"Gang of 3" Under Investigation

Nearly a month after it happened, The City is still investigating complaints about the behavior of City staff and Council member Scott Voigts, electioneering inside City Hall. Recall that on advice of the City Attorney, recall supporters were ordered to stand in the cold in the dark and the rain rather than be allowed inside City Hall for what was considered illegal purposes. Yet, according to several eyewitnesses, Council member Scott Voigts was allowed to do the same thing, and staff members, while on duty and being paid by the taxpayers, were also engaged in electioneering, on City property.

How is it that ordinary citizens are denied access to City Hall to promote their interests while a Council member is allowed unfettered access for the same reason? And if the City Attorney is correct, under what circumstances can City staff while working for the City do the same thing? And how on Earth can it take a month to investigate this?

Adding to the woes of the Gang of 3, complaints were sent to the FPPC about the “Nick is Nutz” campaign supporting the Gang, charging that they violated FPPC regulations by sending mailers before they even filed their paperwork. FPPC violations are not unknown to the people backing the Gang of 3 – The Sacramento Bee reported that enforcement actions had been initiated against Lysa Ray, who serves as Treasurer for the Gang of 3 supporters.

Even more telling, recall leader Leah Basile recently published an extensive article detailing the character of the leader of the Gang’s supporters, Dave Ellis. Click Here for that excellent and revealing story. According to the sources uncovered by Basile, Ellis is described as “the sleaziest political operative in Orange County”, a “fixer”, and “the very definition of political villainy”.

Meanwhile, four months after being formally notified of the recall, not a single member of the Gang of 3 has offered a defense to the multiple allegations against them - i.e., corruption, cronyism, collusion, lack of compassion and phony conservatism. They continue to pursue the “Nick is Nutz” campaign, ramping up the racist elements for which we now realize Dave Ellis is well known. In addition, they sponsor phony websites designed to steal the identity of reputable websites in the hopes that the people of Lake Forest are so stupid they won’t tell the difference. A recent complaint filed with the City alleged that at least one of their fake websites is impersonating an official City website, an illegal act.

If the recall is a vote on the character of the people being recalled and those who support or oppose them, it seems pretty clear where the public’s interests will be best served.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be on March 26 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library