Papadakis Angry After Losing State School Board Seat : Deukmejian Nominee for 2nd Term Calls Her Ouster a ‘Political Hit’ by Democrats

SACRAMENTO —  After she was turned down last week for a second term on the state Board of Education, Angie L. Papadakis of Rancho Palos Verdes could still crack a smile.

When sympathetic friends sent flowers to Papadakis, she joked: “I’m not dead. I’m quite alive and kicking.”

In fact, Papadakis is angry and outspoken about the bruising political fight that led the Senate Rules Committee last Wednesday to reject Gov. George Deukmejian’s appointment of her to another four-year term on the 11-member board.

Cited Opposition

In objecting to Papadakis’ reconfirmation, Democratic lawmakers and Latino and Asian critics cited her opposition last year to a bill by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) to continue the state’s bilingual education program. The governor vetoed the measure.

Papadakis, a Republican, branded the committee action “a political hit. That’s all it was. I testified against Willie Brown’s bill. . . . They can’t kick the governor. They’ve got to kick his kid. . . .

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with bilingual education. . . . I was for an option to teach in English if that was the choice of the parent. It would seem to me an American right.

“If I had remained silent . . . then I would have been reconfirmed in three minutes.”

Deukmejian appointed Papadakis, 62, a businesswoman, to the board in 1983 and reappointed her last year. Because the Senate failed to confirm Papadakis by Friday, she was forced off the board, which sets guidelines for state educational policy.

Perry Dyke of Redlands, a Papadakis supporter on the state board, said Papadakis has been singled out because “she was more visible, probably, than other board members, and that has focused the attention on her.”

With her appointment facing mounting trouble, the slim, brown-haired Papadakis has become a regular visitor to the Capitol. She has lobbied legislators and testified twice in recent weeks before the Senate Rules Committee, where she clashed with Democrats over her views on bilingual education.

During her testimony, she pointed out that she is the daughter of Greek immigrants and did not learn English until she entered school. Although she was born in Enid, Okla., her parents took her back to Greece when she was 3. The family did not return to the United States until she was 5 and ready to enter school.

Papadakis recalls that when she started elementary school in Los Angeles, she could not speak English. “The teacher would show us a picture of a cow and pronounce cow, “ she said in an interview. The students would repeat the word, and, she said, “that’s how we learned.”

Scholarship Offers

At Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, Papadakis says, she was valedictorian and had college scholarship offers. In her resume, she said: “I was not allowed to accept any scholarship. My parents saw no reason for one of their daughters to have a college education.”

To help support the family during World War II, Papadakis joined the Office of Price Administration. In 1946, she married Ernest (Tom) Papadakis, moved to San Pedro and had three sons--one of whom owns a well-known Greek restaurant in San Pedro that carries the family name.

According to her resume, Papadakis enrolled in numerous college classes but does not have a degree. Still, she became a professional speaker, started her own advertising agency and recently finished a book on courtroom humor, to be published in March. She previously taught a humor writing course at Harbor College and has sold one-liners to Reader’s Digest, Good Housekeeping and Playboy.

In a 1974 interview, Papadakis explained that she began writing when she was about 30 years old. “I began to realize I couldn’t live my life through my husband’s work or through the lives of my three sons. I had to have my own reason for getting up in the morning. Just my reason, you know?”

Community Service

She also joined numerous community groups. She has served on the executive board of the Los Angeles Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the county Board of Education.

In 1983, Deukmejian appointed her to the state board, where she was vocal about expressing her views, including her opposition to Speaker Brown’s bill to continue the state’s bilingual program. The state board, along with other groups, urged the governor last July to veto the legislation.

After the governor’s veto, Brown sent a letter to Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles), objecting to Papadakis’ reconfirmation. Brown said she “has consistently spoken against, voted against and worked against the state law requiring primary language instruction as part of a bilingual education program.”

After the committee rejected her reconfirmation, Papadakis said she was not disappointed. Quickly switching into her writer’s role, Papadakis lightheartedly said she could envision her story as a TV miniseries.

“Can you see the drama on this, someone pounding the halls of the state Capitol to drum up support . . . for the kids?”