Rocco gained international attention by winning an upset victory to his board seat in 2004 with absolutely no campaigning and for being considered an eccentric.
were not sure if he would even show up to the board meetings, he did so, and with a theatricality whereby he made speeches about conspiracy theories involving charter schools, his father's death, and a group of politicians and other leaders he calls The Partnership, which he claimed was trying to control the United States and kill Rocco for speaking out against them.
[3] Neighbors claim that he would often show up to Santa Ana swap meets, or even hold his own garage sales, to sell records that were stamped as property of the public library, and would yell "No bargains!
[4] In response to that, Rocco distributed a series of pamphlets titled Hey Man, where he interviews himself to discuss a conspiracy theory involving Eastman Kodak, Albertsons Inc., and SmokeCraft Sausage.
According to Rocco's conspiracy theory, powerful companies and politicians are also responsible for his loss of work as a substitute teacher and telephone operator.
[3] Although Rocco declined to share personal information or discuss his campaign, he showed up at a candidate forum wearing camouflage and sunglasses.
[3] Rocco was up against local park ranger Phil Martinez, who had three children in the district, and was an active volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America.
Soon after the election, a man identifying himself as Rocco called KPCC-FM, a public radio station based in Pasadena, California, and promised that he'd be present at the ceremony.
[6][7] Some parents claim that Rocco wasted time during meetings by giving long speeches about his parents' medical issues, charter schools, credit unions, and a group of politicians, business leaders, and education officials that Rocco calls "The Partnership", which he claims are taking over the United States.
The committee, led by area parent Teri Rasmussen, originally planned to garner enough signatures by December 5 to put the item on Orange County's June 2008 ballot.
[14] Rocco, with assistance from Richard McKee, president of the California First Amendment Coalition, sued the Orange Unified School District, but lost the case and was ordered to pay $37,000 in legal fees.
[16] On July 14, 2008, Rocco pulled filing documents to run for Santa Ana city council against incumbent Carlos Bustamante.
[16] On the candidate worksheet he turned in, Rocco claimed that his occupation was to "Prevent the further incursion of Partnership/Organized Crime into the OUSD, as represented by Mexican Mafia... their Caucasian Puppetmasters...
[7] After the final election results were tallied, incumbent Carlos Bustamante had won less than 50% of the vote, but that was enough to beat blogger Art Pedroza who had 19%, and Rocco with 18%.
[17] On September 29, 2008, Rocco was arrested, detained, and charged with stealing a bottle of Heinz ketchup from the cafeteria of Chapman University at 10:30 a.m.[6] According to Sgt.
Dan Adams of the Orange Police Department, "One of the security guards saw [Rocco] take a 14-ounce bottle of ketchup off of one of the tables.
At an informal press conference held at Hart Park in Orange, Rocco accused Professor Smoller and Chapman University President Jim Doti of conspiring to have him killed.