OCEANSIDE - The political Grand Canyon separating MiraCosta College trustees runs so deep and wide now that in one high-profile lawsuit against the school, the board's majority of four is represented by one attorney, and the board minority of three is represented by another.

That means some board members are precluded from seeing certain college documents or participating in closed-session meetings in which conflicts over the suit may arise. Minority board members are also sometimes sitting out on related discussions, such as an Aug. 21 meeting in which MiraCosta trustees reaffirmed a controversial $1.5 million settlement with former college President Victoria Munoz Richart.

Can a board with such constraints effectively guide an educational institution of 14,000 students, more than 800 employees and a $101 million budget? Probably, but it presents challenges, officials say.

"It sounds like a terrible mess," said Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit group that advocates for open government. "It's bad enough when you have a board polarized by ideology, but you when have a board calcified by legal restraints, it's hard to get things done."

Tuesday's split board

Scheer's comments came Wednesday, the day after four majority-bloc trustees voted to uphold a controversial June 20 decision approving Richart's buyout.

Three trustees who make up the board's minority - Gloria Carranza, Judy Strattan and Jacqueline Simon - did not participate in Tuesday's meeting on the advice of their attorney and on the recommendation of the college's law firm, Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff and Holtz.

The three trustees said they lost their trust in the law firm during attorney Daniel Shinoff's handling of a 17-month investigation into the illegal sale of palm trees from the campus horticulture department. Shinoff is a partner in the firm. He did not return phone calls last week.

When Carranza, Strattan and Simon became critical of how Richart handled the widening probe, they said that Shinoff helped Richart write letters warning the trio that undermining Richart in public violated her right to a private performance evaluation.

Months later, Julie Hatoff, the college's former vice president of instruction, filed a lawsuit against the college and against all seven board members, alleging she had been wrongfully targeted in the palm tree probe.

That's when the three minority board members - Carranza, Strattan and Simon - asked the county to grant them their own attorney in the case.

"I believe that there is a very, very tight relationship between Mr. Shinoff and Dr. Richart … and I just didn't feel comfortable with having Mr. Shinoff as my counsel," Carranza testified in a July 19 deposition in the Hatoff case.

The three trustees are still represented by the college's attorney in several other lawsuits pending against MiraCosta, including three by former employees who resigned or were dismissed as a result of the palm tree investigation. Carranza, Strattan and Simon are also seeking separate counsel in some of the other lawsuits.

The effects

The legal schizophrenia inherent on the board carries some potentially debilitating effects for the decision-making body as a whole, according to Scheer.

"The likelihood that two lawyers will give conflicting advice is high, and the likelihood that the body will be paralyzed and not be able to vote is equally likely," he said.

Carranza said she definitely feels constrained.

"Because of the legal restrictions that have been placed on us, we can't advocate for what we think is best for the college," Carranza said. "It is frustrating as an elected official. I don't feel effective."

At the least, Carranza said, the robust debate between members who disagree - a hallmark of democracy - was lost when she, Strattan and Simon were forced to chose between their principled opposition to Shinoff's representation and participating in Tuesday's closed-session meeting.

However, Trustee Carolyn Batiste said she believes the college continues to effectively discharge its duties.

"Look at the board agenda and ask 'Have those items been compromised?' " she said. "I think you will find 'no.' The business of the district does get accomplished effectively."

Separate legal representation is unusual

Split boards are fairly common, Scheer said, but board factions represented by different attorneys are unusual.

"I think its very uncommon for a faction within a legislative body to have its own representation for decisions they make in their official capacity," Scheer said.

Attorneys for MiraCosta are hired and paid by a collective of school districts that acts as an insurer in legal matters for its members. Known as a "joint powers authority," the organization recently granted the minority trustees an attorney - David Monks - to represent them in the Hatoff lawsuit and in some aspects of the college's administrative discipline case against Hatoff, Strattan said.

However, the group refused to grant the MiraCosta board minority separate representation in all other legal matters, said Strattan. She said she is considering retaining legal counsel at her own expense.

Meanwhile, Hatoff is seeking to have Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff and Holtz disqualified from representing MiraCosta in her lawsuit. In a motion to have the firm dropped, Hatoff argues that Shinoff failed to make clear to her that he was representing the college's interest - not hers - when he interviewed her during the palm tree probe.

In a tentative ruling on Thursday, Superior Court Judge Michael Anello sided with Hatoff and said Shinoff's firm should be disqualified because he violated a Rule of Professional conduct in dealing with Hatoff.

A permanent ruling in that case is expected this week.

Meanwhile, attorney Jack Sleeth - also with Stutz, Artiano, Shinoff and Holtz - has been doing much of the legal work for MiraCosta. Sleeth said in some cases, his firm represents the college and not its officers, in other cases it represents the college and its officers, and in other cases it represents some, but not all, of its officers.

"I have a cheat sheet to keep track of it," Sleeth said.

- Contact staff writer Philip K. Ireland at (760) 901-4043 or pireland@nctimes.com.