More Dirty Tricks from Gang of 3

It was always my intention to stay out of the discussions about the recall so that the government process could work during this transition. If I took sides it would only make the legislative process even more painful than it is already. Since joining the Council, we have had more than 30 issues on which we dis-agreed, and on all but one of them, the Council majority aka “Gang of 3” has prevailed. In some senses, for me personally and for those issues I championed (e.g., alternatives to the County shelter, helping Meals on Wheels, getting more competitive bids, cutting government waste), you can’t do worse than a 3% success rate, which is all that the Gang of 3 have allowed me. Nonetheless, I tried to stay out of the discussion, but I was drawn in by the dirty tactics being adopted by the opponents of the recall, their use of intimidation and lies, and recently by the “Nick is Nuts” flyer that tries to distract people from the issues at hand and somehow involve Councilman Nick. Here, once again, are the issues which the recall petitioners highlighted –

· Corruption – The Gang benefitted from over $150,000 from special and vested interests and never failed to vote in favor of whatever the companies who gave them the money wanted, even when our own Planning Commission recommended against it, even when we had the chance to save $200,000, and even when the local residents were opposed.

· Collusion – The Gang almost always votes as a bloc and often uses this bloc to prevent important issues from even being discussed.

· Cronyism – The Gang appoints people to Commissions and Committees who are not qualified, except for their political and financial ties to the Gang, and fails to appoint far better qualified people to these same posts.

· Lack of Compassion – The Gang voted to stop staff from exploring alternatives to using the County’s high kill and highly disgraced service, even though we had more than four months left before we had to make this decision. They voted to deny vacant space at City Hall being used to help seniors in need of local “Meals on Wheels” services. Etc.

· Phony Conservatism – They claim to be fiscal conservatives while using taxpayer money for expensive iPads, expensive time-saving software that benefits only them, and discretionary travel expenses. Even worse, they refused to ask staff to cut the fat from the City budget which might have produced $2,000,000 in annual savings.

· Conduct Unbecoming – Residents have been verbally attacked (Voigts), interrupted (Voigts and Hamilton), ordered not to laugh or even speak (Hamilton). They have been threatened by “time-outs” (Voigts) and by being kept late at the meetings (Robinson)

Since the last time I discussed the “dirty tricks” being used by the Gang of 3 and their supporters, new and even more vicious actions are at play. As the Gang of 3 strikes back, here are two examples -

Scott Voigts Violates City Rules

A few weeks ago I reported that City officials forced recall supporters to stand in the cold and rain, denying them access to the inside of the building and to the Council chambers. I expressed my opinion then that this was discriminatory, since Council Chambers have been used at least twice in the past for similar purposes (i.e., Save Lake Forest in 2013 and Animal Shelter in 2008). The City Attorney was steadfast in his opinion that the supporters had to stay outside. Much to everyone’s surprise, then, Scott Voigts on Monday went to the senior lunch and made the rounds, asking people not to sign the recall petitions. How is Scott Voigts allowed to do this inside the Council and recall supporters are forced into the cold and rain? Obviously the City has a separate set of standards.

This isn’t the first time Scott Voigts has violated City policies. In the election of 2014 he put his posters up well ahead of the stipulated time, and went unpunished for that transgression. He put his flyers all over the city on private property despite the Municipal code, and also placed them on poles throughout the City, again contrary to municipal code. Indeed, Voigts’ posters on poles remained in place for nearly a year, and Voigts didn’t even receive a reprimand for his non-compliance with City policy.

What kind of a City do we have that has one set of standards for Scott Voigts and a different set for everyone else?

Andy Hamilton’s Big Lie

For about a week, Andy Hamilton has been going around claiming that I am “targeting Dwight Robinson’s children”. He’s done this online and also did this in a conversation with a recall supporter that was videotaped. Here are the details.

At the last Council meeting, one of our active residents, Tracey Tingley, asked Dwight Robinson whether or not his kids went to public schools (i.e., SVUSD). Robinson refused to answer. Tingley wasn’t interested in what schools they went to, merely in whether or not they were part of the SVUSD system. Robinson is continually talking about “our” children when he talks about the impact of development on the quality of education. Though many people believe the 5,000 new homes will negatively impact our schools, Robinson is a fervent supporter of developers, from whom he receives a whole lot of money in campaign contributions. Tingley wanted to know if Robinson’s kids went to SVUSD and hence his reference to “our” kids was appropriate, or whether they went to private school, in which case Robinson probably should be talking about “your” kids instead of “our” kids.

Robinson refused to answer.

Tingley went to Lake Forest Town Square (the real one, not the phony one that the Gang of 3 created to confuse people) and posed the question. In the responses, someone mentioned that Robinson’s kids attended private school and one person listed the name of the school. No one listed the children’s names, their ages, posted a picture of them, gave their sexes or how many there were, or otherwise gave any identifying information, except for the name of the school. When it came to my attention, not long after it was posted, I deleted the comment identifying the school, but left the rest of the discussion. No one cared about the specific school, but I thought it was pertinent that Robinson doesn’t send his kids to SVUSD but makes controversial policies about SVUSD and speaks about “our” kids.

Shortly after, Hamilton began posting that I was “targeting” the children. Here is exactly what he said –

“I am really sad to say that the “volunteer” recall supporters (including my colleague, Jim Gardner) are now targeting Dwight Robinson’s children and their school. This is unacceptable conduct!”

To prove his point, he offered a screen shot of the post, prior to the time I took it down. Interestingly enough, Hamilton did exactly what he was (unfairly) criticizing me for, namely, identifying the school that Robinson’s kids attended. While I never posted the comment in the first place, and took it down shortly after it was posted, Hamilton himself posted the identifiers and kept them up for days (it was up there yesterday and may even be up there even now). Moreover Lake Forest Town Square is a closed group, while the place that Hamilton posted was an open group and therefore the reach was far greater. If anyone exposed Robinson’s children to risk, it was Hamilton.

Not content with falsely claiming I had targeted Robinson’s kids, Hamilton edited a comment I made and took out the part in which I said I had deleted the comment identifying the schools.

Still not content with his lie that I was “targeting” Robinson’s kids, nor content with selectively editing my response to remove the part that indicated I had deleted the reference shortly after it appeared, Hamilton went on to claim that his “family’s safety is threatened.” How he could come to that conclusion only he can explain. It reminds me of the time he ran a Council meeting, ordered people not to clap, laugh, or even speak, then interrupted and abused speakers, and at the end of the meeting, complained that he had been “bullied”.

Such is the behavior of two of the men who are being recalled, and who ask you not to sign the recall petition because “Nick is Nuts”.

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 Jan 30 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library

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