RIGONOMICS:Lack of transparency in KOCE-TV sale

One of the most important factors in running any public agency or governmental body is transparency.

Without transparency, you have corruption. The framers of our Constitution knew it was so important that they included in the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Journalists are needed to make sure government is transparent so that we the citizens understand what is happening with our public institutions.

This last week we saw the final chapter in an embarrassing and bizarre example of the lack of transparency. I am talking about the so-called sale of Coast Community College District's television station KOCE to the KOCE-TV Foundation.

Just getting the facts of this actual sale was a feat in itself. What I found was that the terms of the sale were different depending on which source you went to. Neither of the two major papers in Orange County had the same terms of sale, and the college district's website added an additional fact that nobody had ever reported: That the KOCE-TV Foundation was given credit from previous donations it had given to KOCE as part of the purchase price. I decided to use the facts from the actual Asset and Purchase Agreement between KOCE-TV Foundation and Coast Community College District, and the opinion from the 4th District Court of Appeal. The opinion, filed June 23 2005, involves the interpretation of a statute governing the sale of property, other than real property, belonging to a community college district.

The facts laid out by the justices were simple. The district put KOCE up for bid, the trustees rejected an all-cash bid for $40 million and accepted a bid of $8 million in cash (later to be reduced by previous contributions) and a 30-year note with no interest and no payments for five years for $17.5 million from the KOCE-TV Foundation.