinion of Lopez.
Apart from the fact Lopez was a Bilodeau protégé, he informed Nancy Francis that (somehow) Dave Zenger was the one responsible for creating the affordable housing project on the NE corner of Gilbert and Cerritos. Not only wrong, but impossible.
I did save the County a couple mil on the land sale from the church that was there, although as Greenhut told me, they just wasted it somewhere else.
I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve never had a negative experience with him. But this issue now smells really fishy. Not cool.
Had I any idea Mark might have pulled this BS, I would never have supported him for NOCCD. Nor will I in the future.
Not surprised in the least. Mark Lopez is as unprincipled as he is ambitious. How many times has the guy changed parties? He used portray himself as a conservative Republican. Lopez tossed that aside to insinuate himself into the Mike Matsuda power cabal. Matsuda gave him a teaching job days before the AESD candidate filing deadline back in 2018 so he could use “teacher” as a ballot title. He became a teachers union hack. This is totally in character for Lopez.
I’m going to talk to Vern about this before deleting it. I have no idea to what extent (if any) you are telling the truth about him. But I do know that you don’t risk your own reputation at all by making scurrilous charges — and while we’re legally protected if we allow anonymous defamation here, as a matter of police and ethics we’re not inclined to allow it here. Without independent proof, I have no reason to think that anything you say above is true.
It’s nasty, and maybe uncharitable, but what is controversial here? Maybe the thing about getting that teaching job “days before” filing to run for school board? I don’t know if that’s true, could be.
Of course Mark used to be a Republican, a Tait Republican, I think I even mentioned that. A lot of those people became independents or Democrats during the Trump years.
“How many times has he changed Party?” Prolly once… unless he took a little pit-stop as NPP.
If you’ll vouch for all the details, that’s fine. If Matt Cunningham (or whatever anonymous person wrote that comment) “vouches” for them, it means less than zero. (Hey! Hey-ay-ay! That song tracks pretty well!)
Voice of oc covering.
https://voiceofoc.org/2025/03/anaheim-elementary-school-board-considers-ousting-an-elected-official/
Yeah they usually catch up with us eventually. And never mention us.
Mark was removed last night. Short meeting starts at 1:12
Speakers were a student from Gilbert that likes Mark, then Ryan Bent, and Denis Bilodeau, all against Mark being removed. The board majority was unmoved.
And don’t you think it telling that the most self-serving, do-nothing, corrupt SOB in OC showed up for Lopez?
You said he was the the protégé of Tait the other day. Wrong. His mentor has always been Bilodeau, even when Lopez went way left with Moreno & Co. to get elected something.
Hard as this may be for some of us to process, Tait and Bilodeau were friendly and collaborative (in non-corrupt ways.) He could both have been a part of the Tait faction and mentored by Bilodeau. (Though I doubt that Tait was involved in this at all; he seems to have extricated himself from politics for the most part.)
Bilodeau is very friendly and collaborative. Now if only somebody could get him to WORK for the money he steals from the public with his little sinecures.
Even Fleischman called him out, and that’s really something.
Volunteer journalists react er report.
https://voiceofoc.org/2025/03/anaheim-elementary-school-board-votes-to-oust-an-elected-official/
Late to the party here, but this is a LONG settled issue.
Onus is on Mark for not dealing with this inevitability before taking his case to the voters. That was irresponsible to both constituencies.
That’s a selfish act by definition . . . one that will inevitably take resources away from kids and their education. That makes him materially unfit to serve.
You have to forgive him somewhat. He was the protegee of the utterly venal Denis Bilodeau.
However I know from personal experience the sort of person he is.
I saw Cunningham posted Bilodeau’s warning to the district, which was totally self serving and assine.
But, when you’re a permanent leach on the teat of state, ya gonna suck.
Why was Bilodeau even there? Because he’s the one who advised dummy he could hold two different offices. Guilt.
Wouldn’t be the first time he got an obvious decision with 50 years of prescient behind it wrong.
Stop listening to Cunningham, Dave.
I assure you that’s on problem I’ve never had.
Here’s the citation.
Again, waste of time, irresponsible, and selfish.
Cal.Atty.Gen., Indexed Letter, No. I.L. 75-22 (Feb. 18, 1975) (member of elementary school district board is incompatible office with respect to member of community college district board or member of high school district board)